Our Care

Our Care is all theoretically informed
and underpinned by the evidence of ‘what
works’ with our specific group of boys.

Our approach to assessment and how this then informs the day to day practice is consistent with the NICE guidance on working with harmful sexual behaviours which was updated in 2016. Our two locations (Golfa Hall, Powys and The Oaks, Shropshire) both operate as formal therapeutic communities. This is a highly structured and deliberate group living approach in which all aspects of daily life, routines, boundaries, roles and how adults and young people relate to each other are worked with deliberately to support the therapeutic task.

We appreciate that all our boys have experienced significant abuse and trauma in their early lives, unique to their histories and experiences.

They have learnt dysfunctional ways of getting their emotional, social or psychological needs met. This has resulted in various forms of inapproproiate or harmful sexualised behaviour. Our primary task is to reduce risk, but the method to achieve this is actually to address the underlying trauma and root causes which have led to the behaviour being displayed in the first place.

“…young people have a sense of belonging and have safe and healthy relationships with the staff team.”

The boys have a highly structured routine, with high expectations on them and on the staff teams. There are very high levels of supervision and oversight to maintain a safe living and learning environment. As boys progress through their placement and build their pro-social skills and abilities, they are able to achieve greater levels of independence consistent with their age and stage of development. This allows them to progress through school to college and work experience and to build links in clubs, activities, sports and other interests in the wider community – all building essential life skills and protective factors for them to be positive members of society as young adults. There is a strong emphasis on boundaries, routine and structure within which we really focus on parenting and nurture.

Our approach to understanding and responding to harmful sexualised behaviour is informed by the Good Lives Model. This is an evidence and relationship based intervention framework which sees sexualised behaviours as a dysfunctional response to the young persons world. We undertake a range of activities, both in the day to day and through focussed work in therapy and school to make use of multiple/ concurrent opportunities to address 8 primary needs.

For more information on the underpinning evidence base for the Good Lives Model, please click here.

For additional information on policies, inspections and our approach, please see our extensive list of downloadable resources in the menu on the bottom of this page.