Current therapeutic community work with children and young people (PDF)

Welcome to this issue of Therapeutic Communities: The International Journal of Therapeutic Communities (TC) on 'current TC work with children and young people'. Central to this work is the provision of a 'lived experience' of safe and meaningful relationships within structured day to day group experiences. These relationships are consciously created by robust, caring, and emotionally attuned adults. The degrees of difference from adult TC work are in the modification, adaptation and expectation of the concepts of the levels of shared responsibility and negotiated authority. Staff acting 'in loco parentis' are responsible for the safety and welfare of children. This is a serious responsibility as due to persistent early trauma, the children referred to such specialist services often lack a coherent sense of self, and a reliable sense of 'agency' for their actions and behaviours. TC's for children and young people are also legally responsible for the delivery of each child's educational entitlement through appropriate schooling. TC work is a constantly evolving model of practice, and in this issue the themes of innovation, adaptation and change are evident; the papers explore how new ideas and techniques are complementing the core 'lived experience', to enhance opportunities for emotional growth.