The introduction of therapeutic specialists in Anglicare Victoria’s (AV) residential care homes is making a huge difference to the wellbeing of young people and improving their chances of reunifying with their families, according to evidence presented at a national family services conference this month.
On 3 and 4 July, a group of therapeutic specialists from AV attended the Australian Association of Family Therapy (AAFT) “Healing and Connecting” conference at the Pullman Albert Park. AV was a proud sponsor of the conference, which was attended by family services and child welfare professionals from around the country.
AV’s Statewide Principal Practitioner Anne Welfare, Manager Clinical Practice Jaya Mathew (pictured), and Senior Therapeutic Specialists for Residential Care Lauren Brooks and Selene Foster Zuluaga prepared a presentation for a workshop on the role of therapeutic specialists in residential care settings. Their presentation, titled ‘Chasing Connection: Working with Family in Residential Care’, explored the transformational change that has occurred since the Victorian Government committed to providing in-house therapeutic specialists in every residential care home in the state.
Residential care, or “resi”, is a home away from home for young people who are unable to live with their parents. Staff work around the clock to create home-like environments and support young people with daily tasks such as getting ready for school and attending appointments. The addition of therapeutic specialists to AV’s resi homes means both young people and staff have access to the support they need to address complex needs and behaviour challenges.
“Almost all of AV’s 30 residential care houses now have a therapeutic specialist on board,” Lauren said. “The role of the therapeutic specialist is complex and requires extensive experience in the mental health and child protection systems. At AV, a strong focus for our therapeutic specialists has been family engagement.”
“The success of this family work rests on trauma-informed care and relationship repair,” said Lauren. “The Therapeutic Specialist acts as a bridge, helping the young person and their family understand the systems and services around them, like child protection, the police, alcohol and other drugs services, and the NDIS.”
The team presented case studies which demonstrated the power of involving family work in interventions with young people, following significant long-term breakdown of relationships.
“Working with families who have historically struggled with safety and connection is complex,” Jaya said. “In our presentation we wanted to expand on the cutting-edge work our therapeutic specialists use to connect disengaged and traumatised families with their young people who are living in resi. It was very well-received by attendees.”
“It was wonderful to represent AV in the sponsorship of the AAFT conference, and it was lovely to see strong attendance from our staff,” said Jaya. “It really demonstrated AV’s strong commitment to ensuring families remain involved in the care of their children.”
“The conference had representation from the mental health system, the justice system, and the welfare sector,” said Jaya. “There was a lot of interest in the support AV could provide through our different family services and Out-of-Home Care programs.”
You can find out more about the AAFT and the networking and professional development opportunities they offer here and search for current Therapeutic Specialist roles on the AV Careers page.
