Rhidian Hughes: “Restraint does nothing to address the underlying causes of people’s behaviour”

“…the United States was the first country to take a long hard look at the use of restraint and to develop a number of innovative restraint reduction and eradication approaches. […] Progress in other countries has followed, although at a different pace. Arguably the UK has lagged behind other countries in the attention afforded to this topic and the lack of domestic research has been criticised, a point made in the book…”

November 15, 2009Arts therapies

A tribute to renowned play therapist Ann Cattanach

JKP first published Ann Cattanach’s work in the early 1990’s, by which time she was an established play therapist, confident in her ability to help…

November 15, 2009Adoption and Fostering

Aileen Stalker on writing The One and Only Sam

“The use of pictures to illustrate “what it sounds like” and “what it really means,” also helped the children to gain better understanding of the idioms. But I also realized that any child understands language better if it has context and relates to their own experiences…”

October 15, 2009Autism

An interview with Dr. Michael Chez, author of Autism and its Medical Management

“I am always inspired by my patients and their families and how they cope and bravely make the best lives they can for themselves. I keep my desire to help alive by the strength and altruism of the people I have gotten to know through this work. I truly love my work and feel lucky to be asked to help in this incredible challenge of our age.”

September 15, 2009Education

Interview with Jan Horwath, author of The Child’s World

“For me the biggest challenge is recognising effective practice and, in the same way that we have begun to pay more attention to resilience amongst children and young people, we should be considering what makes for a resilient workforce. Why is it that some practitioners can continue to work effectively with service users when others in the same or similar settings struggle?”

September 15, 2009Adoption and Fostering

Linda Miller on the ‘5P Approach’ to behaviour management for young people with Autism

“The 5p Approach evolved over several years as a result of my work as a psychologist within schools. I grew increasingly concerned that I was often called in to deal with behaviour difficulties after the event, when a better understanding of autism and the reasons for the behaviour occurring could have prevented many problems arising in the first place…”

August 15, 2009Education

Belinda Hopkins on the healing power of Restorative Justice

“Many people equate justice having been done with the administering of a punishment, and in schools and residential child care contexts a similar expectation prevails, or is believed to prevail. The logic is that if somebody does a bad thing then a bad thing needs to be done to them. […] A restorative response, with its focus not on blame, punishment and alienation but on repair and re-connection, encourages a wrongdoer to take responsibility for the harm they have caused, and gives them an opportunity to repair the harm…”

August 15, 2009January 30, 2023Autism

Carol Hagland on Working with Adults with Asperger Syndrome

“Adults with AS seem so often to be regarded as a frustrating puzzle. I have spent much of the last ten years or so teaching and training people to understand and manage the problems that AS can present, and it seemed that this was an area where lots of people, regardless of their level of training, would welcome some help.”