Therapeutic Care Blog
The CETC blog tells the stories behind 'what works' in Intensive Therapeutic Care
What is cultural safety?
“Our own culture is like water to fish. We live and breathe through it’ (Alf Bamblett, quoted in Krakouer, J., Wise, S., & Connolly, M 2018) Cultural Safety is used by organisations alongside Cultural Competency and Cultural Responsiveness to demonstrate their commitment to work and provide services which are welcoming and respectful of another …
Read MoreThe Intensive Therapeutic Care Dance
Therapeutic residential work can be conceptualised as a dance. It works best when therapeutic workers display therapeutic presence, are in sync with the young person, can making meaning of the young person’s behaviour and responses and work in a climate that supports therapeutic care. At its best, therapeutic residential work is a process of synchronised …
Read MoreVanessa Farrell Interview: Therapeutic Opportunities in the Time of COVID-19
In this video, we talk to Vanessa Farrell Therapeutic Care Manager at Anglicare. I had the opportunity to hear Vanessa speak at a recent Therapeutic Specialist Community of Practice on how COVID-19 had presented enormous therapeutic opportunities in the context of residential care. In this conversation, Vanessa talks about the impact of COVID-19 on the …
Read MoreTherapeutic residential workers? Who are we?
This blog is to introduce my recent research with therapeutic residential workers. Further blogs and practice guides relating to finding, keeping, acknowledging and celebrating the best person for the job of Therapeutic Residential Care Worker and Managers will be developed in coming months. Keep an eye out for them! Why did I do this research? …
Read MoreSafety From The Outside To The Inside
“Being able to feel safe with other people is probably the single most important aspect of mental health; safe connections are fundamental to meaningful and satisfying lives.” Bessel Van der Kolk At the recent Therapeutic Specialist’s forum, there was lots of discussion about the concept of physical and relational safety in Intensive Therapeutic Care (ITC). …
Read MoreCultivating Curiosity in Therapeutic Residential Care
Albert Einstein, (a pretty smart person!), wrote: “I have no special talents; I am only passionately curious” Curiosity is something that has excited me my whole life. I am sure a lot of you share my fascination and enthusiasm for curiosity. There seems to be wide support for the idea that we work with a …
Read MoreLeaving Care: What we know and don’t know about outcomes for young people
The research is clear: young people do not fare well when they leave care. Study after study, both in Australia and internationally, tells us that our care leavers are more likely to be unemployed, homeless, experience poverty, mental health concerns, and as I argued in my previous blog, are at far greater risk of entering …
Read MoreStaying on Your Game as a Therapeutic Specialist
What follows is a mixture of tips, reminders, encouragement and hopefully a little bit of inspiration. Start with your “why” – Knowing your why is a key essential to success in your role as a therapeutic specialist. As Simon Sinek’s research into leadership has shown, the why comes first. The why is your origin of …
Read MoreRelationship-based care is key to recovery and change
For recovery and healing to occur in therapeutic residential care, there must be synergy or “congruence” between residential workers, the organisational culture and all other stakeholders in meeting the needs of the child or young person. The work of James Anglin (2002), Sandra Bloom (2005) and Bruce Perry (2006) has been highly influential in space, …
Read MoreAn emerging paradigm – Welcome to our new Therapeutic Care Blog
Over the past two decades, the term therapeutic care has emerged as a new paradigm used to integrate constructs that had traditionally been considered separate – therapeutic processes and the care of young people, many of whom have experienced significant trauma and present with a range of complex needs and challenging behaviours. National and international …
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