Therapeutic Support

What is therapy?

Therapy is the process of meeting with a trained specialist to resolve problematic behaviours, beliefs, feelings (including emotional disturbance), relationship issues, and/or somatic responses (sensations in the body). Therapy targets specific issues that impact on education and the ability to function in society or as an individual. Therefore this kind of support is essential for long term benefits in life; we want to ensure that our students are able to contribute to both themselves and their families and society in a meaningful way when they leave us.

Therapy Provision at Serenity School
Therapy is a process where trained professionals help resolve issues that affect personal development, educational performance, and the ability to function in daily life. This support is essential for helping our students develop the skills they need to succeed personally and contribute meaningfully to society. Our school is committed to improving efficiency and streamlining support for the mental health and emotional well-being of our children. Our approach consolidates resources under one management system to enhance coordination, ensure quality, and use data effectively. We aim for excellence in understanding and meeting the needs of our students and their families, increasing our capacity to deliver sustainable, impactful support.

Our Professional Team
Our dedicated team includes:

Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENDCo)
Speech and Language Therapist
Occupational Therapist
Counsellors
Play Therapist
Literacy and Numeracy Intervention Leads
Behaviour and Therapy Leads
Therapy Assistants

We hope this information helps you understand the extensive support systems we have in place to ensure every student can thrive.

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Information:

Staff Development:

CPD will be delivered on a regular basis to ensure that staffs understand the therapeutic work that is being implemented. Staff will also receive group supervision lead by one of the onsite therapists. This can also be extended to individual sessions where there is a need and some staff voluntary ask for support. Staff wellbeing is key since this feeds directly back into the healthy running of the school.

Timeline & implementation of therapy:

Week	Phase	Goals	Actions	Outcome
1-2	Comprehensive Assessment	Conduct a thorough assessment of the pupil’s needs.	Review EHCP entitlement Initial meetings with the pupil, family, and teachers. Use observations, interviews, and assessment tools to collect data. Document the pupil’s background, needs, strengths, and challenges.	Detailed situation analysis report.
3-4	Interdisciplinary Planning	Develop a collaborative, personalised therapy plan.	Convene a multidisciplinary team meeting to discuss assessment findings. Set SMART goals for the therapy plan. Design tailored interventions.	Personalised therapy plan with specific goals and intervention strategies.
5-10	Therapeutic Action	Implement the personalised therapy plan.	Carry out planned interventions with coordinated efforts from all disciplines. Continuously monitor the pupil’s engagement and progress. Document observations and make real-time adjustments.	Regular progress notes and any immediate adjustments to the therapy plan.
6	Interim Progress Check	Assess progress and make necessary adjustments.	Use the Therapy Outcome Measure (TOM) to evaluate progress in Impairment, Activity, Participation, and Well-being domains. Review data and observations with the multidisciplinary team. Adjust the therapy plan based on interim findings.	Updated therapy plan with any mid-term adjustments.
11	Outcome Measurement	Measure and document the pupil’s progress.	Apply TOM for final assessments. Collect quantitative data and qualitative observations.	Comprehensive outcome measurement report.
12	Reflective Evaluation and Adjustment	Reflect on therapy outcomes and plan the next steps.	Multidisciplinary team meeting to review outcome data and observations. Reflect on the effectiveness of interventions and pupil progress. Adjust the therapy plan based on the evaluation findings. Set new goals or revise existing ones for the next cycle.	Final evaluation report and adjusted therapy plan for the next cycle.
Ongoing	Continuous Improvement	Ensure continuous improvement in therapy practices.	Regular training and professional development for therapists. Foster a feedback loop where data informs practice adjustments. Share insights and best practices among the therapy team.	Enhanced therapy approaches and improved pupil outcomes.

How the therapy works?

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy – Tier 2

Initially students will receive CBT, since this effectively softens barriers; this type of therapy is solution focused therapy and is well documented and evidenced for quick results. It is mainly used to deal with unhealthy believes, strong emotional reactions and their subsequent resultant behaviours. CBT does not require the student to discuss any past history and this becomes an ideal platform for beginning therapy and gaining parental support. Eventually by targeting negative emotions it allows students to open up to the benefits of Psychotherapy and this type of therapy deals with the root cause of behavioural and emotional difficulty, it does not just prevent emotional disturbances it removes them and the subsequent symptoms. CBT also filters well into boundary setting within the school. It enables professionals to set targets for groups or individual students encouraging the whole school approach to therapy. REBT can also be used to work with groups and is particularly useful for developing self-esteem.

Psychotherapy – Tier 2 – 3

Psychotherapy is more of a long term therapeutic technique; it is very powerful in identifying and helping to remove the roots of emotional and behavioural disturbances as opposed to just identifying negative thoughts and beliefs and changing them. This type of therapy also opens up the possibility of systemic work with student families to help improve relationships and dynamics at home. Psychotherapy can help students become more authentic especially those with identity issues, this can help us tackle exploitation, addictions, and gang / anti-social affiliations.

Staff support – Tier 1

Teachers will also be expected to set a strong boundaries which is a goal in individual therapy, help deliver emotional literacy, promote the humanistic approach, and avoid using negative emotions as forms of behavioural control. Staff development and knowledge is key in promoting the therapeutic approach. It is important that we do not undo the good work that is already being implemented.

Types of Therapy:

We use a variety of different types of therapy, utilising on site fully trained accredited professionals who are registered with the health and care professionals’ council HCPC.

Cognitive Behaviour Therapists, CBT or Rational Emotive Behavioural Therapy REBT. (SHORT TERM).
Psychotherapy – Drama Psychotherapy (BADTH) or Talk Psychotherapy following the Humanistic framework. (LONG TERM).
Staff training; a whole school therapeutic framework is implemented to facilitate the ongoing work. This includes CPD for SEMH awareness and key indicators, emotional literacy, and how different types of therapy work and what affect it will have on students. Although not trained, staffs still play a vital role in facilitating the work of other key professionals.

How therapy is implemented?

Individual therapeutic support in the form of a specific type of therapy or life coaching if a young person cannot get pass the stigma attached to term therapy.
Group work.
Whole school therapeutic interventions via staff training and CPDL.

We have faith that therapy leads to positive life long lasting benefits so this really forms part of the Socio-Educational model.