Therapeutic Approach

Bright Places’ therapeutic approach ensures that every daily interaction a child has is thoughtful, nurturing, and appropriate to their needs.

Whether they are at home, in the classroom, in the dining room, playing sports, or relaxing in a quiet space, every encounter with an adult is grounded in calmness, composure, and emotional regulation.

To support this, all staff receive training in therapeutic engagement, enabling them to respond consistently and effectively to each child’s needs.

A successful home

  • A therapeutic culture

  • A therapeutically informed physical environment

  • A context that helps each young person reach their full potential

Specific areas of need supported by each therapeutic specialist

Speech and Language Therapy (SaLT)
Our Speech and Language Therapists support students in developing their speech, language, and communication skills to enhance their confidence and independence. The team promotes a total communication approach, valuing all forms of communication and ensuring each student can express themselves in the way that works best for them.

Occupational Therapy
 Our Occupational Therapist is experienced in sensory integration and provides personalised programmes that support students’ academic engagement, behaviour, and independence. Interventions are tailored to each young person’s unique sensory and functional needs.

Educational Psychology
 Our Educational Psychologist offers therapeutic support for students whose emotional or psychological needs create barriers to learning. This includes both scheduled one-to-one sessions and responsive interventions based on emerging needs, helping students manage challenges and improve their readiness to learn.

Pastoral Team
 Our Pastoral Team uses a Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) approach, focusing on improving quality of life and developing new skills by replacing behaviours of concern with more functional and socially appropriate alternatives. Working closely with staff and students, the team creates supportive environments and personalised strategies that meet the individual needs of every young person.

bMindful Psychology our clinical partner, delivers clinical input supporting our care team through access to the Keyworker Intervention Toolkit for Therapeutic Care (KIT). The ‘KIT’ model is a three-phase
A therapeutic programme, designed to be delivered by the care team working directly with the
child and who are best placed to support each child and to weave the therapeutic work into
everyday life. This gives the children the scope and opportunity to develop healthy coping
mechanisms in a more holistic way rather than targeted therapy alone.


Our aim through this therapeutic approach is to support children in understanding their
situation, to find successful ways to manage their specific challenges as they develop. To this
end our staff are specifically trained in delivering therapeutic support for children who struggle
to articulate their feelings of anger, sadness, including trauma experienced and other adverse
impact on their emotional well-being and behaviours.


While our team are involved in the offer of therapeutic support to children, this work is
enhanced through individually tailored work delivered by the bMindful clinician when it is safe, the child/young person is calm and stable, and they can understand and work through their
trauma so as not to re-traumatise them.


A key factor in working therapeutically with children in our care is the development and quality
of the home environment that we create, that is safe and nurturing for children who have
experienced trauma, which is essential for their healing and development. This provides a
sense of security for them, which helps in the regulation of their emotions by offering a calm
and a supportive atmosphere as well as helping them to gain the ability to build trust of others
after experiencing trauma.