Staff spotlight – Claire

I work as part of a very supportive, multidisciplinary team, including Art, Music and Drama therapists, Clinical Psychologists, Family Therapist and trainees (we’re a big work family!)

The families I work with have children who have often experienced trauma, separation and loss. This can leave children facing social, emotional and communication difficulties, such as regulating their emotions.

I provide therapeutic assessments, which includes acknowledging family strengths, exploring difficulty and working alongside networks to identify the needs of the family, with recommendations for ongoing therapeutic support. I also provide longer term therapeutic parenting interventions – drawing on trauma informed, and attachment theory practices. Including DDP, Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy informed practice and NVR, Non-Violent Resistance.*

I’ve co-led and managed a variety of attachment based interventions and projects over the years and I often team with a music and art therapist and parent mentors to provide whole family and community interventions.

Life can be very challenging for the children and families I work with and many of the children are no longer with their biological parents. I work alongside adoptive families or those in Special Guardianship arrangements, where the children are being cared for by a relative or family friend. The therapy I provide can be in parallel with a music or art therapist who will provide individual therapy for the child or young person and I will see the adoptive parents, biological parents or carers.

Providing families with a safe space to be heard and explore difficulties can help them to understand their child’s inner world, allowing space for empathy and acceptance to grow. Connecting parents with their own experiences of being parented can also help re-frame their understanding of the difficulties their child is experiencing. Naming problems and processing shame and guilt in a safe space can enable families to develop their self-awareness, foster empathy and deepen their understanding of their own and each other’s needs.

*Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy draws on a trauma informed attachment therapy framework that considers the impact of trauma on a person’s emotional, cognitive, and social development. DDP recognizes that early experiences shape an individual’s sense of self and their ability to form healthy relationships.

*Non-Violent resistance therapy encourages individuals to resist harmful behaviours and conflicts without resorting to violence or aggression. It’s about finding constructive and non-harmful ways to express oneself and address issues.

The best thing about my job is that every aspect of what I do is hopeful. People often say, ‘I couldn’t do what you do’, but I truly don’t understand that. I would be lying if I said it wasn’t sad and hard at times to hear the trauma that some individuals experience, and the daily difficulties faced by many families, but I usually highlight how privileged I am to work with so many amazing loving and resilient children and families.

I am currently working with a birth mum, her infant child and the maternal grandmother who is the infant’s SGO carer. In child-led playful therapy sessions, I hold in mind each member of the family, supporting them to understand each other’s difficulties – modelling tolerance, understanding, and highlighting strengths and loving gestures. Over time, trust is developed, communication improves and attachment is strengthened. It’s such a privilege to witness the gradual shifts and changes.

The biggest changes I’ve noticed to children and families over the last ten years is the devastating impact austerity has had on children and working families. These affect some of their very basic needs, including the lack of shelter and food. And what continues to strike me is that families continue to seek and prioritise therapeutic support for their children and themselves in the most difficult living conditions and circumstances.

I co-managed an inclusion unit in a secondary school and ran therapeutic parenting workshops in many London boroughs. In a previous life I was a Graphic Designer, my undergraduate was art and graphic design. Having my own children allowed me a break from work and time to reinvent myself and I studied Humanistic Psychotherapy and later specialised in Infant Mental Health with the Anna Freud at UCL.

I joined Coram in 2013 to manage the Young Parenthood Programme, a wonderful initiative set up by Eve Clarke, a young parent herself. The project became part of the PSHE curriculum for young parents in Camden schools. Young Parent volunteers visited schools and spoke to the students about the realities of being a young parent. It ran for five years and supported thousands of young people across Camden.