Book of the Month June 2016 [A Guide to Therapeutic Child Care]

‘A Guide to Therapeutic Child Care -What You Need to Know to Create a Healing Home’ by Ruth Emond, Laura Steckley & Autumn Roesch-Marsh

REVIEW
I am so envious of the authors of this book -they have written the book I really wish I could have written myself! This is not another outcome driven piece of research that leaves carers and practitioners feeling hopeless or undermined, nor is it a simplistic set of tips or techniques, instead it goes to the heart of what therapeutic care is all about. It recognises the passion and loving commitment that characterises the best intuitive practitioners but also encourages a reflective and thoughtful approach drawing on research and theory.  

The authors’ style is beautifully lucid and clear but this simplicity is deceptive, as throughout this work they have embraced the complexity and messiness involved in providing therapeutic care for desperately hurt and distressed 
children. All the authors currently hold academic posts and this book is embedded in theory but this is communicated in a totally non-intrusive way.
Concepts from psychodynamic theory are effortlessly interwoven with neuroscience, while an attachment based developmental approach underpins the whole work. Ideas from trauma and resilience theories help to make sense of the impact of adversities and children’s different developmental trajectories. 
Although theory never overwhelms the reader, the authors have ensured that references are available for those who want to explore particular topics at greater depth. 

The core of this book is deeply relational. Every chapter highlights the importance of connections between people as the essential route to healing and recovery. The pain underlying the perplexing behaviour of children is ever present but the authors also recognise the emotional cost to adults of staying in touch with this distress. Throughout the book there is an emphasis on the importance of formal and informal organisational support mechanisms as well as adults finding their own effective individualised self-care strategies. The authors model a relational approach in the way the book is constructed and also through their courageous and reflective sharing of their own practice. The authors address their readers directly as other human beings, posing questions, sharing practice and suggesting useful everyday approaches that might help their readers to connect in a deep and healing way with children.  

The content of the book addresses the opportunities and challenges that are central to the daily shared experience of adults and children in therapeutic care settings. Alongside an introductory chapter on child development the authors explore how to attune to children who may have experienced only hostility and danger from adults in previous relationships, explain the importance of providing containment to children who have never been helped to process their 
overwhelming emotional experiences and consider how to be alert to the different forms of communication, conscious and unconscious, that can happen between people. They examine the symbolic, social and psychological meaning of the everyday rhythms and rituals of life with a special emphasis on the importance of food. They also discuss some of the difficult or complicated areas of being alongside hurt children such as the importance and complexity of touch between adults and children and also the challenge of responding firmly but lovingly to ‘pain-based behaviour’.  

Finally they locate the therapeutic work firmly in the context of the child’s chronological journey by explaining the critical role of ‘memory keeper’ that those caring for children should take on. In addition to this developmental 
perspective they highlight the need that all children have for connections to the wider world through their relationships with other important adults, their friends and the communities in which they live.
 
The particular needs of children with disabilities are recognised throughout the book in an inclusive and helpful way. The authors have successfully achieved their self-imposed task of ‘acknowledging the difficulties and celebrating the magic of healing care’. Residential child care workers and foster carers, interested in providing therapeutic care, have waited far too long for this book! In my opinion all new carers and residential workers should be given a copy before they even meet their first child! I have already begun the distribution process!!
Judy Furnivall  
Lecturer/Consultancy Lead CELCIS
Trustee SAIA

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