14 APRIL 2010
NO 1564
Caring for carers
The most important work within the school is the slowest, namely helping staff to develop their understanding of the deeper needs of the young people, and their own responses to their behaviour. This work is slow because it demands not only intellectual growth, but emotional and psychological growth, which must unfold in its own rhythm. It is also slow because training for residential child care staff has been poor in the past. It is only recently with the advent of SSSC registration requirements that staff training and qualifications in residential child care have begun to receive the attention they deserve. It should go without saying that tremendous input is needed to give carers what they need to be equal to the daunting task they are given. As Anglin said,
It is a disturbing fact that those who have the
most complex and demanding role in the care and treatment of traumatized
children have the least, and in many cases, no specific training for the
work. This means that many workers are being hired to work in the midst
of this 'river of pain' without having engaged in a process to identify
understand and come to terms with the unresolved trauma and pain in
their own backgrounds, leaving them vulnerable to defensive reactions
towards the youth when the youth's pain emerges in a variety of often
challenging ways
(Anglin, 2002, p. 113).
Staff need ongoing support to deepen their connection to their own inner worlds, and to understand how this impacts upon their relationships with children. It is only if we create an ethos of personal development for all staff, and a moral development in compassionate understanding, that we can hold that pathway open for our young people (Henderson, 2006).
Staff need to be given tools of understanding and the time to deepen their practice. In my experience they are very generous, committed and courageous individuals but are often asked to handle levels of damage that they may have neither the understanding nor emotional support to contend with successfully. A generous, loving heart and willing soul are not enough in our contexts.
Early on in the project, a weekend residential training session was held for the unit staff. The main purpose of the training was to give them a lived rather than a theoretical experience of the kind of home we hope to create, and which would visit all seven spheres of relationship. Every detail of the weekend was considered in terms of what staff needed and what they could do to meet the needs of the young people. The staff were very apprehensive and somewhat negative in anticipation of the weekend. We met in a welcoming small-holding at an old mill in the Borders. On arrival we shared a delicious and gracious meal served by our hosts, and then went across the garden, scattering ducks and hens, to our workroom in the mill itself. The space was beautiful and the atmosphere serene, an open wood fire blazing, candles lit, a warm carpet and a circle of cushions and beanbags, gentle music playing and an aromatic cauldron of tea scenting the room. The group relaxed immediately, commenting on how safe and nurtured they felt.
Although the work of the weekend was intense, the process flowed naturally and gently. There were three main parts to the work. The first was on Friday evening, when a very tender mood prevailed. The group were acknowledged and affirmed in their good and difficult work. We took time to each light a candle and speak about one particular boy we had known whose memory still troubled us. People shared deeply. It was as if a dam had given way. They were carrying so many stories of loss and tragedy. This sharing of emotional meaning enabled all the work that followed: the learning, the sharing and the ultimate renewal of purpose and enthusiasm in the work. It represented a quality of meeting which needs to happen regularly, a space where the hearts and souls of staff are recognised, as well as the emotional costs they incur. Being able to speak their deeper truths enabled staff to come – for a time – out of whatever survival posture they adopt in order to manage their feelings. As we become less defended we are more able to attune to our feelings and the feelings of others. This is crucial in work with children in residential care. A culture of defensiveness can only breed misunderstanding and aggression. Learning to share more openly prepares staff to be more able and willing to help the young people do the same, appreciating first-hand how threatening and transformative it can be.
CAREY MORNING
Morning, C. (2008). Opening the gifts and treasures in
residential child care. Scottish Journal of Residential Care, 7, 1. pp.
48-49.
REFERENCES
Anglin, J. (2002). Pain, normality and the struggle for congruence:
Reinterpreting residential child care for children and youth. New
York. Haworth Press.
Henderson, P. (2006). A community of learning. In R. Jackson (Ed.).
Holistic Special Education: Camphill principles and practice.
Edinburgh. Floris Books.
