For some, mainstream foster or residential placements are unable to meet their highly complex needs. This is where specialist residential care providers like Halliwell Homes can step in to help them on the path to emotional recovery.
The organisation firmly believes that children can recover from their past experiences by living in a therapeutic environment that is specifically defined by a trauma-informed clinical programme.
It developed the Restorative Parenting Recovery Programme to focus on addressing the emotional, behavioural, social and developmental needs of every child placed in its residential homes.
The attachment based, trauma-informed programme aims to help children aged from four to 12 experiencing high levels of trauma to achieve psychological wellbeing that will enable them to attend school and move into a family environment.
“Children who have experienced early developmental trauma can really struggle with being able to manage their emotional responses, because they have not lived in a predictable, safe or comforting world,” says Fenella Quinn, Clinical Director of Halliwell Homes. “Left unaddressed, this can lead on to profound difficulties in their lives as it can get in the way of healthy relationships with other people.
“Through our restorative parenting, we are able to provide our children with a safe and predictable environment where their traumatised systems can start to calm, which in turn allows them to learn new, healthier responses to difficulties in their lives.”
Staff from Halliwell’s children’s homes, its registered schools and learning and development team are brought together with its clinicians to deliver a consistent approach that wraps around the needs of the child.
In practice, this means traumatised children are welcomed into a therapeutic residential environment that provides a place of belonging and warmth with the opportunity to develop consistent and caring relationships with staff.
Residential carers are trained to become therapeutic parents to these children tasked with repairing the damage caused by neglect, abuse or lack of stability.
“The importance of our Therapeutic Parents cannot be overstated,” says Rob McKay, Managing Director of Halliwell. “We are very proud of our staff team and the knowledge, skill and commitment that they bring to delivering the programme.
“Consistent relationships are the key to helping traumatised children overcome the impact of the instability and rejection that they have experienced in their young lives. We maintain full staffing, plus additional staffing where necessary, to ensure the consistency required and all Halliwell staff are indirect owners of the organisation as we are an Employee Ownership Trust.”
Each child is provided with a personalised programme that has been developed around their abilities and interests.
They are encouraged to take part in activities in the community such as drama classes or caring for animals to help develop social skills as well as providing a sense of achievement.
A child’s psychological recovery progress is monitored by Halliwell’s clinical team on a monthly basis using the Restorative Parenting Recovery Index.
The index measures are underpinned by five key elements identified as necessary for emotional growth and developing resilience. They are:
- self-care
- forming relationships and attachments
- self-perception
- self-management and self-awareness
- emotional competence.
“One of the great things we do here at Halliwell is that we have the ability to recognise, assess, diagnose and address presenting mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions early,” says Halliwell Clinical Director Fenella Quinn.
“We have a dedicated clinical team who work so closely with the children and staff on a daily basis that they quickly pick up anything that needs to be addressed and put the necessary arrangements in place to ensure the best care for our children. Where relevant, the clinical team then work with our training team to ensure that any necessary training can be put in place straight away so that all our restorative parents are able fully to understand the children’s underlying needs and how to meet them.”
Education provision
The programme places great importance on a child’s academic needs as part of their journey to emotional recovery.
Many children who enter the Restorative Parenting programme have negative experiences of school.
Halliwell says the job of its schools, which are co-located with its six residential homes, is to help children enjoy attending school and to motivate them to learn.
Educational psychologists assess each child’s needs on entry to design a programme tailored to their needs outlining both short and long-term aims.
Qualified teachers and teaching assistants are trained in the Restorative Parenting Programme and work closely with care staff and social workers to provide a consistent approach to care and education.
Therapeutic parents can walk with children to school where they can register with a character picture that shows how they are feeling that day so staff can prepare appropriate activities.
Halliwell’s schools are small - up to a maximum of nine children - with high staff ratios that initially allow some children to receive one-to-one teaching before gradually engaging in classroom activities.
Routine is paramount in reassuring traumatised children so the school offers a structured day and the use of visual timetables. Playtimes and lunch breaks follow a familiar routine to remove any uncertainty or anxiety.
Children are supported to achieve milestones in their recovery which could include moving from a Halliwell school to a mainstream school - it is expected that all children will make this move within 12 to 18 months of joining the programme.
Being alongside non-looked after children in a local school helps children to gain social confidence, see their improvement and motivate them to move to a fostering or kinship placement.
Research shows children that can sustain a school place are less likely to experience a foster placement breakdown.
Better outcomes
Halliwell expects that at any time at least 85% of its children are on track to achieve the psychological growth needed to cope with living in a family environment.
Last year, the Restorative Parenting Recovery Programme delivered impressive outcomes for children placed in Halliwell Homes.
On average, they took 24 months to complete the programme and successfully moved to a community-based or mainstream school after 12-18 months.
Children achieved on average 99% school attendance during the school year, significantly above the national average, and achieved above average attainment levels.
The majority of children that Halliwell looks after complete the Restorative Programme successfully and transition to community-based school and an onwards foster or family placement.
“The Restorative Parenting Programme has developed over more than 10 years to deliver a step down to a family placement after two years,” says Rob McKay, Managing Director at Halliwell.
“This year, we have had more children placed with us than ever before, and it’s gratifying to see so many of them returning to community based or mainstream education so quickly, and developing the resilience, emotional growth, and skills for living that they need in preparation for living in a family setting.”
