Charity Impact Report 2018
Our Core Principles: Psychodynamic Thinking; Collaborative Working; Reflective Practice
‘We’re all seriously broken, but with all the care, and trust from all the staff, they helped rebuild us, and made it possible for us to go on out into the world and cope. I personally feel very lucky to have been able to go here and get the special care that I desperately needed. It’s just a shame that there aren’t more places like this in the UK.’ Ex-pupil
What does The Mulberry Bush do? The Mulberry Bush is a charity that exists: ‘To provide specialist therapeutic services to meet the social, emotional and educational needs of emotionally troubled and traumatised children, their families and wider communities.’ *
and Research Centre which is home to: The Mulberry Bush Outreach – a training and support service and looks to develop its influence through both The Mulberry Bush Research and its free alliance The International Centre for Therapeutic Care. This Charity Impact Report explains what we do, our success in achieving what we do and some of our ambitions!
Our Services The Mulberry Bush services have developed from its practice base of The Mulberry Bush School, an outstanding residential special school and children’s home for up to 31 primary aged boys and girls with severe social, emotional and mental health difficulties. It shares its expertise through The Mulberry Bush Learning
*The Mulberry Bush Memorandum and Articles of Association
In this sense we hope to expand on how we might be ‘Showing the Way!’
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Residential places are catered for at The Mulberry Bush special school
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Why do we need The Mulberry Bush?
• Of the 6% of research funding spent on mental health less than 30% is spent on children and young people’s mental health.[12]
The Mulberry Bush in the National Context
• Children in care are 4 times more likely to have mental health difficulties than their peers.[4]
There is a national need to address early trauma, neglect, mental health and the severity of the needs of the children, families and communities we serve.
• Early trauma and adversity has been shown to lead to mental health problems in later life.[5]
16 million people in the UK experience a mental illness
• Children exposed to domestic violence are more likely to have behavioural and emotional problems.[7]
• Figures show 10% of children aged 5-16 have been diagnosed with a mental health problem.[1] • Over 27,000 children were identified as needing protection from neglect in 2017.[2] • 1 in 20 children in the UK have been sexually abused.[3] 4
1 in 3 children witnessing domestic violence also experienced another form of abuse [6]
3 in 4 mental illnesses start in childhood • Emotional abuse is the 2nd most common reason for children needing protection from abuse in the UK.[8] • Over 6,000 children were identified as needing protection from physical abuse in 2017.[9] • The average wait for effective treatment is 10 years – opportunities to help are often missed until they reach “crisis”, causing children to self-harm, become suicidal, be violent and aggressive or drop out of school.[11]
• There’s been a rise in the time children are waiting for treatment for complex mental health conditions. Children with depression and anxiety are often not being identified or given help.[10] With this increased focus nationally on mental health the Government produced in 2017 the Green Paper ‘Mental Health of Children and Young People in England’ and this led to the Department for Education producing the paper ‘Mental Health and Behaviour in Schools’.
Just
6%
of UK health research is spent on mental health
75%
of young people with a mental health problem are not receiving treatment
Children who attend The Mulberry Bush School have experienced early trauma, neglect and abuse. They have generally had numerous failed educational and home placements. They suffer from extreme levels of emotional distress leading to behaviours which are unmanageable in a community setting.
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‘During a period in which residential care and residential education for children have been questioned, The Mulberry Bush shines out internationally as a beacon in therapeutic care and dedication towards highly disadvantaged children.’ David Berridge, Professor of Child and Family Welfare, University of Bristol
Our Definition of ‘Outstanding’
We hope in the report to be clear about what makes The Mulberry Bush special – what ‘The Mulberry Bush-ness’ is that informs our work and approach.
At The Mulberry Bush, we believe that outstanding services produce outstanding outcomes, developed by breaking free of standardisation and allowing creativity and innovation for those in pursuit of supporting children, families and their communities to thrive. A one size fits all approach cannot achieve this. This Charity Impact Report shows what outstanding means to The Mulberry Bush.
‘Being at The Mulberry Bush showed me that others cared about me. They set me on a pathway to a rewarding and constructive life. I look back now and am so thankful and grateful for the opportunity The Bush gave me with their support, understanding and belief in me.’ Sally Finch, pupil 1951-1953
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What does ‘Outstanding’ mean to The Mulberry Bush?
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Relationships / Trust / Feeling Safe – allowing others to build trust in themselves and us and our structures and methods – relationships!
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Structuring our organisation so that we can learn from research – our own and others – and can listen so that we deliver beyond what is required and our charitable objective, whilst accepting that we will make mistakes.
Putting children, their families and communities and achieving for them at the heart of our focus.
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Developing as a ‘training organisation’ to help our staff members to support our children and their families to grow.
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Using the innovative practice to support and influence others. Writing about what we do well and what we learn and sharing it, nationally and globally.
Planned, assessed, evidenced, reflective practice and provision that adapts to external drivers and pressures.
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‘For me personally the Bush made me realise that I was special and I could be loved and love in return. They taught me that I could play victim to my abuser or I could be a survivor and live my life to the max.’ Ex-pupil
What are the ambitions of The Mulberry Bush? The Charity Ambition is To Reach More Children, Families and Communities ACEs or Adverse Childhood Experiences are stressful events occurring in childhood. Recent research has shown that as the number of ACEs increased in the population studied, so did the risk of experiencing health conditions in adulthood. Our school provides for children with the highest level of need, those with ACE scores of 4-7. However we want to reach those children, families and communities before they need this intervention. Our Outreach services work with children in mainstream and specialist services who have ACE scores of between 2 and 4.
This simple diagram sets out a model for the charity that explains why we focus on Practice, Support and Influence, the ambition to reach thousands of children, their families and communities. Practice (through residential schooling) enables us to reach 10’s of children and their families.
Support (through Outreach services) enables us to reach 100’s of children, families and communities.
Influence (through school, Outreach and the International Centre) has the potential to reach 1000’s of children, families and communities.
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1 Practice The Mulberry Bush School Achievements – Summary and Overall Analysis 2017/18 data has shown that all four departments across the school demonstrated good to outstanding practice. • In class all of the children have made progress in most areas of the school curriculum, mostly above or at expected levels of progress. There has been clear evidence that interventions used by the education staff have had a significant impact on learning.
• Within Group Living there is significant evidence to show that children enjoy their experience of living at the school, that they are progressing socially and emotionally, as well as becoming aware that they can form positive relationships with adults and children. • The work of the Therapies and Networks Team is having a very positive impact on the families of the children at the school. Families are very grateful for the support that they receive from the team and the FNPs. The team has benefitted from 2 new members who are having a positive impact on the children with whom they work.
• Enquiry and referral numbers are high.
Family Work – (Therapies and Networks Team): • Progress is considered excellent in the work with birth families and external networks. It is considered good in the work with foster carers, adopter groups, within music, drama and psychotherapy, VIG and speech and language therapy. • Families report that the work with them is highly valued. • The work carried out with the families at the school was rated as at least good. Family weekends, foster carer groups, network meetings and meetings with FNPs were all rated as outstanding.
The School Education (Section 5) Inspection (JAN 18) and Care Standards (Oct 18) Inspection both were given Outstanding judgements
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Testimony of an ex-pupil ‘They found me an incredible foster mum and ensured that she was right for me and that I was happy. On leaving the Bush I was devastated I didn’t want to leave for the first time in 2 and a half years I was again scared but they made the transition so relaxing and made me feel I could do anything. My foster mum that they found me later adopted me and we were a unit because of everything the Bush did. I even went back to the bush in 2000 and did work experience for 2 weeks and that was incredible seeing it from an adults point of view.
‘The Bush is an amazing place to be an adult or a child.’ I am so grateful for everything the Bush has provided me with even now at 33 years old I still use techniques that they taught me to deal with stress in myself and in bringing my own children up ensuring they are wholesome young people.’
2 Support The Mulberry Bush Outreach serves to provide training, consultation and support to schools, care settings and organisations working with challenging or vulnerable children, families and communities. The team also train all The Mulberry Bush School staff. We train (pay and give time for) all our school staff in a level 5 Foundation degree in Therapeutic Work with Children and Young People – above the required level for the sector. We pride ourselves in our support and training of our staff team. Our students achieve higher pass marks and rates than the university average.
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Schools worked with within our networks In addition to our work within The Mulberry Bush School
• Training to 204 staff members – Challenging Child Observation with Staff Workshop • Training to 181 staff members – Attachment Training • Training to 234 staff members – Outstanding for Behaviour
Our Outreach team has worked with 57 schools within our Peer Review and quality improvement networks.
• Training to 130 staff members – combined Attachment and Outstanding for Behaviour
We have worked directly to support 24 of the children in the county most at risk of exclusion and the school staff teams working with them.
• Training to 108 staff members – Team Teach
400 +
Staff members received conference presentations 12
We have delivered:
• Supervision sessions to 81 staff in external schools and organisations • Conference presentations to over 400 staff members We have coordinated 27 teacher trainees to receive training in schools for children with Social, Emotional and Mental Health issues.
‘I found the group dynamic session incredibly successful. I believe it demonstrated to our team that we would like to invest in them as a group, valued them as individuals and that we were prepared to work on developing the areas that are difficult as well as celebrating what is going well.’ A Head Teacher
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3 Influence The International Centre for Therapeutic Care • There are now over 330 members of the ICTC, reaching across Europe, Africa, Australia and the USA. • There are now four sub groups: 1 Research 2 Care Leavers 3 Academics 4 Child Care History Network • There have been 30 papers published through the Therapeutic Care Journal www.thetcj.org from across the global networks.
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Research & Publications The Mulberry Bush is committed to research in therapeutic residential care for traumatised children. Through research and its application, it aims to develop and shape
a research culture to influence practice within The Mulberry Bush Organisation and other schools, agencies and providers of care to vulnerable, traumatised children and their families.
Research Study: ‘This Shared Parenting Is Difficult To Get Your Head Around’ (Dr Caryn Onions 2018) ‘This study focused on a residential special school looking after children whose needs and histories are exceptional and who have not responded to orthodox parenting interventions. Its distinctive approach is that staff reflective practice is at the core of the work. The findings suggest that most foster carers employed by local authorities and agencies do not receive this type and level of reflective support, yet they look after children with similar needs in their own homes. Providing ongoing reflective opportunities of the type described for foster carers offers a promising way of improving the effectiveness of foster care and improving outcomes for children whose early lives have been highly disrupted and whose emotional worlds are in turmoil.’ [13]
Staying Close To Children’s Feelings (UEL Qualitative Study 2017) ‘We have found that The Mulberry Bush School’s therapeutic approach is distinctive because it trains and supports its staff to stay close to the children’s feelings. Staff build trusting relationships and work hard to empathise with the children’s present and past experiences. When the children feel understood, the staff are able to challenge them and nudge them towards a more thoughtful, curious approach to their difficulties.’ [14]
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Papers have been published from across the global networks
330+
Members of the ICTC, spanning the continents of the world
Child Outcomes At The Mulberry Bush: A Quantitative Study (IoE 2016) ‘Our findings indicate that children showed many improvements in their behaviour, socio-emotional adjustment and educational achievements during their time at the MBS. Most notable was their academic progression in Science, English and Mathematics. For almost all subjects, children progressed within the expected range for students within mainstream schools.’ [15]
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Research Study: Success Project (2011) ‘The core values of The Mulberry Bush are transferable to mainstream schools, the work can take slightly different forms and be adapted in individual schools without compromising the underlying principles. Supporting the development of understanding behaviour, working together and reflective practice can be extremely valued in mainstream settings.’ [16] ‘I really enjoyed your presentation last week. Your enthusiasm for using action research to further develop services to improve outcomes was inspiring. It’s good to see there are organisations not afraid to share best practices and support the overall development of services.’ Participant at National Commissioning Conference June 2018
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st
Book published about the work of The Mulberry Bush 16
47k+ Views of our posts on Facebook
80k+ Views of our website
Raising our profile this year! • We published the first Mulberry Bush Book in 2018 • Our Facebook posts have been seen over 47,000 times • We had over 80,000 views of our website • Over 95,000 people visited our online journal The TCJ • We have over 1,500 Twitter followers and tweeted 147 times
‘I find working with you rewarding because you exude a strong sense of expertise about SEN. You listen well and ask astute questions which make me reflect on what we are doing as a school and how well we are responding to the multifarious challenges we face. You are respectful to staff and students and encourage staff to explain their work in a non-threatening manner. Your report has left me with some useful areas to focus on, which I will build into the SCIP. I appreciate the way you have communicated around the process and shown flexibility in terms of timings and dates. I find this approach to School Improvement useful.’ Head Teacher
Aims
Developing Our Services The Mulberry Bush Charity is Investing in Service Development
We completed ‘The Burrow’ and ‘The Coach House’ to provide our step down 52 week service (£3m) 50% donations and 50% from reserves.
Have a strong National and International profile
Develop sector leadership The Mulberry Bush as a centre of pioneering excellence Best trained staff in the sector This provides stability for children transitioning between settings. This will lead on to us developing a more seamless package of 38 and 52 week step down care, treatment and education, integrating children back into a stable home base and appropriate school.
Some of our other aims and achievements: 18
Thrive as a Therapeutic Community
Clear differentiated models of family work The Mulberry Bush to extend its reach to more children, families and communities
Achieved 2014-2018
What Next
Re-accredited by Royal College of Psychiatrists (2018) for our Therapeutic Community Practice.
Use our Therapeutic Community model to influence our future work with other organisations and services.
The school profile is strong nationally and reflected in high referral numbers. Our National and International profile increased following the creation of MB Research. Globally the International Centre for Therapeutic Care now has 300+ member organisations.
We want to use our knowledge and expertise to Influence policy, developing our understanding of emergent policy drivers and initiatives.
Integrating teaching, research and practice via The Outreach Team, keeping delivery at the cutting edge of the sector.
Responding to sector needs, developing strong partnerships and linking these with policy initiatives and funding streams.
Outstanding outcomes are supported by externally conducted research.
Establishing greater clarity about what makes a service Outstanding and sharing what works.
Staff trained to Level 5 in ‘Therapeutic Work with Children and Young People’.
Developing a clearer accredited professional development programme and career pathways for staff in the sector. A level 3 qualification and a level 6.
Clear models of therapeutic practice with different family groups, including those in crisis.
Use family assessment at referral to forecast outcomes, influence interventions and increase stability at home.
The Mulberry Bush Learning and Research Centre brings together Outreach, Research and The International Centre for Therapeutic Care.
Develop the use of The Mulberry Bush Third Space with its archive and library as a resource to The Mulberry Bush and wider sector. Ensure our Outreach programmes are evidence based and reflect current research findings.
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Finance Over the past year The Mulberry Bush has spent just over £7,000,000 supporting traumatised children, their families and communities. Our main areas of spend were:
£3.5 million
On residential schooling – our 38 week provision
£600,000
On step down 52 week provision
£3 million Investing in our sites and service development
£450,000 Supporting other schools, children’s homes and organisations
£60,000 Investing in Research
£85,000 Supporting and training our staff Reserves: maintained 9 months running costs
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£7m+
‘The Impact of The Mulberry Bush on my Life’ by an ex-pupil: I think, as with all of us ex pupils, it gave us firstly, and probably most importantly, stability. Without the chance to stop the traumatic and turbulent roller coaster that our lives were on, I certainly would not have grown into the relatively normal person that I am today. Being able to feel safe and secure at such a young age, enabled me to learn, over time, how to calm down, self regulate, and feel safe. It taught me that I was not a hell child, and in hindsight, that the issues I had, were not my fault. I was not broken, just damaged by my family, environment, and the fact that I have ASD & ADHD, which I was unaware of until only a few months ago. I believe that even though things like ASD & ADHD were unheard of back in the 70’s, The Mulberry Bush School, and staff understood us, well before the rest of the education, social services, and psychiatrist world did. The level of care, knowledge, and understanding, with the total commitment to us as individual little people, saved me from a life of complete turmoil. And gave me a fighting chance at being a relatively normal person. I also came away from the school with a huge independent streak, which is a double edged sword. On the one hand, I learnt to stand up on my own two feet, but on the other hand, I also learnt growing up, that I didn’t need
my family, and was, and still am a very lonely person inside. I have immense inner strength, which is good, but again, very isolating, and lonely at times. But without this inner independence, I may not have been here at all, so I thank you all for that. The Mulberry Bush School, for me, saved me from drowning in a dysfunctional family, where they didn’t understand me, or take the time to, and where they chose to sacrifice me for the sake of rest of the family, but to be honest, it was the best thing they could have done. I am very proud to have been a pupil, and feel very fortunate to have had the nurturing, understanding, and care that the school gave me. The school was my family from the age of 5-11, and I am lucky to have had that.
References [1] Children’s Society (2008) The Good Childhood Inquiry: health research evidence. London: Children’s Society. [2] Child protection register and plan statistics for all UK nations for 2017 [3] Radford, L. et al (2011) Child abuse and neglect in the UK today. [4] https://www.nice.org.uk/about/nice-communities/ social-care/tailored-resources/lacyp/statement-5 [5] Children’s Society (2008) The Good Childhood Inquiry: health research evidence. London: Children’s Society. [6] Radford, L. et al. (2011) Child abuse and neglect in the UK. NSPCC. As cited by Radford, L.; Aitken, R.; Miller, P.; Ellis, J.; Roberts, J. and Firkic, A. (2011) Meeting the needs of children living with domestic violence in London. London: NSPCC/Refuge. [7] Humphreys, C. (2006) Relevant evidence for practice. In: C. Humphreys and N. Stanley (eds.) Domestic violence and child protection: directions for good practice. [8] Child protection register and plan statistics for all UK nations for 2017. [9] Child protection register and plan statistics for all UK nations for 2017
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[10] Lightning Review Access to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Sercices May 2016 https://www. childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/wp-content/ uploads/2017/06/Childrens-Commissioners-MentalHealth-Lightning-Review.pdf [11] The Guardian January 2017 [12] The Centre for Mental Health + https://www. centreformentalhealth.org.uk/the-decade-of-delay [13] Onions, C. (2018). Retaining foster carers during challenging times: the benefits of embedding reflective practice into the foster care role. Adoption & Fostering (42) 3, 249-265 [14] Price, H. Jones, D. Herd, J. and Sampson, A. (2018). Between love and behaviour management: the psychodynamic reflective milieu at The Mulberry Bush School. Journal of Social Work Practice Vol 32 (3) 391-407 [15] Gutman, L. Vorhaus, J. Burrows, J. and Onions, C. (2018). A longitudinal study of children’s outcomes in a residential special school. Journal of Social Work Practice Vol 32 (3) 409-421 [16] Burrows, R., Mattachine-Lee, C. Lutman, C. and Roberts, D. (2011). MBS Success Project:Sharing understanding of children’s communication for emotionally successful schooling.
“Outstanding” Ofsted Contact
The Mulberry Bush School Abingdon Road Standlake Witney OX29 7RW
The Mulberry Bush Learning & Research Centre 93 High Street Standlake Witney OX29 7RH
The Mulberry Bush Third Space (MB3) Church Lane Toddington Cheltenham Gloucestershire GL54 5DQ
Telephone: 01865 300202 Email: reception@mulberrybush.org.uk
Telephone: 01865 594700 Email: landrc@mulberrybush.org.uk
Telephone: 01242 621200 Email: mb3@mulberrybush.org.uk
mulberrybush.org.uk