Community of Practice Workshop

What are the 10 essential elements of the Intensive Therapeutic Care System in NSW?

Concepts of ‘complexity’ and ‘evidence’ are often heard in discussions that seek to find ways to better meet the needs of traumatised young people requiring more intensive forms of care. Debates about ‘evidence-based’ versus ‘evidence-informed’ practice have emerged in policy and practice debates as everyone struggles to find ‘what works’. Similarly, debates about locally developed …

An 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 …

Putting theory into practice

Sometimes you might wonder why you need to learn about theory. I have heard people say: “caring for kids in residential care is common sense” “theory is OK for academic’s but not for the everyday work of residential care” Residential work with young people is often conducted amidst high anxiety, uncertainty and emotion. Within …

The role of emotions in therapeutic care

The role of emotions within human service work may at first glance appear to be intuitively obvious and incontestable. Indeed, Howe (2008) described the day of a human service worker as ‘suffused with emotional content’. The role of emotions is at the core of literature regarding relationship-based practice and the separation of feelings from professionalism …

Relationship-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, …