Therapeutic parents provide an essential role to support children who have experienced childhood trauma. Therapeutic Parenting is a research-based method of parenting that helps a traumatised child to feel safe and connected.
Children who have been neglected or abused will often struggle to develop bonds with carers and will find it difficult to build relationships throughout their life. Therapeutic Parenting is an early intervention to support the child by providing an environment where there is a high level of structure with a balance of high nurture.
Parenting methods such as taking time outs and ignoring a child when they demonstrate behavioural problems do not usually work for children who have experienced trauma and these techniques can trigger abuse-based memories, which can result in further behaviour issues.
Why become a therapeutic parent?
By taking a role as a therapeutic parent in a residential home for looked after children, you can provide children with the support needed to achieve their maximum potential. By learning and applying the Therapeutic Parenting approach, you can provide children who have had a challenging childhood with a brighter future.
Without the intervention of a carer who is patient and empathetic, children who have experienced trauma can face a life where they never feel cared for and never learn to trust other people. They can feel cut off from the rest of the world and many neglected children will develop addictions or suffer from depression.
Therapeutic parents can change the pathway of a child’s life, through consistent support to gradually develop trust and to help children to feel that they can experience positive outcomes in the future.
Other benefits of becoming a therapeutic parent
In addition to the intrinsic reward of knowing the profound effect that you have had on a child’s life, there are many other benefits to pursuing a career as a therapeutic parent in a residential home, such as.
Flexible hours
Monday to Friday 9-5pm is not for everyone and it can be very restricting. Working in the care sector provides more flexibility in terms of shift patterns and hours. Shifts alternate between evening and daytime shifts, which can be more suitable to work around other commitments and can help to avoid the frustrations of commuting during the busiest times.
Career progression
As well as building a brighter future for the children that you provide care to, you will also be building a brighter future for yourself. Halliwell Homes provides great progression opportunities, with training and development pathways and a wide range of different roles to progress into.
Variety in your work routine
With many jobs, the work routine can feel very repetitive, doing the same tasks over and over again at the same time each day or each week. Working as a therapeutic parent gives you much more variety in the work that you do, as one day can be completely different to the next. Your job will be to help children to develop confidence and learn to enjoy life, which could involve a huge range of activities.
Find out more about the benefits of working for Halliwell Homes and the types of roles available throughout the organisation.