Assessments and Therapy
Through the Therapeutic Treatment Centre, assessments, therapy and family preservation services are provided to children in residential care, as well as their families. A team of psychologists and occupational therapists provide these services.
2. Family Reunification
Epworth’s main aim is to reunite children with their families and to preserve families. Hence family reunification is a significant part of the Residential Care programme. In order to reunite a child staying at Epworth with his/her family, an interview and assessment is done with the child and the family. Following the assessment, a care and treatment plan is developed which includes input from all the therapists, the child and his/her family (where possible). Initially the child remains at Epworth and his/her family come to Epworth for therapeutic treatment. If certain criteria are met and the therapists are confident that the family will cope, the child is placed back with the family in their home. For six months to two years after the reunification, the family is visited and supported by Epworth staff. The child and his/her family continue to receive therapeutic treatment during this time, and the child’s place at the home is kept open until the therapists are happy that the child is successfully integrated into his/her family. Twenty children currently take part in this programme. In 2009 15 children were reunited with their families. The reunification process is thorough in order to ensure its success, and a family reunification can take up to three years. The duration of the reunification process depends on each individual case, for example a young person with a substance abuse problem may take longer to reunite with his/her family.
3. The Independent Living Centre
This centre provides long-term residential care to children who cannot be reunited with their families or placed within the extended family network or foster care. This programme focuses on providing children with life skills, education, and training in preparation for independent living. Currently five young people live in the Independent Living Centre. The centre supports young people until their 18th year. However, they may stay longer if need be.
4. The Residential Treatment House
The residential treatment house offers a short-term crisis intervention to families in crisis. The whole family occupies the house together with the child at risk. Intensive therapeutic interventions are offered to these families in order to help them stay together. This process takes between six months
to one year. The success of this programme lies in the early identification of a crisis and immediate intervention.
5. The Early Learning Development Programme
This programme pays special attention to children in Epworth’s residential care who are developmentally delayed either due to their HIV positive status or past trauma. The occupational therapists, educational psychologists and social worker develop a programme for each child in order to help him/her reach his/her developmental milestones, in order to reduce the risk of a disability or failure at school. The therapists maintain close contact with the child’s teachers so that the teachers can reinforce the programme developed for the child in the classroom. B. THERAPEUTIC TREATMENT CENTRE
The Therapeutic Treatment Centre provides services to children in residential care and their families; as well as to outside families in crisis referred by welfare services. The centre consists of two units: one unit is home to occupational therapy; while the second unit is home to psychological services, including educational psychology services. The Therapeutic Treatment Centre provides assessments, therapy and family preservation services to children and families in need of support. Each child and family receives a personalised multi-disciplinary treatment plan in order to ensure the success of the intervention. A team of three educational psychologists and three occupational therapists (all part-time) provide these services, which also include parenting workshops. The centre makes use of psychology interns and provides training and supervision to them. There are currently three post-interns and one intern at the centre. From October 2008 to December 2010, 700 children and family members received assessments and therapy
In addition to the services offered at Epworth Village, the Treatment Centre also offers educational psychology services to five schools in Ekhuruleni. One of the educational psychologists or interns spends one day per week at each of the schools and provides assessment services, counseling interventions, and referral services. There is a great demand for this kind of service, and there are plans in place to extend this service in the future.
