Therapeutic Communities For Children And Young People

Tackling the difficult issues facing those who work with traumatized and sometimes dangerous young people and their families, this new volume shows how professionals can bring about positive change and growth through the creation of "holding" and healing therapeutic environments. This collection of papers written by established and respected experts with extensive practice and research experience builds a powerful picture of the theory and practice of therapeutic community work with young people. A wide variety of therapeutic community approaches is considered alongside an analysis of the implications of this model for mainstream residential practice. Social work, health care and education professionals will find the text invaluable for its presentation of a well-founded analysis of their work with these most damaged and desperate children and young people.

This collection of papers written by respected experts with extensive experience builds a powerful picture of the theory and practice of therapeutic community work with young people. A wide variety of therapeutic community approaches is considered alongside an analysis of the implications of this model for mainstream residential practice.

Children and young people in care who have been traumatized need a therapeutic environment where they can heal and which meets their emotional and developmental needs. This book provides a model of care for traumatized children and young people, based on theory and practice experience pioneered at the Lighthouse Foundation, Australia. The authors explain the impact of trauma on child development, drawing on psychodynamic, attachment and neurobiological trauma theories. The practical aspects of undertaking therapeutic care are then outlined, covering everything from forming therapeutic relationships to the importance of the home environment and daily routines. The book considers the totality of the child's experience at the individual, group, organization and community levels and argues that attention to all of these is essential if the child is to achieve wellness. Case material from both children and carers are used throughout to illustrate both the impact of trauma and how children have been helped to recovery through therapeutic care. This book will provide anyone caring for traumatized children and young people in a residential setting with both the understanding and the practical knowledge to help children recover. It will be essential reading for managers and decision-makers responsible for looked after children, child care workers such as residential and foster carers, youth workers, social workers, mental health workers and child welfare academics.

Based on work carried out by staff at a therapeutic community over a number of years. Therapeutic Approaches in Work with Traumatized Children and Young People provides a clear and comprehensive link between theory and practice. The author shows how practice in residential child care, fostering and other areas of work with children can be developed in a way that is thoughtful and underpinned by a sound theoretical base. An invaluable record of working with emotionally traumatized children, this book is an in-depth account of a 'thinking culture' which provides continual opportunities to respond to children's needs in innovative ways - these include useful suggestions on a range of key issues including education and play, primary provision, sexuality and aggression.

Introducing key psychodynamic theory, concepts and techniques, this text examines the challenges and opportunities of counselling adolescents and children. The book explores a wide variety of settings and contexts, from schools to community projects and mental health services. It is an invaluable guide for counsellors and therapists at all levels.

Therapeutic Residential Care For Children and Youth takes a fresh look at therapeutic residential care as a powerful intervention in working with the most troubled children who need intensive support. Featuring contributions from distinguished international contributors, it critically examines current research and innovative practice and addresses the key questions: how does it work, what are its critical “active ingredients” and does it represent value for money? The book covers a broad spectrum of established and emerging approaches pioneered around with world, with contributors from the USA, Canada, Scandinavia, Spain, Australia, Israel and the UK offering a mix of practice and research exemplars. The book also looks at the research relating to critical issues for child welfare service providers: the best time to refer children to residential care, how children can be helped to make the transition into care, the characteristics of children entering and exiting care, strategies for engaging families as partners, how the substantial cost of providing intensive is best measured against outcomes, and what research and development challenges will allow therapeutic residential care to be rigorously compared with its evidence-based community-centered alternatives. Importantly, the volume also outlines how to set up and implement intensive child welfare services, considering how transferable they are, how to measure success and value for money, and the training protocols and staffing needed to ensure that a programme is effective. This comprehensive volume will enable child welfare professionals, researchers and policymakers to develop a refined understanding of the potential of therapeutic residential care, and to identify the highest and best uses of this intensive and specialized intervention.

Therapeutic Communities for Psychosis offers a uniquely global insight into the renewed interest in the use of therapeutic communities for the treatment of psychosis, as complementary to pharmacological treatment. Within this edited volume contributors from around the world look at the range of treatment programmes on offer in therapeutic communities for those suffering from psychosis. Divided into three parts, the book covers: the historical and philosophical background of therapeutic communities and the treatment of psychosis in this context treatment settings and clinical models alternative therapies and extended applications. This book will be essential reading for all mental health professionals, targeting readers from a number of disciplines including psychiatry, psychology, social work, psychotherapy and group analysis.

This new and thoroughly updated edition of Therapeutic Work with Children and Young People gives an overview of a psychodynamic therapeutic approach. It draws on a wide range of case studies by professionals who have found this way of working extremely constructive. Accessibly and sensitively written, the book looks at the relevance of early relationships, but places emphasis not so much on the individual's personal history as on exploration and understanding of their present state of mind and emotions. Relevant theory is discussed, with an emphasis on its practical application for everyday use within the caring professions.