Referrals of children
Planned admissions: Here at the Amicus therapeutic community, all admissions are planned. To give our best service, we want to prepare the child for admission, and prepare the current child group in our community for the arrival of a new placement. Planned admissions also allow our staff to prepare thoroughly and give the best experience to the new child in a carefully thought about a transition plan. The Amicus Community’s therapeutic model emphasises the importance of well-managed beginnings and endings. So often the children will have experienced traumatic beginnings and endings in their lives, and we believe that getting this right in a carefully planned and thought about way is an important part of the therapeutic work and recovery of the child and the secure attachments we want them to develop.
Starting ages and average length of stay: Our therapeutic community approach aligns with early intervention for children and believes when referrals occur at a younger age there is more opportunity and hope for a successful placement and relationships in the future. Therefore, the children attending The Amicus Community can start with us at age five and can be no older than eleven on admission and are of either sex. Children on average stay with us for around 3 – 5 years and can remain with us up to the age of 16 years old if need be, although we try and work to a planned journey of the children’s placement to move them on when they are ready to do so to have more chance of integration at a younger age into future care and educational placements. In 2021 – 2022, we are expanding to add a further therapeutic residential home to our community, creating a new nurturing environment, focusing on early intervention.The children we work with: Amicus is equipped to accept and work with referrals for children with moderate physical difficulties and other special needs, such as mild learning disabilities, although our primary cohort is vulnerable and traumatised children who are often defined as having Social, Emotional, and Mental Health needs.
Thoughtful and planned assessment and transitions: Being part of our therapeutic community means we have built a family type, small group living culture, which is also based on psychoanalytical group relations work, hence the importance of our new placements needing to be carefully considered. Therefore, when a new child is referred to Amicus, if we feel we can offer a placement, we then carry out an Assessment Visit. This means we can meet and observe the child in their environment (whether this is home or educational) and see whether they would be receptive to our therapeutic model and input and it gives us the opportunity also to hear the experiences, feelings, and wishes of the child and also the parents, carers and those working with them. This helps us to inform our decision-making and how we would work with them and whether they would be a good fit for the community and the child group already in place and the potential effects on the child group.
Referrals and Planned Admissions: Here at The Amicus Community, the children’s beginnings and endings are carefully thought about and planned. We are unable to take emergency referrals, as stated in our Admissions Policy. This decision has been taken because the admission of emergency referrals would be too unsettling for the children living in our community and we believe from experience that transition periods around beginnings and endings are so important for a child’s placement to be successful. We are however able to work to short transition periods and this will be tailored to the individual needs of the child and will consider the wider child group too.
1.74 miles
