Therapeutic Approach

Therapeutic Development: What do we offer our children and young people?

As a trauma informed school we recognise the importance of early intervention and of the sensitivity in the ways we interact with and support our children and their families who have experienced trauma.

On arrival, the primary care giver will complete a consent pack for general permissions and also be guided through completion of trauma pack with a trained member of staff. These confidential pack will allow the therapeutic lead to determine the amount of Adverse Childhood Experiences the child has had, and the protective factors a child has and then look at appropriate therapeutic pathways to best support the child.

All therapy for children with complex trauma takes place at Therapy House, situated in a beautifully converted station building next to Worthing train station and is a 10-minute walk from the main school building.

For children with complex trauma, we offer:

• Contracted Art Psychotherapy
• Therapeutic Attachment Play/transition and stabilisation support
• Art therapy
• Counselling
• Parent/Child Therapy
• All staff within the school are trained in PACE. 
• We have an Educational Psychologist as part of the team who can offer reports based on the needs of children on an individual basis.

In classrooms, all staff are trained in PACE. PACE is a way of thinking, feeling, communicating and behaving that aims to make the child feel safe. It is based upon how parents connect with their very young infants. As with young toddlers, with safety the child can begin to explore (Dan Hughes, Clinical Psychologist)

More generally, all children have access to regulation and therapeutic interventions including:

• Zones of regulation
• Mindfulness sessions on a one-to-one basis.
• Reflexology sessions on a one-to-one basis.
• Yoga
• Team support with access to our Educational Psychologist
• Emotional Literacy Support Assistant