Our Story

This project was born in response to the growing recognition that children in care, particularly those who have experienced early trauma such as abuse, neglect, loss, or instability, require specialised, trauma-informed support to achieve positive outcomes.

Children in care who have endured extremely difficult life adversities and subsequent instability find themselves in the middle of a fractured, confusing and distressing life trajectory. And yet, there is not enough professionals who are qualified, or have funding or time to help the children develop a positive narrative of their life-story through a systematic therapeutic Life Story work. Two Psychiatrists with years of experience in the field of mental health, who were very committed to trauma-informed practice and improving outcomes for vulnerable children, felt that something should be done to have a positive impact in this area.

In addition, children in residential care and foster placements often display behaviours that are misunderstood as “challenging,” when in reality they are adaptive responses to trauma. Without properly trained staff and carers who understand trauma, these children can experience frequent placement breakdowns, escalation of behavioural difficulties, poor mental health outcomes, disrupted education, difficulty forming secure relationships.

At the same time, many professionals working in children’s homes and care settings report feeling underprepared to manage trauma-related behaviours effectively. Training provision is often inconsistent, overly theoretical, or not embedded into day-to-day caregiving practice. The project came alive when the two psychiatrists got together to ponder on this gap for many months and finally decided to combine these two quite pressing needs of children in care - Life story work and Trauma Informed training - into one overarching project called the ‘Belonging and Beyond’.