The Regulation Station CIC helps young people feel seen, regulate emotions, and re-engage with learning - one relationship at a time.

The alternative education provision and therapeutic support service works with children and young people who struggle with, or feel misunderstood and shut out of, mainstream schooling.

Since 2022, the Dunstable-based organisation has paired a trauma-aware and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy-informed approach (DBT) with practical learning so pupils don’t fall further behind while they rebuild trust, safety and routine. The ultimate aim is for the children and young people to return to full-time education in a way that works for them.

Jackie Brooks, founder of The Regulation Station CIC, said: “Everything starts with a connection. Connect before you correct.”

Her motivation is rooted in lived experience. A quiet pupil who was capable but unengaged, she “managed to unsuccessfully complete school twice, without anyone really even noticing”.

However, a stand-out encounter was to shape her career.

Jackie remembers one teacher who noticed her when few others did. As a teenager struggling with social anxiety, she wandered into a science lab where a teacher was quietly repotting plants.

Jackie said: “She invited me in and showed me what she was doing. We just talked. It was such a small moment, but it stuck with me. I wasn’t green-fingered at all, but to this day I remember that feeling of being seen.”

It left her determined to be the person who notices the students who slip through the cracks and meet them where they are.

Working at a summer camp abroad at 19 confirmed her calling: “I discovered that I love working with children and young people, particularly those who are not seen by the system. I love to tap into that potential that’s there that they can’t see because they’ve lost sight of it.”

Before founding The Regulation Station, Jackie spent more than three decades working across education, social care and mental health. She has been a SEN officer, SENCO and teacher, set up alternative provisions within schools, and served as part of a senior leadership team.

Most recently, she led the education department on an NHS adolescent mental health ward for young people who had been sectioned. Across all these roles, a constant thread was her commitment to children who felt invisible or unsupported, and her belief that safe, trauma-informed environments could unlock their potential.

She said: “Our children didn’t always receive the support they needed or the right support at the right time. That frustration led me to thinking what could we do? How do we do this in a way that genuinely makes an impact? And The Regulation Station was born.”

It supports students between the ages of 6-18 who are at risk of or experiencing social and academic exclusion. Provision is deliberately small - up to 32 learners across the week - with outreach for children experiencing school avoidance. A team of therapists, family engagement workers, and wellbeing and learning support assistants work alongside teachers.

“A big thing for us is reaching people where they’re at,” Jackie explained. “Every day that they choose to walk through our doors is a victory.”

The approach is DBT-informed: giving language to feelings, teaching tools to children with those conflicted feelings while helping them find ways forward. Crucially, learning continues.

“We balance both,” Jackie said. “Teaching English and maths, life skills and PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education), underpinned by a strong relationship.”

The impact is tangible. Last academic year, around 40 children came through the door. Some return to school after a term; others stay longer when it is the safest option.

“We’ve had students go back to school who have not been in school for months or years suddenly they’re thinking, maybe school is something that I can do. Maybe I do have a future.”

One young person who refused to even enter the local area of their school began with home-based therapy. Within four weeks, he asked to attend The Regulation Station’s centre and after a year is now enrolled at a local specialist college. Another student used to run away from school to a nearby quarry in extreme distress, saying he wanted to die.

“He didn’t want to die. He just didn’t know how to manage what was going on internally. With us, he started asking for what he needed instead,” said Jackie.

A parent of a Year 6 child, who The Regulation Station worked with last year, said: “He is a different child. He is happier in himself, he is more settled and less lonely, his anxiety levels have reduced significantly and he looks forward to attending his sessions. Prior to coming to The Regulation Station, it was difficult to get him to leave the house. He now enjoys being out and is more willing to try and engage in things that are more socially challenging and can cope with a low level of unexpected outcomes. In short, they have brought him back!"

The boy has since successfully transitioned to a specialist school. Family wellbeing is part of the ripple effect.

“A parent who is no longer stressed communicates better with their child. There are so many implications of the work that we do.”

And when pupils transition back, The Regulation Station offers six weeks of in-school support to reinforce strategies.

“Small things make a real difference - someone who can say, ‘Remember what helps when you feel like this'.”

Caroline Doolan, former Deputy Principal of All Saints Academy, Dunstable, said:

“We have been very impressed with The Regulation Station. Whenever there is an issue we are informed straight away and we work together to resolve it. The work they are doing with our students is making a difference. They combine academic work with mindfulness sessions as well as working closely with parents and ourselves. This triangulation means that it has an optimum impact. We would thoroughly recommend the provision!”

Yet sustaining the work is tough. Demand is rising, but school budgets are tight.

“Alternative provision needs to be pulled into the system, because we are making a difference,” said Jackie.

That is why UnLtd's funding and personalised support has been so important.

“I was successful on my second attempt. The feedback was very helpful in helping me to shape our second application.” Receiving the award was a turning point. “It bolstered my confidence that there are organisations that get what we are doing.”

Beyond funding, the UnLtd support has been invaluable. As part of the package, Jackie has been allocated an UnLtd support manager:

“He is attentive and he listens, gives great feedback and advice, and sometimes just gives me space to stop and think.”

Social entrepreneurs are also offered an external mentor with experience in the sector. This mentoring provided Jackie with “a space to be a leader in crisis sometimes, with somebody who had an understanding of a bigger picture”.

Access to pro bono legal advice and CPD (Continuing Professional Development) also removed blockers. “We couldn’t have afforded it. It has made it so much easier for me to make certain decisions.” Training was another boost: “I did some around equality and diversity planning, on how to run a business without running yourself into the ground, and one looking at our theory of change - I didn’t even know what that was!”

Jackie is clear on what the Starting Up Award of £8,000 enabled:

“We exist! It helped to buy the basic equipment that we needed just to get started. The award from UnLtd gave us hope.”

A later Continuous Support Award helped extend provision to younger children. “We started working with 10-14-year-olds and realised there was room for earlier intervention. We were able to put the deposit down on the space that we’d found. UnLtd has had such an impact.”

Jackie describes the support as “like a pebble in a pond” and she has watched the ripples spread outward - young people returning to school, families feeling calmer, and new opportunities opening up that continue to grow far beyond the first investment.

The 12-strong team already works with schools across Bedfordshire, and has supported children from Buckinghamshire. Delivery remains bespoke, including online for pupils who find home visits overwhelming.

Jackie also has a dream for the future: “Originally, the idea was a bus which would just turn up where it is needed - ‘The Regulation Station is in town.’ I’d love to make that happen.”

Her advice to other founders considering working with UnLtd is simple. “Do it, absolutely go for it. It is worth reaching out, if only to have a conversation and get a sense of what you need to be thinking about when you are reaching out for help. It’s absolutely worth throwing your hat in the ring.”