Countless reports and the experience of providers and local authorities alike tell us that there is rising demand and complexity across children’s social care. Residential care, fostering and specialist education have all become increasingly segmented with specialist services and models emerging. This presents significant challenges for those who commission and purchase services and for those who operate them, either as a core activity or especially as a component part of a wider portfolio. There is a real lack of understanding and consensus, on both sides, about what systems and structures to expect in order to deliver quality, value and outcomes.
The term “therapeutic” has been increasingly adopted over the last decade but what does this term mean, and how does it translate into the realities of daily practice? Are staff working in residential children’s homes and other social care settings trained to understand and operate a “therapeutic” model?
With this in mind it is perhaps unsurprising that The Consortium of Therapeutic Communities (TCTC) and the quality improvement network Community of Communities at the Royal College of Psychiatrists have seen steady growth in membership and engagement. Children’s social care and education services, mostly small and medium sized, represent the fastest growing and most active networks for both these agencies. Services come almost always seeking a model for practice because just getting by without one doesn’t work.
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By Kevin Gallagher, director trustee, and Dr Chris Nicholson, chair, of The Consortium of Therapeutic Communities; and Bethan Thibault, programme manager at Community of Communities, the Royal College of Psychiatrists
Click the links below to read more in CYP Now's Therapeutic Communities Special Report
Research evidence
Practice examples
Frontline views
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Using therapeutic play to help children express feelings
By Lexy Oliver, lead music therapist, Coram Creative Therapies and Parenting Service -
How music therapy supports children in therapeutic settings
By Daria Samsel, therapeutic practitioner at a psychodynamic therapeutic community
