The Secure Base
The secure base model of care provides for individually tailored care and behaviour management programmes to meet the complex care, health, emotional and behavioural needs of each young person placed at Liberty Lodge and Fern Lodge The plans are created to enable young people to develop as individuals, as well as function productively in a community setting.
The Secure Base modal of care is founded on attachment and containment theory principles, which promote the development of meaningful relationships between staff and children based on the core values of mutual and good parenting, respectful to the values of privacy, dignity, independence, choice, rights and fulfilment.
The Secure Base model has been developed through a range of research and practice dissemination projects led by Emeritus Professor Gillian Schofield and Dr Mary Beek in the Centre for Research on Children and Families at the University of East Anglia, UK.
A Secure Base is provided through a consistent and reliable relationship with one or more sensitive and responsive attachment figures who meet the child’s needs and to whom the child can turn to as a safe haven, when upset or anxious. When children develop trust in the availability and reliability of this relationship, their anxiety is educated and they can therefore explore and enjoy their world, safe in the knowledge that they can return to their secure base for help if needed.
All young people will have their Secure Base progress monitored by staff and this will evidence the emotional progress they have made while living at Fern Lodge and Liberty Lodge.
Central to a young person’s life at Liberty Lodge and Fern Lodge is the key worker who is committed to all aspects of their lives, ensuring that each individual’s care programme is personal, relevant and responsive and that the elements of the Secure Base model are incorporated into the day to day interactions with that young person.
There is an emphasis on finding solutions rather than dwelling on problems. We are child centred and measure success by achieving good outcomes. Working with children should be fun and our aim is to enjoy all the facets of living and learning together.
The staff monthly consultation informs the direct work we do with young people and allows the staff team to focus their plans around the needs of the young people and ensure that the elements of the secure base are incorporated into the day to day care of the young people.
Why Place A Child With Us?
The ethos of Fern Lodge and Liberty Lodge is to deliver quality, holistic, therapeutic care for young people with complex needs through the Secure Base model of care. Central to this is our philosophy of living and learning together and understanding how previous attachments and relationships are impacting on the dynamics that are present. We follow the key principles of:
- The right for young people to fully participate in the solutions to their problems
- Respect for people’s dignity
- Active self-respect
- Development of self esteem
- Encouraging participation
- Unconditional availability of staff
- Group membership
- Sensitivity
- Group co-operation
- Acceptance
Our focus is dedicated to delivering positive outcomes in line with the ‘Every Child Matters’ framework and the children’s homes quality standards. A multi-disciplinary team will utilise the following therapeutic principles to deliver individualised care packages:
- Participation lies at the heart of Liberty Lodge and Fern Lodge approaches. The staff help to empower the young people by involving them in all aspects of their lives from consultation and inclusion in assessments, care planning and reviews to sharing the tasks of everyday living, to interdependent responsibility for decision making in the home. This democratic inclusion is a key element in the recovery of troubled young people.
- Safety and containment will be offered through ongoing assessment of risk within the context of a clear set of limits and boundaries within a structured therapeutic/educational programme. The young people will begin to trust the adults caring for them and this will help to contain the young people emotionally and hopefully allow them to develop trusting relationships further, providing long term stability and progress.
- Communication through relationships provides the fabric of life and treatment at Liberty Lodge and Fern Lodge. Then ongoing creation of a culture of enquiry and open exchange, questioning and debate about life experiences and current situations is vital to the development and recovery of the young people.
- Belonging to Fern Lodge and Liberty Lodge via the gradual development of attachments and the experience, often for the first time and beginning to trust in real caring relationships, provides a space for the young people to develop to achieve emotional and personal growth.