Therapeutic Communities for Children and Young People (Therapeutic Communities, 10)

Whilst there is now a growing canon of literature on Therapeutic Communities both in general and in different contexts, relatively little has been written about TCs for children and young people. This book tackles the subject directly, providing a perspective that focuses on the institutional context in which therapeutic work takes place and the theories and principles that underpin these settings. It deals with how TCs for children differ from other types of institution, discusses the growing and elaborate body of regulation, documentation and training that surrounds children's residential settings and looks at how therapeutic practices operate within these standards. Useful to social work, health care and education professionals, it gives an understanding of the history of TCs for children, the implications for the institutions themselves and, most importantly, what it might mean for those who hope to be helped by them. Therapeutic Communities for Children and Young People......Page 5 Contents......Page 7 Acknowledgements......Page 10 1 Introduction......Page 11 Part I Ideas and Origins......Page 19 Introduction......Page 21 2 The Core Framework......Page 23 3 The Roots of the Work:Definitions,Origins and Influences......Page 45 4 The Roots of Mental Health:Emotional Development and the Caring Environment......Page 67 5 Group Thinking......Page 84 6 The Contribution of Systemic Thinking and Practice......Page 101 Part II Practice......Page 117 Introduction: ‘Where’s the therapy?’......Page 119 7 Using Everyday Life:Opportunity Led Work......Page 121 8 The Meaning of Good Experience......Page 135 9 Relationships and the Therapeutic Setting......Page 150 10 Structured Work:The Space to Think......Page 163 11 Developing the Quality of Teaching and Learning in a Therapeutic School......Page 176 12 Keeping Families in Mind......Page 189 Part III Management and Development......Page 203 Introduction......Page 205 13 Leadership in a Therapeutic Environment: ‘What a Long Strange Trip it is ’......Page 207 14 Consultation and Supervision......Page 222 15 Staff Development and Training......Page 235 16 The Challenge of Research......Page 246 Part IV Applications and the Future......Page 257 Introduction......Page 259 17 Applying the Therapeutic Community Model in Other Settings......Page 261 18 Therapeutic Childcare and the Local Authority......Page 279 19 Developing Community Groupwork in a Secure Setting......Page 292 Conclusion......Page 305 20 Review,Reflection and Reading......Page 307 Key Professional Organisations in the United Kingdom......Page 311 Editor and Contributor Biographies......Page 313 References......Page 316 Subject Index......Page 328 Author Index......Page 337 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. In a discussion of therapeutic communities (TCs) for children and young people the contributors focus on the institutional context in which therapeutic work takes place and the theories and principles that underpin these settings This is a book about trying to hold things together - which is sometimes known in a very specific sense as 'containment' or 'holding'.