Tag Archives: psychology

Needs trump reason, and other new videos posted to YouTube this week

This week I posted three more videos drawn from my experience in child and family psychology practice, with a major focus in child protection and out-of-home care, across the last twenty eight years. You will find each video, below. If … Continue reading

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Redundancy as a goal of trauma-focused psychotherapy

When you take on the psychotherapy role with a child or young person who is recovering from as tough start to life in out-of-home care, there is a real possibility that you will become the most consistent and enduring adult … Continue reading

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What attachment security looks like

In the first blog of this series about child welfare intervention outcomes, I wrote about the importance of knowing, and being able to say, what progress toward successful outcomes looks like. In this second blog of the series, I will … Continue reading

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Child Welfare Intervention Outcomes: What we know and what we see

What outcomes do you expect to see as a result of my service provision? This is a question I routinely ask in my work. Put another way: These are, perhaps, the fundamental questions that get at the hopes of the … Continue reading

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Achieving best outcomes from care

Twenty-seven years continuous work in child protection and child welfare, including ongoing work with young adults who have transitioned from Care, has taught me some extremely valuable lessons about long-term outcomes of a childhood spent in State Care. In particular, … Continue reading

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How do I get my child to go to sleep in their own bed?

In this blog I describe a methodology I used with my own children, and recommend in my practice. Before doing so, I would advise that this is a routine that I sustained across years. My children and I enjoyed this … Continue reading

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Why does my child chew their clothes?

Chewing their clothes is not necessarily evidence of wilful damage or a lack of respect. For many children it is an exaggeration of a very natural way in which they regulate their nervous system. As such, it is better conceptualised … Continue reading

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Why does my child follow me to the bathroom?

Those who take care of children who are recovering from a tough start to life commonly report that the child in their care follows them to the bathroom, and becomes unreasonably distressed when prevented from doing so. In my experience … Continue reading

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Why does my child antagonize others and then complain of being bullied?

Antagonizing others and then complaining of being bullied, though it is easily viewed as irrational and self-defeating, stems from very real (and justified) feelings of being poorly treated in life. Children and young people who have experienced relational trauma are … Continue reading

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Why does my child smile when I am angry?

Smiling when you are angry is not necessarily a sign that the child or young person in your care is feeling self-satisfied and smug. Many children and young people who are recovering from a tough start to life due to abuse and neglect are unsettled by heightened emotion in adults. For them, it is associated with something bad happening. Continue reading

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