What We Didn'T Know Then: Contemporary Neuroscience And What Really Matters for Children in Care

Wednesday, June 14, 2023: 3:30-4:30pm CST

REGISTER FOR THIS WEBINAR HERE

From the perspective of 45 years working with children and young people in care, the presenter looks back at the received wisdom in the field and how this has significantly changed in the light of recent research in neuroscience. Some older ideas (such as the importance of active listening) have withstood the test of time, while others (such as the reliance on behavioral strategies) have either been discarded or significantly modified.

The webinar will look at:

1. the importance of ‘feeling safe’, a notion that has been around since Maslow’s early work but one that had not penetrated into many areas of human service until the ‘discovery’ of developmental trauma – the notion of safety is strangely absent from most of the earlier CYC texts but is now universally accepted. With reference to the work of Stephen Porges and others we will look at the paramount need of our young people to feel safe – and the roles we can play in their journey;

2.  the older focus on the external management and manipulation of problematic behaviours which has given way to a richer understanding of the emotional drivers of many behaviours. This includes the concept of ‘pain-based behaviours’ and ‘pain-based responses’ (Anglin, 2022). It also involves a different perspective on the ways our young people learn to self-manage and self-regulate. Moving beyond our older behavioural and cognitive techniques, we now know that true change will only come about through the ways that our young people experience us over time, how we need to ‘co-regulate’ with them where they ‘live, learn and play’ rather than coercively-regulating them. It’s a way of being with them rather than a skill we impart;

3.  the importance of connection with our young people. We have known this for a long time and the earlier texts certainly stressed that good relationships were important in our work. However, these relationships were often framed as being instrumental; good for achieving our casework goals – they were not seen as a goal or outcome, in and of themselves. The emergence of the trauma perspective (another notion that was absent from the earlier texts) highlights the fact that ‘disconnection’ is the central outcome of developmental trauma (van der Kolk, 2014, 2023; Siegel, 2012) and that our young people yearn for trustworthy, reliable connections. Who we are for them is so much more important that what we do for them. 

Presented by Dr. HOWARD BATH - Allambi Care, Australia

Dr. Howard Bath has had a long career working with children and young people in the child welfare, youth justice and mental health systems in roles such as youth worker, house parent, program manager, agency director, and clinician. From 2008 to 2015 he was the inaugural Children’s Commissioner in Australia’s Northern Territory with a mission to ensure the wellbeing of vulnerable children receiving care, treatment, education and youth justice services.

Trained as a clinical psychologist, Howard has also provided direct clinical services for young people and their families as well as training and program support for agencies and schools across Australia and internationally. He has authored papers and reports on child protection, out of home care, family preservation and developmental trauma and is the lead author (with John Seita) of the book: The Three Pillars of Transforming Care: Trauma and resilience in the ‘other 23 hours’, written for care workers, teachers, kinship carers and others who interact daily with children exposed to developmental trauma.

SPECIAL EDITION: Relational Child and Youth Care Management

Historically, the relationship between management and workers is one of power-relations and a struggle for control, in which workers often experience the interests of management as being at odds with their own interests (Harrison, 2001). This causes an incongruence between workers’ experience of relationships with their seniors and the type of relationships they are expected to cultivate with the children and young people whom they service.

While the literature on Relational Child and Youth Care Practice has grown over the years, the focus has primarily been between the relationships between practitioners with children and young people; what remains relatively unexplored is the role that management plays in creating a workplace environment and the relationships that support adopting and implementing a relational approach, as well as how the management approach should be aligned with the principles and values of Relational Practice.

Relational Child and Youth Care Practice (RCYCP) is preparing a special issue on “Relational Child & Youth Care Management”. We are interested in submissions that explore the relational approach to management within child and youth care practice and organisations, in the following (but not limited to) areas:

• Descriptions/definitions of a Relational CYC Management approach;

• Stories, experiences and examples of management practices that are experienced as relational in nature;

•  Exploring how Relational practice can become an integrated approach/philosophy at all levels of an organisation or programme;

• Exploring how an integrated Relational approach might impact the development of policies that drive an organisation;

• Descriptions or examples of how the characteristics of Relational CYC Practice might show up in a management approach that is aligned with the relational philosophy;

• What might be the benefits or drawbacks of a management approach that is aligned to relational CYC practice? Who could benefit and how?

Although we prefer submissions to be less that 5 000 words (excluding references) the submissions for this issue may include various formats eg. full-length papers, research, or short narratives.

Further information for authors may be found at www.rcycp.com

Deadline for submissions is July 15, 2023

If you are interested in contributing to this issue, please contact rcycp@press.cyc-net.org