Berry Street Web Docs Annual Report 2010 | Page 13

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Residential Care
The children and young people who are living in
residential care are those where their traumatic
experiences have left them with such complex
issues that they can’t be maintained in foster or
kinship care. Berry Street’s commitment to never
give up means that we are the largest provider
of residential care in Victoria.
Our skilled and committed staff provided care
and worked with 197 young people in 27
residential units across Victoria. Three of these
receive additional funds to be ‘therapeutic’
units. With a consistent therapeutic approach
and specially designed group and individualised
activities, the benefits for the young people
are obvious. An evaluation is underway of the
ten Victorian pilot therapeutic residential care
programs and we expect that the results will be
very positive.
All our residential programs are trying to take
a more therapeutic approach, looking beyond
the young person’s behaviour and building
relationships – the first step in healing.

Thirteen year old Brady arrived at our new
therapeutic residential unit five days before
Christmas. His mother lived interstate and he had
no memory of his father. Brady was angry and
was determined to prove that he was ‘no good’ by
swearing at and abusing staff, breaking things and
alienating his peers. He hadn’t made it in foster
care, with relatives or other residential care, so why
should this be different… But it was different as our
staff slowly earned Brady’s trust and helped him
understand how to change his destructive behaviour.
The first breakthrough came when we learned that
Brady loved horses and we arranged for him to learn
to ride.
We encouraged Brady to join our education program
and helped him develop strategies to keep himself
calm enough to learn. We also started to rebuild a
relationship with his mother and to reconnect to his
father and extended family. Brady is starting to work
out where he fits.
Brady has made such great progress over the past
two years that he is now ready for mainstream school
and the plan is for him to leave the residential unit
and live with an uncle.