“Ten years down the track: Victoria’s Residential Care Learning and Development

Strategy”2 August 2010

ACWA Conference Sydney

Glenys Bristow The Salvation Army WestcareEdith Loch Department of Human Services Victoria

Judith Newbold Centre for Excellence in Child andFamily Welfare

Overview of presentation

• Background to the Residential care learning and development strategy (RCLDS)

• RCLDS Training Plan• “With Care” trauma and attachment

training• What we have achieved and why!

RCLDS Key Aim and Goals

Aims:The development of a competent and appropriately trained residential care workforce that is supported to provide a high standard of care and to improve outcomes and life opportunities for children and young people in out of home care.

Goals:The ongoing development & maintenance of a skilled and stable workforce.

Provision of high quality training, supervision and support to workers.

Development of appropriate pre-service and in-service qualifications relevant to the field.

Commitment to, and development of a lifelong learning culture in the workplace.

RCLDS Training Plan

3 year RCLDS Training Plans provide a framework of Goals and Strategies for implementation.

487 Residential Care Workers attended RCLDS training in the 07/08 financial year.

Approximately 1200 residential care workers and staff attended RCLDS training in the 08/09 and 09/10 financial years inclusive. 507 staff attended priority training and over 700 attended the With Care training.

“With Care: Trauma and Attachment Training

• Stage 1: 32 x 2 day Training in “Trauma and Attachment” for approx 500 residential staff.

• Stage 2: 11 x Advanced 5 day “Trauma and Attachment” training for all residential staff and managers implementing therapeutic residential care pilots: 245 participants.

• Designed & delivered in partnership by Berry Street Take Two (Therapeutic Specialists) and Salvation Army Westcare (Residential Specialists).

• Training commenced in August 2008 and delivered statewide.

Stage 1 training

• The aim of this training was to provide an overview of trauma and attachment theory and trauma informed residential care for staff from all residential care organisations across the state.

• Each Stage 1 training program involved 2 trainers, one from Westcare and one from Take Two, thereby reflecting both a residential care and therapeutic perspective.

• Participants usually came from a range of agencies and registered individually or in groups. 500 participants registered.

• Funded backfill was provided for each residential care worker who attended stage 1 training

• Training successfully achieved the learning outcomes and is making a significant contribution to the residential care field becoming more attachment and trauma informed and has also contributed to the preparation for the therapeutic pilots.

Stage 2 training – Therapeutic residential care pilots

• In 2008/09 the Victorian government funded the establishment of 11 therapeutic residential care (TRC) pilots across the state.

• DHS, the Centre, CSO’s and RCLDS worked together to develop a training proposal to support the implementation of TRC.

• Training was a pre-requisite to TRC pilot implementation.• A staged roll out of the training and TRC pilot programs

was undertaken from August 2008 to the end of 2009. • Participants were residential workers, supervisors and

managers and invited DHS regional staff• Completion of the stage 1 training was a pre-requisite for

this training.

Stage 2 training• provided more detailed training on attachment and trauma and the

organisational context for therapeutic residential care and was adapted to each pilot therapeutic model.

• included consultation with the management of each agency about their model, the structure of the week, their contribution to the training and any potential areas of difficulty to be taken into consideration.

• Each model was tailored to different client groups ranging from a primary school-aged sibling group to late adolescents (as per the particular model of TRC).

• Other differences included one unit focusing on young people with disability, two units run by Aboriginal community controlled organisations, another with a sibling group of 5, and one unit focused on reunification and leaving care.

• The focus for Stage 2 was also to support TRC pilot’s team formation and opportunity to launch and celebrate the new initiative for the management, staff and other stakeholders.

Stage 2 – the training team

• Consisted of a core group of trainers with some members alternating or providing back up if someone was unavailable.

• The funding for the training was for 2 trainers, but most of the training involved 3 or 4 trainers, as well as the Aboriginal team members joining one of the days.

• This larger number of trainers was needed due to the use of small group processes and the need to respond appropriately to the essential emotional content of the training.

Stage 2 training – learning outcomes

Some of the desired learning outcomes included a good understanding of:

• the environment required to promote therapeutic change and to avoid further harm.

• how to set up and maintain systems and approaches within care settings that are pro-active, non punitive and growth promoting.

• how trauma and attachment theories translate into a therapeutically intentionally, practical direct care approach.

• how to use techniques that de-escalate difficult situations, do not exacerbate trauma responses and use attachment promoting strategies to enable children to develop new internal templates for interaction.

• how to translate the theory into practical application and the thinking shifts required to do this.

Stage 2 training – learning outcomes

Other desired learning outcomes included:• A substantial degree of comfort in using the techniques of trauma and

attachment related interventions.• Middle managers and supervisors feeling confident with theory and

practice to lead their staff (with ongoing consultation and support)• On-call arrangements reflecting a seamless grasp of the specific

approach for each child.• An ability to integrate the therapeutic approach across all dimensions of

children’s lives – cultural, family, education, etc.• An ability to integrate the therapeutic approach through all aspects of

planning within the care team and provides a guiding template for all plans, strategies and decisions.

• An opportunity to integrate organisational theories: James Anglin’s Congruence and Sanctuary Model: focus on organisational safety

Stage 2 evaluation

• 95% of participants rated the training highly (71% rated 6 and 24% rated 5 on a scale of 1 – 6).

• Extremely positive feedback from management of the organisations after the training, the broader system and perception of the trainers.

Some learnings

• Importance of the integration of the therapeutic mindset with the residential care mindset. One can’t work well without the other.

• How to impart complex and emotionally laden content without oversimplifying the content or overwhelming the participants;

• Importance of strong, respectful and robust partnerships. There were different levels of partnership within this project in addition to the Berry Street Take Two and Westcare partnership such as the implicit partnership with each agency who entrusted aspects of the launch of their model with this team.

• There was also the ongoing partnership with the Centre and DHS that was reflected not only in the formal reference groups but the regular communications in between meetings, joint problem solving along the way as required and the positive feedback regarding the training.

“With Care” training – the next stages!!

Ongoing delivery of stage 1 trainingStage 2 training for new staff of residential pilots

Development of Stage 3 training 2 day advanced trauma and attachment training for residential workers across the state 2 day advanced training for residential staff from the TRC pilots

RCLDS : What have we learnt?

Importance of:• Long term planning• Having shared vision and commitment • Collaborating as equal partners – consistently • Training developed being relevant and customised to the field• Recurrent funding - allows for forward planning and implementation of

major projects and initiatives • Sector funds – ownership of RCLDS by sector and widespread

commitment by the sector• A learning and development strategy not just training• Flexibility and responsiveness • Good links to the sector to understand needs and communicate strategies

We have made a difference by:

• Creation of a sector wide learning culture• Improving outcomes for children and young people by good

quality training of staff and promoting consistent messages• Facilitating communication and information sharing across

the sector• Developing a common understanding of training and

learning needs• Enabling improved consistency and quality of training• Moving beyond the learning organisation to a learning

sector• Development of 3 year training plans

RCLDS Reference Group

• A highly collaborative, committed reference group• Stable membership over a period of years• Relevant and extensive skills in training, residential care sector

and/or Child Protection • Open communication• Capacity to manage significant diversity in organisational

approaches• Capacity to manage conflict• Everyone puts in and is actively involved in implementation tasks

e.g. Resi Rocks, learning materials development, CSTP review, conference presentations

• High level understanding of sector and its needs

Any Questions