“I’ve made that little bit of difference to this child” : therapeutic parent’s experiences of trials and triumphs in therapeutic children’s homes

Burbidge, Chloe, Keenan, Joseph ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8855-1776 and Parry, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5666-1997 (2020) “I’ve made that little bit of difference to this child” : therapeutic parent’s experiences of trials and triumphs in therapeutic children’s homes. Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health: employee assistance practice and research, 35 (4). pp. 256-278. ISSN 1555-5240

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Abstract

The current study aims to inform and improve the working practices of four trauma-informed residential children’s homes by exploring practitioner perspectives and experiences of working in the homes. A further aim is to bring to light the experiences of this understudied and important population within children’s residential care literature. Importantly, this study also aims to explore the risk and protective factors that impact practitioner wellbeing and consequently, service outcomes for staff and children. The construct of ‘wellbeing’ contains many conceptual elements and is recognised as a dynamic and multifactorial process within this study (Lowes, et al., 2015). It is crucial the processes underlying factors contributing to practitioner wellbeing are understood to improve service delivery and outcomes for the staff and children.