Local Authorities, Fostering & Adoption Agencies

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Do you know of a child that has recently been placed with a family who is struggling in their new environment?  Perhaps you know of a family that is in the process of adopting or fostering a child and you would like to increase the chances of that placement working out?

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Play & Creative Arts Therapy

Play and Creative Arts therapy is a type of counselling particularly indicated for children and young people (although adults benefit too).  It is non-judgmental, play-based and makes use of the arts to aid self-expression, discovery and understanding of our emotions and behaviours with the support of a professionally trained therapist.  

 

Whilst adults generally use words to express their feelings and to try and make sense of situations affecting them, children often find it easier to 'play out' their feelings.  In this safe way, they are able to communicate and express what they are going through, building relationships and solving problems in an emotionally safe, therapeutic environment.

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Filial Therapy

Filial Therapy is an established therapeutic programme whose success is founded in over 70 years of empirical evidence.  It combines non-directive play therapy (see above) and family therapy to strengthen relationships, create healthy attachments and prevent family disruption.  It is particularly indicated for families with children aged 3-12 years old.

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The following gains are often noted (with statistical significance):

• Therapy drop-out rates are low

• Children's presenting problems improve

• Parents' skill levels improve

• Parents' acceptance and understanding of their children improves

• Parents' stress levels decline

• Parents' satisfaction with results is very high

• 3 and 5 year follow-up studies show that these gains are maintained

(Rise Van Fleet, 2016)

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Through non-judgmental, close observation with families, positive feedback, and practice of new skills, parents (including foster and adoptive) will learn empathetic listening and how to use it with the children in their care.  This, along with other skills learnt during the 15-20 week programme, helps to vastly improve the relationship between the child and other members of the family.

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The techniques learnt will then become a life-skill and will be applicable to all future relationships and interactions.  It really is an extremely rewarding process!

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