Raising Standards of Training, a Therapeutic Approach

ABSTRACT The Mulberry Bush, in the UK, has always placed high quality training at the heart of staff development but sixty years into our history we reached a point where high quality training did not meet the government requirement for residential child care staff. This presented the organization with a unique challenge; how to prove outstanding practice meant “Outstanding.” This paper outlines the development of our award-winning Foundation Degree in Therapeutic Work with Children and Young People, exploring the complex relationship between a learning cohort and a working cohort and how the organization managed the tensions and benefits of both. The paper highlights how practice developed, how students gained a deeper understanding of the needs of children and families and how students developed their sense of self-reflection through work-based learning. Using evidence from students, their written work and their colleagues, examples are given of how students have learnt to use theory to underpin their day to day work with traumatized children, making sense of their emotional pain and the impact on the staff team. The paper concludes by considering the wider implications for therapeutic organizations in developing their own training programmes.