Therapy Service
“A difference that makes a difference.” – Gregory Bateson
FCA employs over 50 qualified, accredited and experienced therapists and psychologists who work locally in multi-disciplinary teams in addition to a full time national Therapy Advisor who oversees clinical governance and service development.
Working from the premise that it is the foster carer who is the primary ‘agent of change’, the therapist’s principal role is to facilitate a therapeutic network around each child’s placement and be readily available to carers and the support team for consultation.
A Therapist is available from the outset of planning a placement, and throughout, to facilitate the thinking about how and who is best placed to address each child’s needs; entailing consultation with foster carers and other specialist services within FCA, for example the Education Liaison Officer or Life Story Worker or external agencies such as CAMHS. In complex situations a therapist will co-ordinate a detailed assessment to assist with this process.
FCA calls this provision of specialist services ‘team parenting’.
FCA employs therapists to work locally as part of its universally available placement support service. When an assessment indicates the need for individual therapy for a young person, and there is the necessary support for this, this may be provided either by an FCA therapist or through us with an externally commissioned specialist.
