Developing a therapeutic model to suit the needs of young people and staff in a residential setting

2014 was a significant year for Tremanna Children’s Home. One young person’s placement broke down after four years, affecting everyone. A structured debrief was undertaken with all staff; an action plan to build on the strengths and areas of need was identified and acted on. Later in the year we held a Participation Day with all young people and staff to look at the Vision for Tremanna and again an action plan was developed and progressed.

Both these events highlighted that the young people and staff in Tremanna would benefit from having an identified Therapeutic Model. We agreed to consult with others and seek out models that potentially suited the needs of our young people and staff group.

We consulted with CELCIS and invited three projects, that had well established therapeutic models in place, to talk to the young people and staff about the benefits of each one; then we held another participation event to look at the key areas from each of these three models to decide what we wanted to include in ours and what we wanted to be different.

Our hope is that the finished model improves the lives of all the young people in Tremanna, and that the young people and staff continue this approach for many years.

The Participation Days successfully encouraged young people and staff to have an equal say in the running of Tremanna, and this culture has continued to develop in daily planning and decision making.

We have already had a Development Day to review how well we have implemented the model to date. Staff and young people worked together in small groups to plan and then deliver presentations on the day focusing on one of the four elements, offering examples of how the model is being used and what difference it has made so far.

Leni Rademacher

(Training Manager, Falkirk Council)