Search

Therapeutic Residential Care (TRC) has attracted increasing interest in Australia, as a specialised out-of-home care option for children with complex needs. Extending beyond the limitations of traditional residential programmes, TRC aims to address the impact of trauma and promote positive development and wellbeing. The Lighthouse Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation based in Melbourne, providing a long-term programme of TRC to young people aged 15 to 22 at intake. The organisation has developed an attachment and trauma-informed therapeutic community approach, embodied in the Therapeutic Family Model of Care. This discussion paper explores how the therapeutic community approach taken by Lighthouse provides a different experience of the cultural ‘sites’ in which early traumatic experiences occur – including the home environment, experiences of family, and the wider community. In doing so, we propose that an important dimension of TRC is the capacity to challenge traumatic relational blueprints of abuse and neglect. This, in turn, supports children to form and sustain positive and reciprocal relationships, and to live inter-dependently in the community. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper discusses the negative effects on children who are placed in out-of-home care and the need for early intervention and support for families to enable children to remain at home. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In his latest book, Touch - The Science of Hand, Heart and Mind, respected neuroscientist David Linden (2015) elegantly dives into the complexity of the circuitry that connects the body and the brain in integrative processes of experience. Detailing different types of fibres which conduct information from the sensors in our skin to the brain, he describes how the speed of information flow is critical to the way we can discern various forms of touch. “…Fast A-fibres are necessary to transmit rapidly changing, highly nuanced signals about object shape, texture, vibration…C-fibres, in contrast, are not built to inform the parts of the brain involved in discriminative, factual aspects of touch sensation, but rather function to integrate information slowly and to discern the emotional tone of the particular touch involved….recently it has become clear that some C-fibres convey a special kind of tactile information: they appear to be tuned for interpersonal touch…C-tactile fibres are caress sensors…(p.78)”. Amazingly, the human body has evolved so that it has sensors that are sensitive only to the experience of a caress. For children and families, the questions that arise from this insight are numerous and possibly far reaching. How do these fibres develop? Are they involved in embedding a sense of safety into our bodies? Are there circumstances in which they might be damaged? How does stress impact on their development in infants and children? [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Service utilisation by refugee families may be affected by the mismatch between Western individualistic service delivery approaches and the target communities’more collectivist cultural patterns and practices. In addition to access barriers, utilisation of early childhood services by refugees can also be impacted upon by distrust of services, health and settlement issues, stigma, unfamiliarity with early childhood programmes, and fear of child protection and other legal systems. This low service utilisation sits in conflict with the need for early interventions for very young children, who are in the peak period of brain development. This article explores the implementation of a model to address these issues in early childhood work with refugee families and communities, with the intent to increase service uptake. Some strategies to address potential barriers will be described in the context of a community engagement model that includes consultation, relationship building, collaborative flexible service design and delivery, partnerships in community capacity building and cross-referral. Flexible, culturally appropriate interventions can enhance strengths based, nonpathologising and development-focused approach. A community engagement approach will, nevertheless, present challenges for service providers who must be willing to adapt their practices. Services and funding bodies need to recognise that this process is lengthy and resource intensive, but will ultimately lead to better service delivery and uptake, potentially leading to improvements in health, development and relational outcomes, for children and families from refugee backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the past two decades an explosion of interdisciplinary research, especially in developmental neuroscience, has transformed and deepened our understanding of how the seminal social emotional events of infancy indelibly impact, for better or worse, all later stages of human development. In this article I briefly summarise my contributions in regulation theory towards that effort. After describing a current paradigm shift in the developmental sciences, I present an overview of my ongoing studies on the interpersonal neurobiology of the mother–infant attachment relationship. I offer research which indicates that optimal attachment experiences facilitate the experience-dependent maturation of the early developing ‘emotional’ right brain and thereby a predisposition for emotional wellbeing in later stages of life. I conclude with thoughts about the application of regulation theory for early intervention and prevention programs, as well as some larger implications for family law, cultural and political systems, and human capital formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews the interdisciplinary field of interpersonal neurobiology and its view of developmental trauma and wellbeing. Issues related to the mind, brain and relationships are discussed along with a working definition of both the mind and mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mentoring Mums, a community-based pilot program, exemplifies a model of volunteer home visiting to vulnerable and socially isolated new mothers and their at-risk infants. An evaluation of the program found that positive changes for both mothers and their babies had been achieved, providing the rationale for exploration of elements that made the mentoring role effective. This article undertakes this exploration through the research question: What do mothers, mentors and workers contribute to the conceptualisation of the mentor role with vulnerable mothers and their infants? The article argues that the program's effectiveness resided in a mentor role that shared primary values of befriending and neighbourliness, rather than in mentors enacting a quasi-professional role. Conceptualisation of the mentor role is based in theory and practice, seeing mentors as straddling the formal world of service intervention and the informal world of kith and kin. It presents ‘befriending’ as part of building substitute networks around very isolated new mothers. The very significant problems experienced by these vulnerable mothers made necessary parallel involvement of a professional volunteer coordinator and ongoing case management. Mentoring did not replace professional involvement, but rather was distinguished as providing something different, but much needed for vulnerable new mothers and their babies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we illuminate the ‘resourceful friends’ model of community social work as it has been applied in current work in the Family Inclusion Network (FIN) in Townsville, Queensland. Reflections from both parents and supporting members of FIN illustrate its very successful use in this context. This way of working is assessed, particularly in relation to its place in affording an invaluable dimension in family inclusive child protection processes. In conclusion, the contribution to building social capital and promoting greater social justice is identified. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]