By Antony Bainbridge, Head of Clinical Services & Clinical Lead at Resicare Alliance
Children are amongst the most vulnerable in times of war. They suffer unimaginable psychological scars from the violence and losses they witness and experience. Even as they seek asylum in other countries from conflict-affected areas in the Middle East, for example, children exposed to war carry with them the impact of their suffering. These can include severe mental health issues such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety. Forced displacement and separation from parents further worsen their psychological distress.
These children require specialised, long-term behavioural health treatment to recover and rebuild their lives. Providers of specialised residential care should offer multi-level, trauma-informed, and resilience-oriented mental health therapies that address both short-term needs — such as emotional and physical safety — and long-term psychological support. To achieve these goals, long-term residential biopsychosocial treatment programmes tailored to children with severe trauma and attachment disorders must be facilitated.
Providing personalised care to help vulnerable children
Personalised care is key to helping vulnerable children and young adults traumatised by war. This involves tailoring interventions to meet their specific needs, circumstances, and challenges.
Providing holistic interventions that combine a biopsychosocial model is one of the fundamental pillars of personalised care. A biopsychosocial model looks at health and well-being through three interrelated lenses: biological, psychological, and social factors. This involves a 12- to 16-week assessment period to ascertain actual needs and the direction of treatment. Residential provision offering round-the-clock support and stabilisation is also part of a holistic approach that will help young people suffering from trauma feel secure, allowing them to start their healing.
Customised clinical models tailored to each child and family, considering their specific needs and circumstances, will create a foundation for fostering stability and cohesion as they progress. Staff providing integrated care must receive the most up-to-date training and practice guidance within the care sector to deliver the most effective care.
The role of reunification in tailored trauma care
Reunification is a core personalised care intervention for children suffering from severe trauma, aimed at rebuilding the bond between a parent and child following separation due to adverse events, such as ongoing conflicts in the Middle East.
After residential care, mental health providers must collaborate with families to create a safe environment for reunification and develop a transition plan for post-discharge. This plan should ensure ongoing support for up to six months to maintain progress and help families achieve self-sufficiency. As part of this process, families receive training in psychosocial interventions to promote stability and cohesion for the children in their care.
Psychosocial interventions as the foundation of treatment progression
Psychosocial interventions are essential for helping children overcome trauma, including various psychological strategies that facilitate treatment progression, such as therapeutic parenting and trauma-informed care.
Therapeutic parenting involves a compassionate approach where caregivers respond to a child’s distress with empathy, consistency, and understanding. This method aids those who have faced attachment issues due to trauma and separation, providing a second chance to develop secure emotional bonds.
In a trauma-informed approach, healthcare providers must fully grasp a patient’s life experiences to deliver effective, healing-focused interventions. This understanding enhances patient engagement and treatment adherence.
Additionally, trauma-informed care helps families see how past experiences, such as displacement from war, have influenced their child’s behaviour and emotions. By understanding the child’s perspective, families can better support their healing and growth, ensuring that care is sensitive to their experiences and tailored to meet specific needs throughout the healing process.
How residential care provides a safe platform for healing
Residential facilities provide a foundation for stabilising children who have experienced significant trauma, offering them a secure environment to safely re-engage with the world. Psychological assessments are essential for these facilities to determine the baseline therapeutic needs of each young person and establish a clear plan for their ongoing care and progress.
Self-regulation is a core strategy in helping children combat trauma. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) are cornerstones in achieving this. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy operates by aiding young people suffering from trauma to examine closely their thoughts and emotions. This process helps them recognise how their thoughts influence their actions, ultimately enabling them to unlearn harmful patterns and embrace healthier thought processes. CBT focuses on addressing current challenges rather than delving into past issues. It aims to find practical solutions to improve their mental well-being on a day-to-day basis.
Meanwhile, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy is designed to help children manage and regulate their emotions. DBT assists children suffering from trauma to accept who they are and the challenges they face, while also encouraging them to make positive changes in their lives. This involves acknowledging their current emotions and behaviours but also working towards improving how they handle situations and relationships. DBT teaches young people to find a balance between self-acceptance and personal growth.
Building trust and stability as the core of therapeutic interventions
The emphasis on building relationships should be at the heart of every therapeutic approach. This means creating environments where young people feel emotionally and physically safe. By establishing trust and consistent care, mental health staff can form meaningful connections with the children, helping them feel secure enough to open up and address their emotional needs. This aligns with attachment theory, becoming significant figures in the children’s lives, using this bond to positively influence behaviours and promote emotional healing.
Emotional stabilisation is key to the success of therapeutic interventions, especially among displaced children due to conflict and war. Prioritising this stabilisation by providing a safe, nurturing environment allows children to learn to regulate their emotions. The approach should be holistic, focusing on not just immediate needs but also long-term emotional stability, which is necessary for improving the child’s future well-being.
Providing a wide range of opportunities for children who have experienced trauma to engage in leisure and recreational activities is also an effective approach to supporting their healing journey. These activities aim to maximise the child’s potential by fostering personal growth while offering fun and enjoyment, helping create positive experiences and lasting memories. It is essential that these activities are as inclusive as possible, allowing participation in settings accessible to other children in the community.
Empowering vulnerable children through compassion and community impact
In a world, where trauma and instability have affected countless young lives, delivering compassionate, secure, and personalised care empowers vulnerable young people to overcome obstacles and create brighter futures. Providing holistic support from the initial assessment to long-term stability ensures lasting positive outcomes for each individual.
Fundamentally, it’s important to recognise that every person, no matter their background or disability, deserves the chance to thrive. Creating environments where young people feel safe, supported, and able to grow is essential. Structured routines can be a lifeline, preparing young people for the realities of adulthood, fostering independence, and helping them unlock their potential.
Equally crucial is the role of community involvement. We cannot treat young people in isolation. By collaborating with local organisations and community leaders, we strengthen not just the individual but also the social fabric surrounding them. Global outreach further extends these principles, enabling the sharing of expertise and specialised training to elevate care standards in diverse regions, making a lasting impact wherever it’s needed most.
About the Author
Antony Bainbridge is Head of Clinical Services & Clinical Lead at Resicare Alliance, globally recognised specialists in providing compassionate, secure, and personalised care that empowers vulnerable children, teenagers, and young adults to overcome challenges and build brighter futures.
About Resicare Alliance
United Kingdom-based Resicare Alliance was established in January 2020. The Alliance has gone on to acquire some children’s homes as well as opening their own. Our homes all have therapeutic oversight, and some have specialist therapeutic delivery for children who have experienced trauma in their years before coming to live with the Alliance. Resicare Alliance works and supports children with learning disabilities, autism, mental health, social, emotional, and behavioural needs.
Resicare Alliance offers a range of services that encompasses residential provision, clinical and educational services within the sector. The clinical model sits within a reunification pathway framework with the aim of reintegrating children and young people back into families. We work holistically with services against adversity to promote reunification as soon as possible. The outreach programmes are bespoke to the needs of the young person and consists of a rigorous implementation programme to do this. Funding for these initiatives comes from government, health bodies and self-funding families.
For more information: https://resicarealliance.co.uk
