Family for Every Child is made up of 46 civil society organisations in 38 different countries, working to improve the lives of children and families. One of our UK-based members is The Mulberry Bush, who provide residential therapeutic care and education for children who have experienced significant trauma. Read on to hear about the work they do and how your donations support them on a daily basis.
Trauma can leave long-lasting impacts on the lives of children. But with the right support, these impacts can be minimised; giving these children the chance to overcome the difficulties they faced in early life and to start to thrive. Our member, The Mulberry Bush, is committed to helping children who have experienced trauma to recover, and their work is about enabling long-term change, building relationships with children and families so they can form more stable futures together.
The Mulberry Bush School provides this support through specialist residential therapeutic care, treatment and education for vulnerable primary-aged children from across England and Wales, whose troubled past has casued them to develop a number of extremely challenging social, emotional and behavioural difficulties.
With the school at the heart of the organisation, The Mulberry Bush also engages in knowledge sharing through other branches of the charity:
- Mulberry Bush Research, committed to research in therapeutic residential and foster care.
- Mulberry Bush Outreach, providing training, consultation and support to schools, care services and organisations working with challenging or vulnerable children, their families and communities
- Mulberry Bush Consulting, helping organisations find their way.
Showing the way in therapeutic care
The School, located in rural Oxfordshire, focuses on helping children learn to manage and understand their own emotions through the development of safe and trusting relationships within a group setting. As it is residential, children benefit from an integrated therapeutic approach to all aspects of their lives. This is reflected through the Mulberry Bush ‘24 hour’ curriculum, which provides the opportunities for staff to work therapeutically with children around the clock, rather than solely through individual therapy sessions. This approach works in close partnership with the children’s families and their professional networks, and includes group living, education, individual and group therapy, nursing and specialist consultation.
This holistic approach to working can have a huge impact on the children at Mulberry Bush. Former pupil Nick commented on his experience, “The Bush has played such an important part in my life: I started as a grieving eight-year-old whose family had crumbled, and found loving guidance. My life has been very much built on the foundation of love that was built by The Bush.”
Today, as part of Family for Every Child, Mulberry Bush have been able to bring their extensive experience in supporting children to overcome trauma to our global alliance. Through practice exchange with other members, they have been able to both contribute to and learn from organisations around the globe.
Learn more about Mulberry Bush over here.
