Guiding Children to a Brighter Future with Exceptional Social Care Services

At Cedarways Residential Child Care, we understand that no one child is the same, therefore although we are consistent with our care services and values, how we treat each child and their varying difficulties and backgrounds is completely unique. We promote a strong, pragmatic philosophy, shared by all of our professional and experienced social care staff, which focuses on the child as a whole person with unique reactions to trauma, and apply our tailored programmes as such.

Life Changing Interventions

We at Cedarways believe there is a core need to harness the application of psychological knowledge to assist in transforming the lives of children and young people who come from backgrounds of deprivation, abuse, and neglect. Our looked-after children have a range of social, emotional, and behavioural difficulties, that can be overcome through a multitude of strategies and techniques implemented by our well-supported staff.

Practitioners across Cedarways Residential Child Care integrated services put to use their expertise to provide a shared understanding and language, to identify and attend to each and every child’s individual needs. This framework is underpinned through the use of transactional analysis. Furthermore, the key element across our services is the focus on the relational aspects of the interventions provided by the team. This encompasses the tasks of therapeutic care (structure, boundaries, guidance, support) and attunement (therapeutic communication e.g. understanding transference and re-enactment, etc.).

Vulnerable children and young people are in need of a safe residential setting, where they can learn how to self-regulate their emotions through building trusting relationships with both their peers and their carers. They can engage in stimulating recreational and educational activities that can help them regain interest in exploring and discovering new things, especially where they can learn how to become autonomous and safely transit towards adolescence and adulthood.

The effectiveness of these processes is ensured by active support and constant consultancy offered to our staff, which is provided on a weekly basis by a member of the clinical service team. This support includes a ‘thinking’ space where the work with each individual child/young person is reviewed, to make sure the goals set are being attained. Crisis interventions are planned and initiated based on the prior assessment of needs, whenever the child is showing progress, and when his/her needs change.

For this reason, we have a team of psychological experts (child and adolescent psychotherapists) who contribute with assistance and guidance to the staff members in developing plans of action, helping to improve emotional well-being and reduce the negative impact of abuse and neglect upon children and young people’s health. Moreover, at Cedarways we consult with psychiatry and psychological (educational, forensic and counselling) specialists to reinforce the achievement of positive outcomes for our children in care.

Our team of practitioners and clinical supervisors have broad experience in developing and advising on clinical packages of care (family court work), and therapeutic programmes which have been implemented by government agencies. In addition, they seek to guide the advancement of knowledge relating to effective treatment approaches for children and young people (UKCP Children’s Faculty).

These practitioners are highly experienced in working with looked-after children and:

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  • Use a range of strategies and techniques which are consistent with up-to-date evidence-based practice e.g. NICE Guidance

  • Assist in providing responsive support to our teams as they are consistently available

  • Provide psychotherapeutic interventions following a clear assessment of the core needs of the children and young people in our care (Focused Targeted Interventions for the best outcomes);

  • Liaise with CAMHS and PCT;

  • Use their psychological expertise input into risk assessments, individual crisis management plans, care plans etc.

The Cedarways clinical interventions are carried out based on a range of evidence-based therapeutic approaches that promote resilience in children and young people placed in our care. A resilient child has more chances to let go of the past and heal, is more interested in learning and engaging in constructive activities that combat stress, anxiety, depression, anti-social and offending behaviour. We plan on recreating a home environment where children and adolescents find stability and proper support to become hopeful for the future, by developing confidence, self-esteem, empathy, reliability and independence.

Focused targeted interventions are crucial for providing stabilisation. For this reason, a detailed assessment is performed to enable the delivery of these interventions:

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  • Trauma e.g. EMDR and CBT

  • Attachment therapy e.g. Dyadic treatments

  • Cognitive behavioural therapy e.g. advanced role-play for relapse prevention strategies

  • Dialectical behaviour therapy

  • Play and creative arts

  • Drama

Cedarways – A Committed Social Enterprise

Cedarways is a leading independent Social Enterprise, working in partnership with local authorities and ‘Looked-After Children’ needing specialist care in the UK. Our key area of interest is focused on boosting the knowledge related to the effective assessment of children and young people’s needs. This knowledge contributes to the attainment of a positive and life-changing trajectory for these children, by putting into action individualised care plans that meet their needs.

Email us today to discover more about our social care services.