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Embedded clinical thinking
For you and your young people
More and more independent care providers understand the impact of trauma and adversity on their young people, but may not have the expertise, structure, or budget to deliver specialist therapeutic care.
We can help you integrate a truly therapeutic way of being into your provision, while maintaining your vision, your values, and your team spirit.
“In order to be a truly therapeutic service, psychological and clinical thinking must be at the heart of operations.”
What we offer you
Your integrated clinical package includes:
Our evidence-based Attachment and Trauma Informed Care model has a proven track record in more than a dozen residential homes. We will also help you to restructure your placement fees, so that the cost of our services is covered by the placing authority.
A fully qualified and highly experienced HCPC registered psychologist or UKCP registered psychotherapist present in your service throughout the week.
A weekly or monthly space, led by the clinician, to encourage reflection and integration of trauma-informed therapeutic thinking and practice.
Robust psychological assessment of every young person in placement, reviewed every 12 weeks and repeated annually.
Placement stability meetings that act as a proactive ‘early warning system’.
A robust process for reflecting on unplanned placement endings and placement breakdowns.
A joined-up matching approach to ensure that all placements are the right place at the right time.
A weekly space for managers and clinician to get together and think about how therapeutic approaches can be applied from the top down.
All children in residential are offered weekly therapy with the clinician, drawing on evidence-based interventions and following our tri-phasic model of treatment.
Support in ensuring your policies, process, and procedures are attachment- and trauma-informed.
A collaborative way for us to evaluate where we are at in our journey to becoming more therapeutic.
Foundation, intermediate, and advanced level training available for all staff in Therapeutic Care approaches, as an optional extra.
You may already have independent therapists who work with the young people in your services.
What are the added benefits of having a fully integrated clinical package?
Therapeutic benefits:
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The clinician is in the home or service throughout the week, not just there for therapy once a week. This ensures that all aspects of service delivery and operations are psychologically-led (referrals and matching, risk assessment and management, supervision of staff and management, team meetings, reflective practice, inter-agency meetings).
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The clinician works with staff and managers in an ‘everybody approach’ to maximize treatment of the child, not only within their hour of therapy but for the other 23 hours of the day.
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Focusing on the team itself and creating a therapeutic organisational culture improves staff well-being and retention, leading to greater consistency for young people.
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The clinician knows the children and the team well, so training and consultation can be truly tailored to the children in service—no more external “tick box” training.
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Your clinician becomes an integrated member of the team, improving the overall level of care the children receive, increasing staff competency and confidence, and making the systems and processes trauma-reducing, not trauma-inducing.
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The clinician maintains a degree of independence and objectivity. The clinician is supervised and accountable to MCTS as an external agency, meaning they maintain accountability and a third-party viewpoint.
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Our interventions are rooted in data. The clinician undertakes regular clinical monitoring, specialist assessment, and evaluation of the child’s psychosocial needs (e.g., CDC, SSAP, ASA). This allows robust monitoring of outcomes.
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The cost of our services is covered by the placing authority through restructuring of the placement fees. We understand that providing only ‘the basics’ for young people with high needs is a false economy. Ultimately, offering an enhanced level of therapeutic care leads to better outcomes for young people and the placing authority.
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In our experience, a placement that includes a fully integrated clinical package is an investment that placing authorities are willing to make.
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Specialist therapeutic placements can enable you to build a higher margin into placement fees, allowing you to strengthen and expand your services, invest in staff, and make decisions driven by the needs of young people, rather than financial concerns.
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The clinician develops and implements therapeutic practice standards and staff competency frameworks, enabling us to standardise best practice and robustly monitor and evaluate staff and service efficacy. This is beneficial for OFSTED and CQC evaluations.
Business benefits:
All about ATIC
Over the past 30+ years of looking after children and young people’s emotional, mental, and physical wellbeing, we have built up a body of published and proven research evidencing the positive outcomes achieved through giving Attachment and Trauma-Informed Care.
See moreIf you are in a caring role, you will know firsthand the impact that trauma, abuse, neglect, or other adverse childhood experiences can have on a young person’s growth and development. It might show up through behaviours that are challenging for you to handle, or it might be difficult to understand why your young person thinks or communicates the way they do.
We believe that relationships are the key to overcoming difficult early life experiences and growing confidence, skills, friendships, and opportunities.
With a rock-solid base in neurological science and methods backed by decades of research and experience, ATIC means creating a carefully planned out and loving therapeutic ‘milieu’* for young people in your care to heal from past experiences.
See more*milieu = a person’s social environment. Creating a therapeutic milieu means thinking about every aspect of a young person’s living situation, social interactions, activities, sensory needs…all the different building blocks of their life so that the world around them begins to feel safe. Defences can gently be let go of and curiosity and learning begin to feel ok again.
Book a free call with our friendly team and find out how we can help you.
How does it work?
Our ATIC packages take care of your young people, your staff, and your entire organisation.
See moreWe all want to do our best, even when we’re feeling at our worst, and ATIC starts from a crucial “safety first” perspective, to gain stability for the children and young people as well as the staff teams that support them.
By your side
We have a whole toolkit of rationalised and robust elements which come together to form ATIC. From staff support structures to reflective practice, therapy with young people through to your recruitment and HR processes, we help you take a holistic look at your entire organisation while also holding on to a deep understanding of what makes your provision special and why you do the work you do.
Implemented in 12+ homes
Supporting 60+ children
Over 5+ years
Experience
Why choose us
- Our Attachment and Trauma Informed Care model is tried and tested.
- Developed over the course of 30+ years of caring for looked-after children and young people
- Research-backed showing improved outcomes for children, staff, and care organisations
The model can be adapted to suit your statement of purpose and needs and is based around our core elements. These elements are called the ATIC™ Toolkit, and they are the rhythmic, predictable structures that provide containment, and the opportunity to weave and reinforce therapeutic practice throughout your organisation. If you are an independent care or specialist education provider and feel that your residential team, fostering agency, or school could be a good match with our core values, get in touch now.
