by Jonny Matthew | Apr 13, 2020 | Practice
Last (for now!) in our series of posts about being child-centred, is ‘Empathy Before Action.’ Now, I’ve written a lot about empathy in the last couple of years, particularly unpacking what exactly empathy is, using Dr Teresa Wiseman’s break...
by Jonny Matthew | Jan 19, 2020 | Practice
“OK, so s/he needs somewhere to live, away from the family. What have we got available?’ “Mm, more problems with behaviour in school – let’s get them a place in the one down the road.’ ‘S/he’ll be 18 in a couple of...
by Jonny Matthew | Jun 30, 2019 | Practice
I remember well the first few weeks of my social work training. It was a baptism of fire! Having never been to university before (I left school with 1 GCSE) I was struck by how vociferous people were about their views. What particularly impressed me was how...
by Jonny Matthew | Jun 3, 2019 | Policy, Practice
Children sometimes fail to understand the things we say to them. And yet, often, we don’t even realise this.Kids from troubled, traumatised or attachment disordered backgrounds are particularly susceptible to speech and language problems.So I asked my friend and...
by Jonny Matthew | Mar 26, 2019 | Practice
One of the great things about developed societies is the range of professionals involved in helping troubled children. I have the privilege of working in a multi-disciplinary mental health team. There are nurses, therapists, psychiatrists, psychologists and social...
by Jonny Matthew | Jan 29, 2019 | Practice, Uncategorised
How risky is s/he? I get asked this all the time. ALL the time! In some circles it’s almost become the main talking point – as if all the other factors in a child’s life are somehow secondary. In fact, if you think about it, talking about risk...