CETC - Trauma-informed relationship-based recovery reflection tool - Practice tool - CETC

trauma-informed-relationship-based-recovery-reflection-tool-hero-image

Trauma-informed relationship-based recovery reflection tool – Practice tool

Foster care Kinship care Reflective Practice Residential care

Download PDF

Nov 2021

Written by Noel Macnamara

Children and young people need adults who can co-regulate with them and teach them about feelings and their inner world. This Trauma Informed Relationship-Based Recovery Reflection tool can be used by an individual or with a group to reflect on what children and young people need to recover from trauma and how you can help meet these needs.

Audience

This resource can be used with all of those caring for or supporting children and young people in care.

What you could do

Print and use this tool in a reflective practice session with direct care staff and other carers you are supporting.
Use this tool to reflect on your own capacity to meet the different needs of a child or young person you are caring for.

You may be interested in: Foster care Kinship care Reflective Practice Residential care

Creating positive social climates and home-like environments in therapeutic care - Practice guide Written by: Janise Mitchell

This guide has been developed to support the implementation of Essential Element: Physical Environments from the Ten Essential Elements of Therapeutic Care. It explores how to create therapeutic care contexts...

Reflective practice: enhancing practice in therapeutic care - Practice guide Written by: Janise Mitchell Noel Macnamara

Reflective Practice is one of the 10 Essential Elements of Intensive Therapeutic Care. This guide has been developed to support Therapeutic Specialists to engage staff in critical Reflective Practice -...

Putting theory into practice Written by: Noel Macnamara

Sometimes you might wonder why you need to learn about theory. I have heard people say: Residential work with young people is often conducted amidst high anxiety, uncertainty and...

What does stability in residential care mean? Part I Written by: Jenna Bolllinger

After four years working in residential care, both on the floor and as a clinician, I wanted to better understand what stability really means for young people in residential care?...

Stability in residential Care: Part II Written by: Jenna Bolllinger

Sarah is 14 and has been in placement for 18 months. She lives in a residential house with two boys and one girl. The boys display aggressive behaviours and are...

8 ways to support young people in residential care during COVID-19 Written by: Janise Mitchell

How do we keep to the therapeutic care principles of safety, consistency, predictability, and routine in a world that feels like it has turned upside down overnight? It’s near impossible!...

How do we create excellence in Intensive Therapeutic residential care practice? Written by: Janise Mitchell

What creates high quality therapeutic residential care? This is the question often asked of agencies, of staff, of policy makers and of the young people themselves. There is no simple...

Cultivating curiosity in Therapeutic residential care Written by: Noel Macnamara

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...

Therapeutic residential workers? Who are we? Written by: Glenys Bristow

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...

10 ways to enable young people's participation in therapeutic residential care Written by: Meaghan Vosz

In this blog, I’m keen to offer practitioners in therapeutic residential care some ideas about how to involve young people in decisions that affect their lives. Many young people in...

The Intensive Therapeutic Care dance Written by: Noel Macnamara

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...

Understanding and supporting young people who self-harm in residential care Written by: Noel Macnamara

Some of the young people we care for in the ITC programs deal with emotional distress and pain by hurting themselves physically. Young people hurting themselves is distressing to them...

What are the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people in care? Research brief Written by: Kathomi Gatwiri Lynne McPherson Nadine Cameron Natalie Parmenter

Indigenous children and young people face unique challenges in the child welfare system. The dimensions of this problem are complex and multifaceted. Providing culturally safe and traumainformed therapeutic care to...

‘Tis the Season to be Jolly’ – but not for everyone Written by: Noel Macnamara

It’s all too easy to get wrapped up in the fun and happiness of Christmas and forget that, for others, the season isn’t necessarily a joyful one. For some the...

The 10 essential elements of Intensive Therapeutic Care NSW - Practice guide Written by: Janise Mitchell

This guide has been developed to describe the 10 Essential Elements that form the basis for Intensive Therapeutic Care (ITC) service provision in NSW. The 10 Essential Elements have been...

The essential elements of therapeutic foster care - Research brief Written by: Janise Mitchell Lynne McPherson Kathomi Gatwiri Nadine Cameron Natalie Parmenter Joe Tucci

As far back as 2002 in the creation of the Catalyst Program, Mitchell developed what was Australia’s first therapeutic foster care program and one of a handful of pioneering programs...

What makes a good therapeutic residential care worker? Practice guide Written by: Glenys Bristow Janise Mitchell

Trained staff and consistent rostering are essential elements of therapeutic residential care. The purpose of this guide is to consider more broadly what makes an excellent therapeutic residential care worker...

How do you prepare for the transitioning of young people into an Intensive Therapeutic Care house? Part 2 Written by: Peter Le Breton

In the first part of the Blog, we explored limit and expectation setting, maintaining a state of occupancy and the planning process for a successful transition. In part two of...

How do you prepare for the transitioning of young people into an Intensive Therapeutic Care house? Part 1 Written by: Peter Le Breton

This is a two-part blog and will focus on the transition of young people into an Intensive Therapeutic Care house; however, most of the content is transferrable to other placement...

Changing your practice to being trauma informed in therapeutic residential care Written by: Glenys Bristow Noel Macnamara

Whilst the following Arabian proverb takes a bit to get your head around it leads rather nicely into this blog and our brief introduction on the relevance of the conscious...

How to thrive in lock down, lean into what works in therapeutic care Written by: Kelly Royds Noel Macnamara

Lockdown means we lose touch with many things: friends, family, freedom. For young people, therapeutic youth workers and other staff in Intensive Therapeutic Care, however, it also offers an opportunity...

Client mix and client matching in therapeutic care - Practice guide Written by: Janise Mitchell Kelly Royds Glenys Bristow Noel Macnamara

Client mix and the process of client matching is one of the 10 Essential Elements underpinning the Intensive Therapeutic Care (ITC) system in New South Wales. This guide has been...

Trauma-informed care - Research brief

This research briefing aims to define and clarify what trauma, complex trauma and trauma informed care are. Extensive literature has now surmised that exposure to adverse experiences such as child...

Q&A with the trainer: Harmful sexual behaviour Written by: Kelly Royds Cyra Fernandes

Working with young people who engage in harmful sexual behaviour is complex and challenging. Cyra Fernandes and Dan Howell have spent over a 1000 hours in the past year helping carers and professionals...

Strengthening connections & relationships project Written by: Lynne McPherson

What is this research about? Young people in residential care face major challenges that can prevent them from forming healthy relationships and a strong personal identity, which are critical building...

Come on it’s only a game Written by: Noel Macnamara

Many of you will have experienced something like the following… A residential worker is observing two young people playing table tennis in the rear yard of the residential unit. One...

Frequently asked questions by foster carers: Behaviours that challenge Written by: Noel Macnamara

In Australia, there are about 18 thousand children and young people in foster care. Most foster carers will be the first to tell you how rewarding it is – but...

Understanding the needs of kinship carers in Australia - Research brief Written by: Lynne McPherson Janise Mitchell Kathomi Gatwiri Noel Macnamara

Kinship care placements in Australia are now more prevalent than foster care. They are the fastest growing form of out-of-home care in this country (AIHW, 2021). On 30 June 2019,...

Sibling placement in out-of-home care - Research brief Written by: Lynne McPherson Kathomi Gatwiri Janise Mitchell Noel Macnamara

The significance of sibling relationships for children and young people in out-of-home care is well documented by national and international scholars (Luu, Conley, Wright & Cashmore, 2020). These relationships offer...

‘Drop and run’ - the experience of kinship carers in the Australian child protection system Written by: Noel Macnamara

Recent research was conducted by the Southern Cross University and the Centre for Excellence in Therapeutic Care (McPherson, Gatwiri, Day, Parmenter, Mitchell & Macnamara, 2022) into the experience of kinship...

Do ‘no touch’ policies in residential care keep workers and children safe? It’s not that simple Written by: Glenys Bristow

Lyn was 16 and had grown up in foster and residential care. Lyn was interviewed about her experience and views about out of home care. She was extremely positive about...

Blocked care: ‘You’re not alone; it’s a brain thing.’ Written by: Glenys Bristow

“No one knows what it is like to care for a child in trauma until they have cared for a child in trauma,” said Noel MacNamara in one of his...

What Was I Thinking? Handling the Amygdala Hijack Written by: Noel Macnamara

Remember that time when you put the child you care for back to bed for the fourth time? Your thoughts suggested a level of desperation and wishful thinking, hoping that...

12 ways foster and kinship carers can promote compassion and self-compassion in children and young people Written by: Noel Macnamara

What are Compassion and Self-Compassion?Compassion is the ability to feel and connect with the suffering of another human being, self-compassion is the ability to feel and connect with one’s own...

‘There was no support’: Getting kinship care support right Written by: Janise Mitchell Noel Macnamara

We did not and am still not receiving support requested or needed. Case managers or staff change without us being informed. Phone messages left at their offices and drop in...

Fight, flight, freeze, and fibbing: Lying as a trauma-based behaviour Written by: Noel Macnamara

In almost every session I have run for foster and kinship carers, someone tells a story about a child or young person in their care who regularly lies. I can feel...

Christmas in residential care: It doesn’t need to be the most wonderful time of the year Written by: Alex Novak

Christmas is a time of joy and celebration for many Australians, but it can also bring pressure and unrealistic expectations. The shops are decorated, Christmas songs are everywhere, and cheesy...

Living with the Fast and the Furious Written by: Noel Macnamara

You have opened your homes and your hearts to children who are unable to live with their parents. You want to help them access a better life. To feel safe,...

Trauma-sensitive family time is about connection and repair Written by: Sue Buratti

Relationships with family come with good times and challenges for everyone, but for children and young people in care, this birthright of family connection can often be deprioritised for the...