Supporting trauma informed programs

Reframing Learning and Teaching Environments (ReLATE)

Led by Dr Heather Morris, the ReLATE program is a whole of school model that provides tools and structures to support educator wellbeing and student learning. The foundation of knowledge about adverse childhood experiences, brain development and neuroplasticity, and windows of tolerance and stress, support the reframing of meaning around student behaviour and learning.

Our three year evaluation of 14 Catholic schools in the Ballarat diocese has a focus on implementation, specifically working to provide an individualised program logic and planning.

Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) early intervention for Residential out of home care workers

MacKillop Family Services offers to provide EMDR to its residential care workforce that are identified as needing additional help to process a traumatic incident. This incident may be something they saw, or experienced personally, and early intervention of this evidence-based method can prevent the future development of stress disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A review into workers who regularly work in stressful situations found that little research has been conducted with residential carers. A comparative study of online vs face-to-face EMDR for residential carers was conducted finding both methods were as effective in reducing distress. Dr Heather Morris is now leading a current study, which looks at workplace outcomes including continued employment in a follow up period.

Trauma Consultancy Service (TraCS) for Early Learning

The Trauma Consultancy Service (TraCS), offered by the Alannah & Madeline Foundation (AMF), supports Victorian early childhood educators working with children whose lives have been affected by trauma. Drawing on a realist methodology, Dr Claire Blewitt led a two-year mixed-methods evaluation of TraCS to understand how, for whom, in what contexts and to what extent TraCS works to strengthen early childhood educators’ trauma-informed practice. A systematic scoping review, development of TraCS program theories with consultants and early childhood educators, and analysis of data collected from over 700 educators is supporting AMF to understand how TraCS is influencing change in educators’ attitudes, knowledge, and practice over time, and their vulnerability as a result of working with children impacted by trauma.

Trauma Informed Early Childhood Education and Care Organisations (TIO)

Trauma-focused interventions delivered in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) settings tend to focus on facilitating practice change at the frontline, where professionals interface with children and families. However, without simultaneous and complimentary practice at the organisational level, or the right kind of support from leaders and colleagues, undue burden is placed on frontline professionals. In this collaborative project, the Alannah & Madeline Foundation and HSCU, led by Dr Claire Blewitt, have used Intervention Mapping methodology to develop a comprehensive understanding of the problem, and worked with a range of stakeholders to describe, build and test an intervention that may alleviate and re-distribute some of this burden. Drawing on literature reviews, qualitative research and participatory design approaches, the intervention aims to promote experiences of safe and consistent support for everyone across ECEC services, with feasibility testing pointing to the potential for broader application the early childhood sector.

Allambi Care’s Needs-Based Restorative Framework: Building the evidence-base to support practice

Allambi Care provides therapeutic services for children and young people in and leaving the out-of-home care system. Their work is grounded in the Needs-Based Restorative Framework, an innovative conceptual and practice model that incorporates the core human needs of belonging, mastery, independence and generosity that are essential for healthy child development, and extends it to include trauma-related and individually-assessed needs that can more accurately capture the challenges experienced by children in care. As part of a broader program of research aimed at building the evidence-base in support of Allambi Care’s work, Dr Tatiana Corrales has undertaken a study on the what permanency means in the context of residential out-of-home care and how this informs Allambi’s service model. She is currently leading work on the development of an outcomes framework grounded in the Needs-Based Restorative Framework for use across all of Allambi’s out-of-home care programs, and an evaluation of Allambi Care’s family finding and family engagement model to support increased connections for children and young people in out-of-home care.

How does a child’s experience of developmental trauma and placement in out-of-home care impact sentencing decisions?

There is a well-established link between out-of-home care and contact with the juvenile and adult criminal legal systems in Australia and internationally. A growing body of research has identified that factors that increase care-experienced children’s contact with the criminal legal system, but little is known about the way that these experiences are viewed by judicial officers and factored into sentencing decisions. This study explores how judicial officers, lawyers, youth justice practitioners and advocates in New South Wales, Victoria, England and Wales understand:

1. developmental trauma and its impacts on cognition and behaviour;
2. the specific impact of removal from family;
3. the specific impact of placement in out-of-home care; and
4. how these factors may impact on the way children and young people with histories of out-of-home care are dealt with by the courts, particularly at sentencing.

The project is being conducted in partnership with the University of Northampton (UK – Dr Claire Paterson-Young), Monash University (Dr Tatiana Corrales), the University of Melbourne (Dr Patricia McNamara), and Deakin University (Dr Ian Warren). The Australian component of the research is being led by Dr Tatiana Corrales. The results of this project will provide important recommendations for a more trauma-aware youth justice system that recognises the unique experiences of children in out-of-home care.

Family finding, family engagement: An examination of Allambi Care's work supporting children, young people and their families to develop and maintaining connection

Children in out-of-home care experience significant disconnection from family, community and culture. The importance of meaningful relationships with people who are significant in a child's life has been well-established, yet families can be excluded when children enter the care system. Allambi Care's model of family finding and family engagement operates across all its out-of-home care programs, attempting to locate as many 'free and forever' connections for children and young people; and to build and/or strengthen these relationships through family inclusion. This project, still in its initial stages, will examine the practice elements that inform Allambi Care's family finding and family engagement work, and identify the key outcomes and impacts for children, staff and families.