Kevin Ainsley

Kevin is a qualified social worker and additionally holds a MSc in Positive Approaches to Challenging Behaviour. He is also qualified (L1) in Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy, having studied under the direct tutelage of Dan Hughes.

In a career spanning four decades he has held practitioner and senior leadership roles in social care and education settings including adolescent forensic services. More recently he was Director of Development at one of the most well respected training providers in the UK PRICE Training.

Kevin’s primary motivation in Thailand is to support the nascent movement towards greater inclusion within International Schools. His main focus is on those children who exhibit behaviours that staff find difficult to manage and which may make them vulnerable to being excluded. Kevin firmly believes that the real ‘challenge’ here is not the student or their behaviours. Rather the challenge is for schools and the staff within them to recognise, understand, and respond effectively to the unmet needs underlying those behaviours. These children require more intensive supports mediated by skilled and well organised staff teams. Safe Schools Thailand was brought into being to assist ambitious schools to meet that challenge.

Kevin continues to provide direct support to harder to reach children (and adults) with more complex needs in education and social care settings. 

He has a proven track record of helping organisations reduce restrictive practices and his research in this area has been presented at International conferences in Bangkok and the UK.

Kevin is a keen traveller and spent ten years in SE Asia working in education. He helped set up one of the first international Early Years schools to welcome children with additional needs. He was also involved supporting The Mercy Centre (for homeless children) and the Kevorkian Foundation (home for orphans with HIV) in Bangkok.

Outside of work Kevin loves travelling up and down the country watching his sons Sam and Isaac playing rugby and swimming competitively. Movies, reading, and practising Kendo and Iaido keep him out of trouble for much of the rest of the time.