Therapeutic Parenting
Another Kind of Parent – What is Therapeutic Parenting?
‘Therapeutic parenting is founded upon the principles of ‘good parenting’, or indeed ‘ideal parenting’. There are, of course, other forms of alternative parenting to assist children whose lives suffer disruption, the most obvious being adoption and fostering. Fostering, particularly, can be used when a child’s parents are temporarily unable to care for her, perhaps through illness or other personal difficulty. However, alongside ‘good parenting’ principles, therapeutic parenting is underpinned by psychodynamic theories of child development and an understanding of attachment theory. Such parenting offers the child, directly or indirectly, symbolically or actually, important experiences denied by his or her own natural parenting. It is offered within a substitute environment which must be safe and which the child must be able to trust. The kind of child to whom we are referring will need this specialist treatment before she is able to reach a point in her recovery which will enable her to be parented within a family’.
Pughe, B. and Philpot, T. (2007) Living Alongside a Child's Recovery, Therapeutic Parenting of Traumatized Children, Chapter 3. Another Kind of Parent – What is Therapeutic Parenting? Pg. 34. Jessica Kingsley Publishers, London.
Therapeutic Parenting is the mainstay of the Recovery process and takes place in houses that are as much as possible, based on family homes. Each home supports between three and five children, each with their own bedroom. The houses are designed to ensure that each child feels comfortable and safe in their environment with great care taken to avoid giving any sense of institutionalisation. High levels of nurture are offered as we attempt to replicate 'normal' family life. This is the first level of recovery, the containment of the child in a comfortable environment; safe from harm with a space that they can call their own.
The Management and Team
Each house is managed by an experienced Registered Manager with a core team including a Deputy Manager, Senior Recovery Practitioners, Recovery Practitioners and Student Recovery Practitioners.
There are a minimum of ten team members in each house, with always at least three staff working with the children at any one time. At night two team members ‘sleep in’. Every child has a key-carer who plays a pivotal role in the recovery process, particularly in developing each child’s ability to attach. As SACCS employs a zero agency policy, changes to personnel are kept to a minimum. In addition, SACCS employs additional staff in order that absences and training can be supported whilst still maintaining appropriate staff levels. Continuity and consistency of approach are the watchwords of the Recovery process.
The Training and Development
All SACCS staff, especially the Therapeutic parenting teams undergo an intensive programme of training and development to ensure that they have the self-awareness, skills and theoretically underpinned knowledge required to offer safety and containment, behavioural development and internalised change to each child. The level of training is intensive as each staff member must be able to understand internal trauma and its manifest behaviour in order to practically apply the working methods outlined in each child’s IRP. Understanding the real nature of distress is the first step to being able to deliver recovery.
Each staff member is provided with three levels of training that takes up to two years to complete to support the three levels of recovery. The first is training required to achieve statutory compliance and is expected to be completed within the first 12 weeks of employment. The second is NVQ level 3 and 4 equivalent by the end of year one enabling staff to understand aspects of behaviour, to work with the IRP and monitor, observe and report on behavioural change. Finally, a Level 5 Foundation Degree is achieved at the end of year two. Level 5 graduates are able to understand, practically apply and articulate the intricacies of trauma as the child recovers from a poor internalised model to one that is much more positive and healthy.
Communication
In order to provide consistency in the messages given to each individual child, a very high level of communication is necessary amongst the care team. The IRP is formulated for each child and provides the cornerstone of all integrated activity for all members of the Recovery team. Each plan receives a regular three monthly assessment where the plan is updated, every six months a review takes place where the IRP is considered against the expected outcomes of the Care Plan as set out in the IPA.
In addition to the statutory review process, for which the IRP provides the primary reporting source, additional meetings amongst professionals regularly take place and are designed to ensure that consistency is maintained, that drift is avoided and that complacency is kept at bay. Structured handovers take place daily; each care team holds weekly meetings and engages in regular therapeutic parenting consultancy sessions with a senior practitioner who can offer an objective perspective on individual children. In addition, an internal/external team of consultant psychotherapists/psychiatrists/psychologists meet with the care teams on a regular basis to maintain their well-being.
The Children
For the children, as part of the therapeutic parenting process, there are weekly meetings held in the home where the children are empowered to contribute ideas to influence the care they receive. Each child has their own copy of the IRP in child friendly language in order that they can contribute and set targets for their own development.
Each child also has individual time with an Independent Person who visits the house every four to five weeks. This person will understand and cater for some of the specialist needs of the child including cultural support and understanding. The Independent Person’s role is to encourage children to talk about any facet of their life, respond to a child’s complaint and advocate on their behalf when necessary. A child can make contact with the Independent Person at any time.
Finally, children also have access to their own Children’s Council where elected representatives from each house will meet with the Chief Executive Officer and Directors of SACCS to discuss issues that are important to them and work through points of view that their homes have asked them to forward. Every three months following a meeting each representative takes the decisions of the council back to their own home and reports accordingly.
Every home is inspected and registered with OFSTED. In addition, in-house inspectors are used to visit each home on a monthly basis to provide a thorough inspection and report in line with Regulation 33 of the Children’s homes Regulations, 2001.
