Therapeutic services team in the ACT Together Consortium

The Foundation’s Therapeutic Services Team provides a range of specialist supports to children and young people living in out-of-home care, and their caregivers. Our therapeutic specialists work alongside carers, case managers, teachers, and other key people in a child’s life to promote trauma-responsive, relationship-based practice. This approach helps those involved in a child’s care understand the impact of trauma on children, and invites connection, compassion and curiosity about the feelings and needs that children’s behaviours communicate. Our focus is on building trusting, consistent relationships and creating nurturing and predictable environments, so that children regain a sense of security and control.

Each therapeutic specialist collaborates closely with a child’s care team to ensure their needs are understood and consistently met. Together, we aim to build strong, supportive networks of caring adults around each child or young person — helping them heal from the effects of trauma, develop meaningful relationships, and thrive.

Our recently established Therapeutic Kinship Care program is grounded in a deep respect for kinship carers and the crucial role they play in shaping the lives of children. Our Team of Therapeutic Specialists understand that Kinship care is more than a placement – it is a lifeline of cultural identity, safety, and connection. It offers children a sense of belonging, familiarity, and stability during times of profound upheaval. Remaining within family, culture, and community not only reduces trauma, but also actively supports healing and long-term wellbeing. This model of care also provides kinship carers with meaningful opportunities for personal growth and a deepened sense of purpose. Many carers speak to the profound rewards – enhancing parenting capabilities, strengthening family ties, and supporting children to thrive in environments that honour who they are and where they come from. From the outset, the team has focused on building a collaborative, connected service that reflects the values we uphold in our therapeutic practice. Together, we have established core administrative and procedural foundations to create a service that is sustainable, effective, and shaped by lived experience and collective wisdom.