What is the day programme?
The day programme offers structured therapeutic, educational and recreational personalised activities to young people from Monday to Friday. The programme is flexible to ensure that it meets individual needs in a safe, supportive and therapeutic environment. In addition to education, there is a focus on individual and group therapy, art therapy, drama therapy, psychology, cognitive behavioural therapy, anger and anxiety management, assertiveness training and practical social and living skills.
A young person will generally attend the Hope Service for one or two days a week depending upon their need. This can raise to three days in exceptional circumstances with the remaining time being made up with the young person attending their normal education provision.
Education is planned and delivered to young people according to their ability and need, both individually and in small groups. Emphasis is placed on supporting each young person to enjoy their learning and to celebrate their achievements. The Hope service works closely with other education establishments to ensure a smooth transition for each young person back into education, employment or training upon discharge from Hope.
Our Activity Workers play a key role in the service and the delivery of care to the young people through both on site and off site activities. They run a vast mixture of individual and group sessions including the following, baking, craft, gardening, animation, music and discussion group. A specific example of an on site activity is 'Feel the Vibe' which is a group focused on listening to music and watching music videos. This group encourages sharing different interests and potential tolerance of music that individuals may not normally listen to. During this group discussions are supported to explore how can music impact on thoughts and feelings as well as what causes people to like certain songs and music.
Many of our off site activities are run in conjunction with Surrey Outdoor Learning Development (SOLD) and through this we offer an outdoor activity programmes with Thames Young Mariners, Henley Fort and High Ashurst. We also work with White Spider Climbing Centre at Tolworth where the young people work towards the accredited NICAS awards
The day programme runs daily during term time, and continues with therapeutic work and activities in the school holidays.
Therapeutic days
The concept of the Therapeutic Day underpins the Hope service day programme and uses Dialectical Behaviour Therapy principles (DBT). It shares some of the characteristics of a 'Therapeutic Community' model in that the whole day, and whatever happens in the day, is considered part of the work with the young people. The peer group is mobilised to provide mutual support and to foster resilience. The 'Therapeutic Day' encompasses all sessions; therapy, education and activities. An integral part of our service is lunch where staff and young people come together to share a daily meal. The emphasis throughout the day is on building trusting relationships and improving self-esteem and confidence. The Therapeutic Day fosters interactions and encourages reflection and creative ways of dealing with difficulties and conflict. The programme provides a friendly and unpressured environment whilst maintaining boundaries to ensure safety and containment. Each day begins and ends with a therapeutic group where all young people and day staff meet. The group provides a space for young people to explore and process their experiences together, and this includes reflection upon the events of the day.
Different types of therapies
Art Psychotherapy
Art psychotherapy is a form of therapy that uses a mixture of art making and talking to facilitate the expression, processing and exploration of young peoples' difficulties using a creative and symbolic process. In the Hope Service, Art Psychotherapy sessions can be run on an individual or group basis dependent upon need.
There is no need to be good at art, but young people need be able to engage with the art materials on any level that they can manage. The art therapy room can also provide the opportunity to be playful with art materials and reconnect with early childhood and/or traumatic experiences.
Many young people struggle to make sense of, and verbalise, their difficulties. Art making externalises these unprocessed experiences and enables safe reflection within the containing therapeutic relationship.
Dramatherapy
Dramatherapy uses the healing aspects inherent in drama and theatre as the therapeutic process. Young people can begin to explore and express emotions through the safety of 'dramatic distance'. The Hope service offers Dramatherapy sessions on an individual or group basis, dependent upon need.
Young people do not need any previous experience of, or interest in drama, as Dramatherapy is not all about acting. They may choose to work with a range of different mediums such as art making; character work; images; improvisation; masks; movement; myths; small objects; puppets and/or stories.
People can struggle to talk about their feelings and emotions. Through a client-centred approach, Dramatherapy encourages the young person to be playful, accessing emotions and traumatic life experiences through the distance of symbol and metaphor.
Family therapy
Family therapy aims to support change through a better understanding of the relationships between family members and existing patterns of communication. The emphasis in sessions, lasting about an hour at a time, is on the strengths of the family that can be drawn on to create positive change so that challenges or difficulties are more effectively managed or viewed differently. Sessions can include anyone in the family such as individuals, couples, siblings, some or all family members, step and extended families
Discussions will always include thinking about the young person who has been referred to the Hope Service whether or not they attend the sessions.
- Family communication
- Relationship breakdown and parenting issues
- Dealing with challenging behaviour in the family
- Co-parenting when living separately
- Managing stress and anxiety
- Drug and alcohol misuse and its impact on relationships
- Managing extended family communication.
As well as regular sessions run by a qualified Family Therapist, family work is also offered to young people and their families or carers when this is agreed as a helpful intervention. The work is delivered by a range of professionals within the Hope team and usually with professionals working in pairs with the young people and their families/carers.
Clinical Psychology
Clinical Psychologists at Hope have a wide range of skills in the assessment, treatment and management of the psychological difficulties that can present in adolescence. We carry out assessments to identify the young person's strengths and difficulties and help to build an understanding of the causes and factors that might be contributing to the current concerns. This then enables us to plan appropriate child centred interventions to help the young person. We can also undertake psychometric testing to help identify any learning needs that may be contributing to the young person's overall presentation.
We aim to promote emotional well-being and personal development and to reduce psychological distress and difficulties. We provide individual psychotherapy sessions as well as running psycho-educational or therapeutic groups for the young people in the day service. The focus of the group work depends upon the needs of the young people at any one time but includes themes such as self-esteem, stress reduction and coping skills. We also contribute to the family work taking place which can be an important addition to the input already being offered to the young person. We draw creatively on a range of psychological models and techniques to find ways forward for our young people. These include Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Systemic Therapy and Psychodynamic models.
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) principles
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) is an effective treatment for people who have difficulty controlling their emotions and behaviours. It aims to replace problem behaviours with skilful ones. By offering specific skills to help people experience a range of emotions without necessarily acting on them, DBT can also help young people navigate relationships in their environment (family, school or peers).
Here at the Hope Service, we offer DBT skills groups to support young people with developing and practicing skills around Mindfulness, Emotion Regulation, Distress Tolerance and Walking the Middle Path.
Mindfulness
- Can help us become aware of what we are thinking, feeling and/or how we are behaving.
Emotion Regulation
- Help us to control our emotions instead of them controlling us.
- Give us healthy emotional regulation strategies.
Distress Tolerance
- Help us tolerate the distress – without making the situation worse.
- Skills to help us think before we act.
- How to cope and survive in a crisis.
Interpersonal effectiveness
- Help us keep relationships steady.
- Get what you want and keep self-respect.
- Prevent feeling lonely.
Walking the Middle Path
- Help us to resolve conflict with parents or carers.
- Give us skills to work on acceptance and change in relation to ourselves, others and circumstances.
Education, therapy and social activities
When a young person is accepted into the Hope Service day programme it is because they have complex needs that have not fully been met through other agencies within the county.
At the Hope Service we believe that young people will only achieve educationally if their psychological and emotional needs are being met. What we offer is a combination of education, therapy and activities for the young people who enter the day programme.
The psychological and emotional resilience resources that are accessed through therapy help the young people to build resilience and therefore take risks in their education which, in turn, are more likely to lead to positive outcomes. Through modelling thinking, curiosity and imagination in the therapeutic relationship, the young person can develop and integrate these skills and take them forward into their education. When they achieve in education they may notice a greater sense of self (the ability to think, reason and reflect) which leads them to be more curious to explore this in their therapy and build further on these resources. These skills are essential for the development of lifelong learning and may have been underdeveloped in the young person prior to their acceptance into the Hope Service.
All the activities, whether they are 1 to 1 or group sessions, promote interaction and when one young person is viewed positively by either a member of staff or another young person, it improves their sense of self and helps to develop their ability to appreciate others. At the same time they are learning life skills, developing positive interactions, being encouraged to think and they are having preconceived ideas and beliefs challenged.
Through the combination of therapy, education and activities we create a sense of belonging, community, membership and self worth within the young people. Not only are these essential life skills but they are also transferable skills that will help each young person be successful when they return to school or college or move into an apprenticeship, training or employment.
British and Hope values
At The Hope Service we recognise the importance of preparing our young people for life beyond the classroom. Part of our role in that preparation is ensuring that we promote and reinforce core values with our young people.
The Government set out its definition of British values in its 2011 Prevent Strategy and considers them to be democracy, rule of law, individual liberties, mutual respect and tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs. These values are reinforced throughout our day programme and the examples below are an indication of some of the ways we seek to embed them, rather than being an exhaustive list.
Democracy (having a voice and being heard)
The principle of democracy is reinforced with the democratic process being employed for important decisions within our community, for instance young people's input into our Hope values, our community meetings and service user feedback.
The Rule of Law
The importance of laws, whether they be those that govern the classroom, the day programme or the country are consistently reinforced during the day. Young people are taught the values and reasons behind the laws; that they govern and protect us, the responsibilities that this involves and the consequences when these laws are broken. Visits from authorities like the police, our emergency meetings and regular E Safety training help to reinforce this message.
Individual liberty (rights and responsibilities)
We encourage young people to make independent choices through the provision of a safe environment and empowering education, therapy and activity sessions. Young people are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedoms and receive advice about how to carry these out whilst recognising the responsibilities that come with such rights. Individual Liberty is explored through PSHCE, Morning and End of Day group Meetings, therapy sessions and the young people's Care Plans.
Mutual respect
We actively promote respect for rules and laws, for others and for ourselves and this permeates our day programme provision from our Morning Group session at the start of each day and, through our education, therapy and activity sessions, breaks, lunchtimes and End of Day group session. We advocate for our young people in meetings, including those surrounding care planning and Children Looked After (CLA) reviews.
Tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs
This is achieved by equipping our young people with the ability to understand their place in a culturally diverse society and by giving them opportunities to experience diversity within the day programme. This is demonstrated through our PSHCE and ASDAN provision, our Morning Group and End of Day group meetings, our menu choices and our challenge of all Anti Discriminatory Practice (ADP).
The Hope Service values
Staff and young people at The Hope Service believe it is important to recognise a further set of values which reflect our ethos. We have collectively agreed upon the values of kindness, safety and wellbeing, support for each other, individuality and trust which we have combined with the British values to create a set of 'Hope Values'.
Transport
Many of the young people who attend the day programme do not live in the immediate local area so additional transport arrangements need to be considered to ensure that they can take up the opportunities that have been provided.
11 to 16 year olds
Any young person aged between 11 and 16 who is accepted into the Hope Service day programme is entitled to a taxi to bring them in and return them home each day if their previous/current education provision is state maintained. Once a young person is accepted into the day programme the Hope service will arrange transport and inform the parents and carers of the arrangements, when they have been finalised.
16 to 18 year olds
Although there is no free school transport for this age group there are a range of options that can be explored to manage this. Parents and carers may choose to bring the young person into Hope themselves or arrange for the use of public transport. We have, on occasions, supported parents to apply for the Disability Living Allowance (DLA) or the equivalent and this money goes on taxi fares. There are some further limited funding streams available to help with transport and, where applicable, this should be discussed with Hope staff when the young person is accepted into the day programme.
Holiday programme
The Hope Service are pleased to offer holiday activities for the young people that attend the Hope day programme. These will run during half term, Easter and Summer holidays.
Please speak to a member of the Hope team or contact us if you would like more information.