Supporting a child or young adult who has experienced trauma or has had an upbringing with adversity can experience a whole host of challenges.
As a caregiver, you want to do your best to ensure that the young person has a support unit in place to help them in times of uncertainty or distress, but it can be difficult to know where to start.
At Meadows Psychology Service, we strongly believe that a collaborative approach should be taken when supporting children and young people.
After all, they say it takes a village to raise a baby, so why do we expect the support and care of a child to fall into the hands of one person?
Here is everything you need to know about collaborative approaches to supporting children and young people.
What is a Collaborative Approach?
A collaborative approach to supporting young people involves a range of people or groups working together to meet a child or young person’s needs. This particular approach creates a holistic environment, allowing a child to be fully supported.
There are several reasons why people may collaborate to support a child or young person, such as helping them with their learning and development or meeting their emotional needs.
For example, if a child is self-soothing or needs nurturing during lessons, educators may work with the parents to determine what is causing this response and devise methods to support the child.
It is also not uncommon for educators to work alongside a trauma-informed practice, such as Meadows, as some cases require expert support to meet the individual needs of a child.
Why is Collaboration Necessary to Support Children and Young People?
There are a number of reasons why collaboration is so important for supporting children and young adults.
A collaborative approach is beneficial mainly because it can help a child feel supported. If a child is experiencing uncertainty and needs predictability, knowing that a range of people are supporting their needs can help them feel more secure.
Collaborative care for children is essential for avoiding duplication. If the two bodies of care for a child are able to discuss their care plan, they can ensure that they are not repeating the same approaches, which ensures the best use of resources.
Collaborative learning can also help children develop higher-level thinking and communication skills, which can help them when they are feeling overwhelmed and allow them to feel more in control.
Common Challenges Where Collaboration is Appropriate
We understand that it can be challenging to pinpoint exactly when and where a collaborative approach may be necessary. Here are some circumstances where it may be appropriate.
Neurodivergence
A neurodivergent child or young person may not respond to environmental or social stress like a neurotypical child. It can be much easier for a neurodivergent child to lack confidence or experience distress.
Collaborative support can help neurodivergent young people with transitional challenges as a neurodivergent person can find times of change overwhelming, so having support systems in place in every possible environment will help them through the difficult transitionary periods.
Social and Environmental Stressors
Collaborative care for children can also be necessary when they have experienced social and environmental stressors. Some common examples of these stressors may be bullying or a family breakdown.
In situations such as this, a child may retreat and become self-protective. In those instances, practitioners will work together to find solutions to meet the child’s emotional needs. For example, parents may collaborate with educators to find the best solution for supporting a child as they experience complex emotions.
Collaborative practices are also essential for children in supportive accommodation who require positive psychological support, as their social environment can create a lot of pressure.
Emotional and Behavioural Struggles
Childhood can be an emotionally challenging time; you are experiencing many new emotions and learning to navigate the world. Understandably, a child may experience emotional or behavioural struggles, but it is important that they have a support system in place, especially if the child requires affirmation.
If a child is experiencing emotional struggles, a parent may find it difficult to get through to them. In these cases, mental health professionals may work with educators to find a solution that will help the child.
A collaborative approach is especially helpful in situations where a child or young person has experienced childhood trauma, as this can impact how they process stressful situations and may result in them needing nurture and reassurance.
The Core Pillars of Collaborative Support
The core pillars of collaborative support create a supportive framework that encourages children and young people to feel empowered and equipped to navigate the challenges they may face.
Trust and Understanding
This pillar focuses on every party involved in collaborative care feeling valued and heard. No party should be held in higher regard than the others, and this can help create an environment of mutual trust between each stakeholder and the child involved.
If the child or young person involved in the support can see that each party feels safe and open to expressing their emotions, they will feel the same way.
This pillar highlights the importance of being aware of trauma-informed language, as you have to be sure to speak respectfully and thoughtfully with other professionals and the young person.
Evenly Shared Responsibility
This pillar acknowledges that each party is equally responsible for the child and has a unique supporting role.
By ensuring that the responsibilities are fairly shared, you will ensure that the child receives consistent and coordinated support across all environments, providing them with the foundations they need to develop structure and boundaries.
The Ability to Adapt
As you can imagine, children’s needs can change unpredictably, so a support team should be able to quickly adapt their approach to ensure that the child’s evolving needs are tailored.
Adapting means being responsive to feedback and revising any plans you have in place to take the best course of action to support the child or young person.
Consistency
Children need stability to progress, so consistency is key to any collaborative support relationship.
This means all parties should implement strategies and plans uniformly to ensure consistency across all environments. Regular meetings and follow-ups will support this approach.
Possible Obstacles to Overcome
Like any method, collaborative approaches are incredibly effective. However, there are still obstacles that you may have to overcome when implementing them. Awareness of these hurdles will make it easier to avoid them affecting the child or young person involved.
These obstacles may include;
Lack of Communication
With several parties involved in the method, it can be easy for communication to be a problem. However, consistent communication is essential for ensuring the best results for all involved.
To avoid this, you should ensure that open lines of communication are established early in the process. This will ensure that all parties can communicate openly and come to a mutually beneficial outcome when problems arise.
Conflicting Priorities
Every person is different, and a party’s priorities may differ when taking a collaborative approach. Aligning these priorities is essential to providing the child or young person involved with the best possible support system and removing any uncertainty.
It is important to ensure that all parties understand the importance of unified support to avoid this becoming an obstacle.
Mental Health Stigma
Unfortunately, though it is improving, there is still a stigma surrounding mental health issues. Hence, it is important that the child or young person who may be encountering these issues knows that there is no judgement from the parties involved.
Avoid speaking about mental health problems as though they are taboo, as this will allow people to be able to support the child comfortably.
Find Out How Meadows Psychology Service Can Help You
At Meadows, we truly believe in the effectiveness of a collaborative approach, so we have partnered with the local authority and provided therapeutic support for residential children’s homes.
If you require support or would like to learn more about collaborative approaches, contact our team today. We are ready and happy to provide the support you need.
