Our homes provide high quality specialist care to an all female client group aged 12-18 who have experienced abuse and trauma in their lives.
The girls/ young women have often experienced family breakdown compounded by subsequent foster or residential placement moves. They may have been struggling in school and possibly have been excluded or not attending for some time. Many of the young women have experienced sexual abuse, as well as emotional or physical abuse and neglect. The young women may present with a range of behaviours and coping mechanisms symptomatic of these difficulties including; low self esteem, attachment disorders, self harm, alcohol and substance misuse, running away, aggression, destructive behaviour and sexually inappropriate or risk taking behaviours.
Some of the young women placed move from secure welfare settings and for these young women we often commence our work and relationship building prior to their discharge to try and promote a positive transition.
The homes all have the same general admission criteria, although the differing sizes and locations and resident group at any time mean some may be more suited to certain individual needs than others. The largest for example is more rural and can therefore be more containing for those young women who may benefit from this. We take great care to try and match the needs of young women being placed with those of the resident group.
Ethos and Philosophy
The young women placed at Cornerways have often been hurt and damaged by their past experience. In the simplest terms, a safe nurturing place is provided by Cornerways with trustworthy adults. A place where each young woman can feel safe and ‘held’ enabling them to begin to move from denial and survival to healing and recovery. This is what is meant in the most basic sense when the resource is described as therapeutic.
We believe that the primary context for therapeutic healing is in the relationships between the young person and their carers. We therefore place considerable emphasis on the role of the young persons allocated link worker and the fostering of healthy attachments.
We further emphasise the value of providing staff training and consultation to enable staff to gain the psychological perspective that can give meaning to behaviour and an increased understanding of presenting difficulties as well as to assist in the development of appropriate strategies for responding. See Clinical and therapeutic care and support for fuller details.
Staff Ratio
Each home has a Registered Manager and a dedicated staff team. We offer a high ratio of staff to young women that ranges from a minimum of 1:2 to 3:4 staff to young woman as standard. More intensive 1:1 or 2:1 Staffing provision can be made to meet identified need subject to a revised contractual agreement with the placing authority. This may be utilised to support a safe and successful transition into placement especially where a young person is deemed high risk or is moving from a secure environment .
