Tag Archives: mental health

How can I tell what need or experience is the real reason for the child’s behaviour?

Watch this video to hear hear me talk about the real reasons for behaviours of concern exhibited by children and young people recovering from a tough start to life. You will hear about three key reflective questions to ask and … Continue reading

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Rethinking attachment theory in child protection

We need to distinguish between attachment relationship, and attachment style. Attachment relationships are the dependency relationships a child develops toward a caregiving adult. Primary attachment relationships reflect the child’s experience of care and protection from that adult. Attachment relationships that … Continue reading

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Attachment Theory Reconsidered: Embracing the Collective Role in Child Rearing

It takes a Village to raise a child. This widely-held axiom might be seen to contrast with representations of Attachment Theory as a white, western, middle-class theory of the mother-infant relationship. Is it right, then, to reject Attachment Theory in … Continue reading

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Understanding and Managing Children’s Unsettled Behavior After Parent Contact

In this audio, drawn from one of my supervision sessions with a local organisation, I lead the group through a reflective process considering the question – why are some children unsettled after birth parent contact? The audio is intended to … Continue reading

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More than a diagnosis: What you need to know about a child in your care diagnosed with ASD or ADHD, or both.

In this video I address the issue of what you need to know about the therapeutic care and management of children and young people diagnosed with ASD and/or ADHD, where there is a trauma overlay. The video is intended to … Continue reading

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Childhood Trauma and Fire Lighting: Differentiation, Reasons, and Interventions

In this video I respond to a question raised in supervision, recently, about my thoughts about children and young people who light fires. This led to a wide-ranging conversation, a portion of which is shared here. The video is intended … Continue reading

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We need to think more broadly than responding to the unmet need

In this video I share my thoughts about the need to broaden the much used maxim in out-of-home care circles, from “respond to the need” to “respond to the reason for the behaviour”. My views are shaped by my observation … Continue reading

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Our own response to the pandemic reflects the experience of maltreated children

Uncertainty, including in relation to our health and the health of our loved ones, our access to basic needs, and what the future holds, is anxiety-evoking. It can leave us preoccupied with accessing basic needs and lead us to behave in ways that increase our chances of being able to achieve needs provision, and feel safe. Uncertainty, coupled with the media coverage of the pandemic, can leave us experiencing ourselves as inadequate, others as threatening and dangerous, and the world as unsafe. The current uncertainty, and its psychological impacts on us, provides an insight into what life is like for children and young people who are recovering from a tough start to life.
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Therapeutic Parenting – The CARE Curriculum

Since I began updating A Short Introduction to Attachment and Attachment Disorder in early 2016, the CARE Therapeutic Framework is the name I have used when referring to content and strategies associated with the CARE Model (Consistency, Accessibility, Responsiveness, Emotional … Continue reading

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What is Attachment Disorder?

Over the last three decades, the term ‘attachment disorder’ has entered into common usage among professionals and carers who interact with children who display markedly disturbed and developmentally inappropriate relatedness to others. With greater awareness of the consequences of attachment … Continue reading

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