Organisations

At Safe Base Psychology we have a wealth of experience in supporting Children’s Residential Care Services with the rewarding, meaningful and often challenging work they do. With our significant experience within the residential care sector and supporting looked after children, we offer a range of services to support the individual young person and the team around them. We recognise the value in working closely with the systems around young people. Therefore, we work together with multi-disciplinary teams including commissioners from health and social care, social workers, safeguarding teams, health services, learning disability, mental health and forensic services, schools, foster carers, other residential care providers and parents, carers and families. 

Our work is trauma informed and rooted in Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP) which complements our range of other psychological approaches. DDP is a therapy, parenting approach, and model for practice that uses what we know about attachment and developmental trauma to help children and families with their relationships. Developing trust with the help of Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity and Empathy (PACE) DDP provides interventions for individuals, families and carers, and those who support them.

We believe, and have witnessed first-hand many times, how everyday therapeutic care and interactions from caregivers can transform a child’s life. It is through the relationships around them that young people heal from trauma and loss.  Therefore, our services aim to help those caring for young people to recognise and understand how their life experiences have impacted on their psychological, emotional and relational well-being, and how best to support them moving forward.

We offer a bespoke range of services responsive to the needs of care providers and the individual needs of the children they care for. These include:

●  Psychological assessment of a young person’s needs.  Psychological assessments are requested for many reasons and usually aim to understand a person's thoughts, emotions, behaviours, and abilities. They are based on activities, cognitive and psychometric tests, interviews, and observations to help identify strengths, challenges, and mental health issues. At Safe Base Psychology we aim to understand a young person in the context of their life experiences so that we can guide the care, interventions and therapeutic support for their presenting needs. 

●      Therapeutic interventions for young people. By focusing on the foundations of therapeutic care we are then able to identify when a young person is ready to engage in their own individual therapy with a skilled psychologist or practitioner. Safe Base Psychology can provide a range of creative and trauma informed therapies for young people in residential care services when the time is right.

●      Consultation, support and guidance to foster carers, residential staff teams, social workers, health care professionals and other professionals. Our support to the teams around the young person is flexible and dynamic in response to their needs. We can offer team and individual consultation, training sessions, needs-led workshops, and personal and professional development sessions.

●   Models of practice and evidencing change is embedded in our approach. We can work with an existing model or support organisations to develop a new model of therapeutic practice. We are dedicated to evidencing change and positive outcomes for young people in care through robust outcome monitoring. 

Some of our most important work is with the team who directly care for the young person. We take the time to work with them to not only help them understand the young person, but also explore and understand themselves and what they bring to their work. We offer space to reflect and learn important methods of self-regulation and resilience to keep on caring. We have also had great success in therapeutic skills training with care teams to support everyday therapeutic interactions with young people in their care under.

Safe Base Psychology offers tailored support services developed in partnership with your staff and families. We focus on the emotional wellbeing and mental health of children, the needs of neurodiverse children and those experiencing trauma and attachment disruptions.

We recognise that schools are busy and demanding places, and that teaching staff and professionals working with children often do so alongside many complexities and challenges. Teachers and support staff can find it useful to be offered the space to reflect with support and guidance from specialist psychologists and practitioners who are experienced in psychological frameworks and theories which support young people.

The support we offer to schools includes:

●      Staff training and workshops

●      Consultations focusing on individual children to provide an understanding of their difficulties and a support plan.

●      Follow up consultations to track progress.

●      Supervision and reflective practice groups for teaching staff and leadership teams