National/International Links
April-May 2010
Lecture Tour – Australia
Richard Rose, Clinical Practice Director of the Mary Walsh Institute, returned to Australia to present a series of seminars for the Australian Childhood Foundation. The series, entitled ‘Promoting Recovery with Traumatised Children’ took place in Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Melbourne and Hobart (Tasmania). Richard delivered two separate topics, the first of which provided an introduction to the Life Story process, based on the SACCS book entitled ‘The Child’s Own Story: Life Story Work with Traumatised Children’. The second topic ‘Building a Successful Approach to Therapeutic Residential Care for Traumatised Children and Young People’ drew on theory and research about attachment, trauma and resilience. This workshop centred on how to provide therapeutic care for children and young people, specifically in residential care contexts. Firmly based in the day to day reality of living and working with traumatised children, the workshop provided practical strategies for planning, integrating and monitoring strategies that meet the needs of individual children at home, school and other significant environments.
March 2010
Visiting Scholar – Australia
James Cook University in Far North Queensland (FNQ) extended an invitation to MWI’s Clinical Practice Director, Richard Rose, to spend time at the Cairns Institute as a visiting scholar. The main focus of this invitation was to contribute to the Learning & Development Strategy for Non-Government Child Protection Placement Services in FNQ. Richard was initially able to combine forces with Laurel Downey, Senior Research Officer from the Department of Social Work & Community Welfare, to offer professional consultation to a number of residential projects. He also presented SACCS approaches to care and trauma, and was involved in discussions around three models of practice including appraisal, education and development. An outline of the Glyndŵr University/SACCS Foundation Degree in Therapeutic Child Care (which is undertaken by all SACCS recovery practitioners) and a new appraisal process, drafted by Richard and Laurel, was presented to representatives of therapeutic residential services and the government’s Child Safety Department. The presentation led to a formal request for Laurel to present a cost model for funding a new qualification for therapeutic residential care workers in Queensland.
The next leg of Richard’s tour was to Brisbane as guest speaker at an Advanced Clinical Symposium presented by Evolve Therapeutic Services, part of a State-wide, cross-government initiative which provides evidence-based therapeutic interventions to children and young people with complex and extreme needs.
Two lectures were also presented for the James Cook University, one in Cairns and the other in Townsville entitled ‘Therapeutic approaches to child care for traumatised children’. Finally, it was back to Brisbane for delivery of a 3 day training programme for Evolve Therapeutic Services, followed by a meeting with Families Plus to explore future practice links.
February 2010
Life Story Workshop - Portugal
Following a visit to SACCS last year by Pedro Vaz Santos, a Senior Clinical Psychologist from Portugal, Richard Rose was invited to Lisbon to deliver a workshop on 5th and 6th February entitled ‘Life Story Work with Traumatised Children’. This event was attended by psychologists and social work educators, and provided an opportunity for attendees to gain an in-depth understanding of the techniques required to successfully undertake the SACCS Life Story process.
Pedro Vaz Santos’ clinical background is the provision of therapeutic child care courses at the Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada (one of Portugal’s major psychology schools), and consultancy on residential child care through his organisation Labirintos Coloridos Consultores. Richard has been asked by Senor Vaz Santos to return to Portugal towards the end of the year to present a follow-up workshop; details to be announced.
Social Pedagogy Workshops - Norway
On 3rd February Mary Walsh, SACCS CEO, and Richard Rose, MWI Clinical Practice Director, gave presentations on the SACCS Recovery Programme to two groups of post-graduate students from the University College of Sogn & Fjordane, and the Stord/Haugesund University College, Norway. The groups were visiting the UK as part of their studies in mental health and psychosocial work with children and adolescents.
Richard opened the sessions with a broad outline of the SACCS approach to working with traumatised children, our integrated approach to therapeutic child care, the SACCS assessment processand methods for enabling practitioners to understand the impact of trauma. Mary then spoke about the creation of SACCS and the development of our practice, and went on to demonstrate the use of the ‘Toy Box’ which she devised more than 20 years ago to help children unlock early memories and give them a way to share their experiences through the natural language of play.
Positive feedback was received from both groups, who felt they had developed new insights and were better equipped to deal with similar challenges in their own work and study.
Plans are now being developed to bring another group of Norwegian students over in 2011, and discussions are ongoing as to how SACCS and the Universities can work together in the future.
December 2009
Symposium - Isle of Man
During December Richard Rose met with John Knight, CEO of the Isle of Man Children’s Centre, a charitable organisation which looks after children’s services on the island. This meeting focussed on therapeutic approaches to working with children, fostering and assessment models, and how life story work could be introduced within the island’s family centres. It is hoped that MWI will go on to work with the Children’s Centre on best practice models and consultancy in the near future.
