Knowledge and Understanding Framework (KUF) Student Information Sheet
KUF Awareness Training is part of a framework of educational materials commissioned by the Department of Health and the Ministry of Justice.
KUF is a national personality disorder training package already delivered to
25 000 plus people in the UK
In the South West the regional funding from NOMS/Department of Health for KUF is hosted by Emergence through their South West project manager.
Emergence is a national service user led company. Emergence manages and co-ordinates the effective roll out of KUF in the South West in liaison with local staff and people with lived experience.
The purpose of the Knowledge and Understanding Framework (KUF)Awareness Level training is to support frontline staff in a variety of sectors to learn more about the personality disorder diagnosis and associated difficulties, and to gain more insight into the various different approaches that can be used to support people who live with the difficulties of personality disorder.
Although the KUF awareness course is not specifically intended to be a skills based course, the course does includes many examples of appropriate skills and other evidence based practice to facilitate effective working with people with personality disorder difficulties.
KUF is always delivered equally by two trainers, one of whom has lived experience of Personality Disorder.
Course Format
The course consists of 3 days of facilitated learning and six online modules.
To complete the course students need to attend all 3 days of the course and complete all the online modules.
The online modules can be accessed once the passwords have been allocated on the first day, and students will be able to continue to access them for a further month following the final facilitation day. The online modules form part of the Virtual Learning Environment. In addition to the modules there is also a discussion forum and students can access the discussion forums of other groups to see what other students from other parts of the country have learned.
What does the training cover?
The programme aims to:
- Explore different perspectives about personality disorder
- Dispel some myths about personality disorder
- Explore ways of understanding personality difficulties
- Look at how someone’s past experiences can affect the present
- Help you to understand how to work effectively with service users with a personality disorder
- Reflect on different approaches to working with people and the impact of reactions and responses
- Explore the impact of working with personality disorder on the wider team
What will I need to do on the training?
The training package is delivered in a very different way to many other training programmes and involves:
- Three full days of facilitated experiential training (all days must be attended).
- Completion of 6 internet-based online modules (approximately 8 hours of work outside of the training days)
- Self-directed learning, reflection and homework
There is a break of about 2- 3 weeks between the facilitation days to allow students enough time to complete the online modules before attending the next facilitation day. Students are expected to complete the first 3 modules before attending facilitation day 2 and modules 4-6 before attending facilitation day 3. The reason for this is that these modules will be explored in detail on those facilitation days and students will gain much more from the course if they have been able to complete the modules beforehand.
The time needed for the modules will vary from one individual to another but a rough guide is about 3-4 hours for the first three modules and 4-6hours that for the second three. It is extremely important that students work out with their workplace/organisation how the completion of this self directed work can be managed.
To be able to access the online modules, students will need access to a computer with sound, Internet and Flash Player.
Each facilitation day runs from 9.30am to 4.30pm.
Students will be awarded a certificate once the course has been completed.
For more information about KUF in the South West please contact.
Iola Davies South West KUF Project Manager
Email;
For more informationgenerally about KUF visit:
For more information about Emergence visit
February 2014