Understanding and responding to the emotional challenge of working in residential child care settings: the case for staff support groups

Abstract

This paper considers why residential child care settings can be emotionally demanding for practitioners and examines how staff support groups can help practitioners to recognise and address these demands. The paper justifies the need for team members to regularly meet together with a trained and independent facilitator to reflect on their work-related perceptions, reactions and experiences. The paper concludes by offering some reflections on what it was like to be a participant in a staff support group and reflects on the relevance of such groups for residential child care practitioners working in the group care environment.