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Fairways Care recognises that it is crucial to look after its staff as the team work in a highly intense environment at Manor Farm Cottage. Many of the young people in placement have experienced traumatic early childhoods and demand a high level of emotional and physical containment to work through the issues that arise from this. As difficult memories and issues are confronted and explored, the young people push against those supporting them through the process through aggression, violence and rejection. Exposure to such high-end behaviour is demanding both physically and emotionally so shift patterns are such that staff have regular breaks away from the environment and are encouraged to develop a healthy work/life balance. Staffing levels are high to ensure that the team is able to support itself on shift and time is allocated and paid at the end of each shift to allow a debrief to take place. Reflective practice is a crucial part of the therapeutic approach and this space is an intrinsic part of staff’s development and the improvement of practice standards.
The development of child care beyond the basic physical containment and moving towards staff affecting change through therapeutic intervention, requires staff to become more emotionally involved in the work and for them to understand the conscious and unconscious processes of what the young person is communicating. Rather than simply responding to the presenting behaviour of the young people in placement, the approach is more considered, planned and thought-about by the staff team enabling the work to be more effective and helpful.
To provide the young people with a ‘good enough’ and facilitating environment, staff require a similar level of support to the young people. Staff receive formal, structured supervision on a monthly basis to explore practice issues and receive support and guidance in a safe and boundaried mutually reciprocal form. As well as individual supervision, the team meet together once a fortnight to explore issues that have arisen within the unit and support one another in a continual learning process. Support groups for Key Workers and Shift Leaders also take place monthly facilitated by a senior member of the team to provide appropriate space for staff to share the challenges they experience within their particular roles.
Once a month, the team meet with Dr Sandy Burnfield, a consultant in Therapeutic and Psychological Approaches, to discuss the needs of the young people and how the team can better meet them. Sandy also undertakes specific training and team communication groups as and when required |
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