Assessment and Therapeutic

When we take on a child in Five Rivers, we aim to provide a placement journey that is therapeutic and effective. But what do we mean by 'therapeutic' in this context?

By the very fact of being taken into care, children and young people have had their lives disrupted. The reasons for being in care will also have had a dramatic impact on them. Many of them will have great difficulty - understandably - in attaching, trusting, or even knowing how to relate to others and behave in appropriate ways. Depending on the severity of these difficulties, these children can often 'bounce' from placement to placement. Each move adds to their sense of rejection, and can escalate their behavioural difficulties.

This is where therapeutic working comes in. It is no good just putting a child into a placement and hoping it will all somehow work out. These children have complex psychological needs which need to be managed and worked with by people who understand what they are doing. At Five Rivers, we will make appropriate assessments of the child's emotional, social, behavioural and educational needs. Assessment will then play an important part throughout the child's journey through

Five Rivers ensuring that the placement and the work being done remain appropriate to his or her needs. Having assessed the needs of the child, and recommended the appropriate placement package, we will then provide on-going training, consultation and supervision for the carers engaged in looking after the child.

Using our specialist support staff, including a UKCP registered psychotherapist training in Attachment Therapy, we will seek to ensure a high level of skill and insight in our carers - foster, crisis and residential. Where necessary and appropriate, we can provide direct Attachment Psychotherapy with the child and carers; we can also provide counselling and play therapy from qualified experienced practitioners.

So, 'therapeutic' means - assessing the child's needs, and meeting those needs with skilled, trained and well supervised staff.