THERAPEUTIC PARENTING: A LIFELINE FOR TRAUMATISED CHILDREN

By The Bridge stands out as one of the few truly therapeutic fostering agencies in the UK because we offer a fully integrated, specialised service, offering a therapeutic parenting approach.We know from our years of experience and expertise that the nurturing family environment offers the potential for creating a continuously available arena for therapeutic healing By offering therapeutic parenting our families give our children the essential relational experiences they have missed. We place important emphasis on a depth of nurture, empathy and attunement. Therapeutic parenting is significantly different from traditional parenting It requires a deep commitment to understanding the underlying causes of a child's behaviour and responding with empathy and patience A therapeutic parenting approach asks that foster parents look beyond the presenting behaviour and consider what these behaviours communicate about the child's emotions and needs. Maria Kendall- Head of Therapeutic Services at By The Bridge emphasises, "It can be a big ask to expect children that have Trust, once broken, takes time to rebuild, and therapeutic parenting provides a safe and nurturing way for this delicate process to have a positive lasting effect on a child” Maria Kendall, encapsulates the essence of therapeutic fostering: "We seek to understand why many children in care display certain kinds of behavio- urs We ask our foster parents to understand the ‘need behind the behaviour". We hold in mind that our children are responding from a place of trauma and they have had to adapt so they can survive their past experiences. This insight is crucial, as it shifts the perspective from seeing a child as 'naughty' to recognising their behaviour as a manifestation and adaption of past trauma and survival.”

Central to therapeutic fostering is the concept of nurturing with lots of care, commitment, support and investment This involves more than just providing physical care; it requires a willingness to engage emotionally with a child, offering acceptance and understanding of them and their unique life stories. Relational engagement helps create a sense of security, inclusivity and belonging, which is vital for children who have adverse experience such as abuse and neglect By helping a child to work Though their traumatic past experiences our therapeutic parenting approach contributes to breaking the cycle of trauma

Therapeutic practice is embedded throughout the agency. The internal therapeutic team provides support across the agency and to external professionals It offers expert advice and support in understanding the individual therapeutic needs of each child This therapeutic support is interwoven into all stages of the foster parents’ Journey with the agency The team offers a highquality level of training for foster parents and staff Consequently, the therapeutic team is highly appreciated ”The outcomes of therapeutic fostering can be transformative. Children who have been given the opportunity to heal in a nurturing environment often show remarkable progress. They begin to develop trust, form healthy attachments, and rediscover their capacity for joy and learning Through reliable therapeutic parenting our children are better equipped to develop into well-adjusted adults who can contribute positively to society By The Bridge provides not only a place of safely for children, but also a structured pathway for foster parents to become confident in their therapeutic parenting Our continuous focus is on supporting the well-being of our foster parents helps them to offer a child what is needed.

We encourage you to join our amazing organisation, because you can really make a difference to a child’s life You will be fully supported in your therapeutic fostering journey Our team of expert social workers, therapists and educational advisors offers comprehensive support New foster parents are not expected to have prior experience of looking after a traumatised child, as By The Bridge helps to educate and develop parents to become skilful, knowledgeable, effective in their therapeutic parenting.

Our agency invests significantly in our 20-day progressive therapeutic training program, which helps support our parent’s therapeutic journey We encourage anybody who is interested in therapeutic fostering or knows somebody to get in touch to find out more

We encourage anybody who is interested in therapeutic fostering or knows somebody to get in touch to find out more Tel: 0800 644 6230