Therapy

A holistic, therapeutic approach provides the foundation for every aspect of care and education at Evergreen Foster Care. We have chosen to follow the pathway of accreditation and continuous improvement offered by The Community of Communities for Therapeutic Communities. Community of Communities is an initiative of the College Centre for Quality Improvement (CCQI), working in partnership with the Association of Therapeutic Communities, the Charterhouse Group and the Planned Environment Therapy Trust. This pathway enables us to ensure the highest standard of therapeutic practice through a process of self- and peer-review and provides us with access to best practice and rigorous service standards.

 

Since most children referred to us have experienced a childhood fraught with difficulty. We encourage every child and family to engage in regular group and individual therapy sessions in addition to the therapeutic approach that underpins everyday life at Evergreen Foster Care.

 

Our qualified and experienced therapists assess the needs of children placed in our foster care, provide individual, group and/or family therapy, and are dedicated to maintaining a consistent therapeutic approach through targeted carer support, group reflection and training in the home. Each child has a therapeutic plan which is reviewed regularly, providing direction for the child, family, therapists, and school staff. Evergreen foster care further harness a strengths-based approach which focuses on the person or child’s uniqueness and personal strengths. Our therapist will help our children/carers to utilize their skills personally and socially to grow through their own personalised therapeutic process.

Therapies offered have been found to be effective in helping children and adolescents with a wide range of problems / difficulties including:

  • low self-esteem
  • depression
  • anxiety
  • trauma
  • post–traumatic stress disorder
  • developmental delay
  • attachment disorders
  • sleep disorders
  • harmful sexualised behaviour
  • gender dysphoria
  • Grief and loss

 

Therapy Options at Evergreen:

Pluralistic approach to counselling and psychotherapy integrating CBT, Child & Young Person-Centred therapy, Existential (self-awareness including accepting of limitations and developing resilience,) Systemic (family therapy)

  • Mindfulness, acceptance, and cognitive diffusion (CBT third wave)
  • Attachment-based psychotherapy, Psychodynamic
  • Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT)
  • Life-story work
  • Play based techniques using the Axline principles
  • Sensory art and sensory play (meeting sensory diets)
  • Harmful sexualised behaviour programmes (integrating CBT, mindfulness, attachment, psychodynamic, well-being, incorporating safe touch)
  • Compassion focused therapy
  • Complicated grief and loss work
  • Brief therapy (solution focused and task-centred)
  • Group therapy
  • Gender Dysphoria – individually tailored assessment, and planning of intervention most responsive to presenting issues (e.g., shame, self-doubt, relational difficulties)

 

Complimentary Therapies:

  • Individual and group relaxation and well-being
  • Creative visualisation
  • Progressive muscle relaxation
  • Mindfulness meditation (breathing techniques)
  • Creative techniques via music, drama, and movement
  • I have recently attended the pre-approval Skills to Foster Training (July 2020) with Evergreen and i can honestly say that it was really useful. I was nervous at first as i wasn’t 100% sure i wanted to foster but the trainers Louise and Clare really made me feel welcome and at home and they made sure that we had the information we needed to continue with out fostering journey

    Pre-approval training for applicants

    Aged 50
  • I have never known a fostering agency provide some much support to their carers and we can’t wait to become part of the team!

    Evergreen is different

    Aged 60
  • I wasn’t sure about fostering but i liked the idea of becoming a respite carer and see how i got on. Following the pre-approval training (July 2020) i have now changed my mind, and i would like to progress to full time. I haven’t know an agency who offers so many different packages.

    I want to become a foster carer with Evergreen

  • To all the teachers and other people who helped me.

    Thank you for getting me through a school year.

    School Pupil

    Aged 17
  • You are the best school and class that I have ever been in. When I first came to school I was a bit shy but I soon realised that you were all welcoming and very understanding. I absolutely love this school and class and I could never have asked for a better family than you guys.

    School Pupil

    Aged 13
  • I wish Evergreen existed when I lived at Hopedale because they would have supported me and found me the right family to live with. The staff are great because they listen to what you want, and they understand the problems you have had in your life, then they try to give you ways to cope in the future. I lived at Hopedale for 6 years and I was desperate to move into foster care. I hope this gives other children like me, the opportunities I didn’t have.

    Ex-residential pupil

    Aged 16
  • I lived at Hopedale for 4 years and then they helped me to move into foster care. At first I was worried about leaving Hopedale, but I still come to the school and get to see my friends, so I’m very happy with how things have turned out.  I still meet with the therapist once a week so she can continue to help me with my struggles. I like living in a family again.

    Ex- residential pupil

    Aged 13
  • Up until June of this year I had worked with looked after children and care leavers in my capacity as a PA . I have worked with hundreds of children, hundreds of carers, and countless social workers. I was attracted to Evergreen initially as it appeared that everything they were suggesting was truly ground-breaking. My experience was that children began their care experience in
    Foster Care and then if things did not go well, they then were put into residential. Evergreen turned everything I had seen on it’s head. No longer were children expected to sit in this setting for years on end. I was so very excited and became more so when I listened to what they had to say. Evergreen truly care about children. They truly want fabulous outcomes for children. I cannot fault their support of us as K’s carers. They listen, they help us find and consider strategies, they support us in meetings and they are vocal in advocating for K consistently. His welfare remains at the heart of everything that they do. I am just so impressed with them and have the utmost respect for their practice.

    Tracy (Now Fostering With Evergreen)

    Aged 11
  • As an employee at Hopedale I am very excited to hear that Evergreen will be opening soon. Evergreen will open exciting opportunities for some of the children we have living at Hopedale, they will be given the opportunity to be placed with a foster family who will be equipped with the level of knowledge and share the same amount of love that the staff have here at Hopedale for the children. I am looking forward to seeing the children start their new adventures in life, as they deserve the best.

    Employee at Hopedale

  • When I started working at Hopedale, X was one of the first children that I helped to move in. In the last 3 years I have observed his confidence grow and he has developed hobbies and interests, such as theatre school and dance, which I know X was shy about attending at first. However , Hopedale encouraged him to be himself and now he is thriving and absolutely ready to live in a family. X’s foster carers should look forward to the years ahead.

    Currently employee at Hopedale

  • To everyone who went above and beyond for T.

    Thank you so much.

    Social Worker of a young person who lived at Hopedale for 5 years

  • Thank you for taking care of J and supporting his move to his forever family.

    Parent of an ex-residential pupil

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