Working with Young People in Secure Accommodation

From chaos to culture

Jim Rose

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781317700357
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Psychotherapy
• Index: Psychology

The detention of children and young people as a response to delinquent and antisocial behaviour remains a topical and controversial issue.

In this new edition of Working with Young People in Secure Accommodation, Jim Rose provides an historical perspective on the topic of young people in custody and discusses the changes that have taken place in youth justice and the secure estate over recent years.

Rose introduces new material and has updated the original content in order to reflect changes in policy and practice. New areas covered include a consideration of the issues arising for children and families who are detained while issues of immigration and removal are being determined and the detention of children in police custody. Using a framework of ideas and theories to support staff thinking, the central chapters explore in detail the dynamics that emerge when the daily work of staff requires them to engage with vulnerable young people in the intense conditions of a locked environment. The relationships between staff and young people are shown as critical for the achievement of positive outcomes.

Taking a unique look at the issue of detention and its impact on young people, this highly topical book will be invaluable reading for practitioners, academics, policy makers and senior managers as well as students of social work, youth justice and education.

Chapter 1
Introduction

‘It’s not going very well tonight is it?’ It was indeed turning into one of those evening shifts dreaded by everyone who has worked in a children’s residential home. Two staff had phoned in sick at the last minute and it felt more and more as if everyone else, and in particular the senior managers, had abandoned and deserted the unit. Two of us, both relatively inexperienced, were left to look after the resident group of eight young people and as the evening went on our feelings of inadequacy and incompetence grew by the minute. We were working in a regional assessment centre for young people, although at times like these it felt as if survival rather than assessment was the key task. It was certainly our priority. I can’t remember exactly what happened that night. In the great scheme of things I suppose nothing very dreadful went on, and even if it had, we were so anxious we would probably have missed it.

You might imagine that the above were words of encouragement or support offered by my colleague; in fact they were spoken by Tom, one of the young people present in the unit during that shift. Thirty years later I still remember how they made me feel. Of course it wasn’t just the words. It was the tone of his voice and the look on his face which, together with my already growing sense of being left alone and without support, made me feel so helpless. The idea that I should think about what Tom said to me or that it might provide some clues about how he was feeling never crossed my mind. In other words all the thoughts and emotions that were so troubling to me could have been used for the very purpose for which we were there, namely assessment! My difficulty was that in that moment I was not able to reflect on how Tom’s comment might tell me something about him or in what ways my feeling of helplessness could be used to give some different meaning to the whole experience and thereby provide some learning for both of us. I can’t really remember my reaction or what I said or did but I do remember the feeling of absolute despair that the situation engendered.

What is it about that experience 30 years on that makes me remember it so vividly? Although it was in many ways an insignificant event, it is a typical example of what regularly happens in children’s homes and secure units. Apparently trivial matters or disputes quickly acquire a huge significance and occupy the interest and attention of staff and young people for long periods of time. What seems the most insignificant of comments has the most wounding or the most profound effect. The key to understanding much of what goes on in residential settings is often found in the detail of the exchanges that take place between staff and staff, young person and young person or, perhaps most powerfully of all, between staff and young people. Sometimes staff may observe a piece of behaviour that does not make any sense at all until someone connects it to something that was said or done days or even weeks before. Of course these exchanges also have to be understood within the context of the different groups that make up a residential unit and to which each person relates. The dynamics of these groups have a continual and changing influence on the way relationships in the unit develop and therefore on the meaning of the encounters that take place between individuals. The brief exchange I had with Tom that night was like a single thread picked out of an entire blanket of events and relationships. My problem at that time, a result of my inexperience, was that I could not see or think beyond the immediate meaning and effect of the words. I could not connect that brief but wounding comment to anything that might have happened before, either in our relationship or in any other.

Purpose and aims

Working with Young People in Secure Accommodation is written to stimulate and encourage those who on a daily basis are involved in looking after young people in secure units. I hope that the ideas and the practical examples used in the book will refresh their thinking and help them to re-examine their practice. Many people when appointed to work as residential staff in secure units are new to work with young people and have not had the benefit of professional training. They are very much put in ‘at the deep end’ and whether they sink or swim depends to a great extent on their own resourcefulness or, in the better scenarios, on the support they receive from colleagues and managers. Although managers of secure units tend to be more experienced, in practice they often receive little by way of induction or support when they take their tentative first steps into a management role. I hope that they too will find helpful material throughout this book and be able to use it to think more productively around the complex and onerous management responsibilities that they carry.

Working with Young People in Secure Accommodation is also intended for those who may have some external management responsibility for secure units or whose role in the wider systems of justice and welfare puts them in the position of referring and placing young people into conditions of security. In these positions it is essential to know something about what goes on inside secure units and to understand the way in which the dynamics of institutional life impact not just on staff and young people in the secure unit but also on those outside as well.

Working with Young People in Secure Accommodation is neither an academic textbook nor a research thesis. It is based on years of work in secure accommodation and draws on the shared experiences of staff and young people who have been together in those different environments. Good research and applied thinking, however, underpin the arguments put forward in the following chapters, and in no way should it be inferred that these are not important activities. References are made throughout the text to useful sources of information, research material and other literature, and further study of these is encouraged. Working with young people in a secure environment is both interesting and demanding. We shall see how important thinking is for day-to-day practice, and so any opportunity to read relevant books or articles should be gratefully taken, and managers are to be encouraged to develop structured approaches to the professional development of their staff groups. Issues of staff support and training are referred to constantly throughout the book and are explored in more detail in Chapter 8.

Many references are made in subsequent chapters to staff and young people, and in the main these terms are used inclusively without specifying either gender or ethnicity. The points that are made about the effects of working in a secure unit as a member of staff, or of being placed there as a young person, are of general application and relevance. In those instances when specific issues to do with young women or young people from minority ethnic backgrounds are being discussed, this is made clear. However, there are significant variations in the experience of these settings which come from the differences experienced as a result of race or gender (O’Neill 2001).

Almost every specific theme or topic discussed in the book can be viewed from the perspective of the needs of young women or young people from minority ethnic groups, and this should be borne in mind throughout. Issues to do with primary care, management, regime programmes and activities each have a dimension in which individual matters of race, gender and culture are significant and should be taken into account for the purposes of planning and provision in secure units. What is it like to be a young black person or a girl in this unit, or a black female member of staff? These are among the key questions that managers need to be asking themselves constantly as they review the quality of life for young people or the needs of their staff groups in the secure unit.

In the same way, issues for female staff also have a particular significance in that the specific impact that both young men and young women have on female staff has a definite and at times devastating quality about it. Often this is closely connected to the severe maternal deprivation that many of these young people have suffered, and as a result of this they project especially strong feelings towards female staff. These may be of a hostile and aggressive nature – most commonly experienced from the girls in a unit – or they may be an expression of longing for some sort of maternal affection, which comes mainly from the boys. In either case the strength of the feelings from the young people and indeed of those reciprocated by the female staff can be very strong and uncomfortable. Knowing and understanding about this and ensuring that female staff are properly supported is a responsibility for managers, supervisors and consultants. Too often, however, this is an area that goes unrecognised and therefore unacknowledged as a pressure point within a unit. The predominantly male culture of secure units tends to emphasise a more macho approach to dealing with feelings and may appear to be dismissive of more female qualities and ways of expressing experiences. In an environment where issues of sexuality and sexual orientation are inevitably always on the front burner, so to speak, there needs to be a sensitive and thoughtful approach to dealing with such issues, and we shall see the implications of this in a number of the case studies we consider later.

The underlying and fundamental principles of caring for young people in secure units and the feelings, thoughts and emotions that this generates are best considered within a holistic framework but, and this is the fascinating part of the process, as each individual is unique so every situation is different and must be approached as such. Race, gender, culture and religion are dimensions of individual identity and have to be understood as elements, albeit crucial ones, in the story that a young person brings with them and tells to the staff in the unit. This highlights yet another aspect in residential group living: the importance of maintaining a balance between managing the group and meeting communal needs while at the same time paying due care and attention to the individual needs of each young person.

Structure and content

The remainder of this introductory chapter is in two parts. First we shall look at the major themes of the book and how they are to be developed, and then consider in more detail the idea of the secure environment. The environment of a secure unit has both an internal and an external dimension. We need to think about how a secure unit works internally and what is required to make it a place in which staff and young people can work together to address the serious issues that face each young person. Secure units also have an external environment which needs to be understood and to some extent managed. The attitudes and views of those outside its walls, both professional groups and the wider public, have an impact on what goes on inside, and on staff and young people.

The wider context

Although this book is in the main about the work that goes on inside secure units, and the ideas, human qualities and structures needed to sustain this, it is also necessary to consider the wider contexts in which secure units exist. In Chapter 2 we look at the way in which secure units have developed over the years and how social policies have shaped the provision of services. These changes often reflect the shifting and ambivalent views of the wider public about ‘locking up young people’ which in turn has a powerful effect on groups of staff and the young people who are placed in secure accommodation. Consideration is given to the different types of secure unit for young people and also the different settings in which children may be detained with restrictions on their liberty.

Also in Chapter 2 we consider in more detail some of the key factors that feature in the histories and backgrounds of young people who find themselves in a secure unit. It is important to know about these factors and understand something of the way in which they influence how those decisions that determine what happens to young people are made. A developmental perspective is deliberately taken in order to emphasise that young people admitted to secure units come with a history and have a future. It is also likely that the aetiology of their presenting disturbance and chaos can be traced and identified in the kernel of that developmental history.

There is another dimension to this perspective as well. Although the young people who are placed in secure accommodation are undoubtedly among the most damaged and disturbed in our society, they are also subject to the same processes of change that are experienced by every adolescent. Even in the best of circumstances the period of development known as adolescence brings with it special anxieties and worries, both for those going through it and for those who have responsibility for their care.

Adolescence is probably best defined as a time of transition from childhood to adulthood. Transitions have particular features involving change and readjustment to new conditions. As Ann Wheal puts it:

As they pass through adolescence one can expect alternating times of calm and conflict. Each time a young person is prompted by a new opportunity to become more independent they may experience a surge of enthusiasm or excitement. Since they are facing a new and unfamiliar challenge, they may also feel afraid or overwhelmed. When this happens they may temporarily turn back to the old ways they used to cope as children. They may pout or throw a tantrum to get their own way or express frustration. They may withdraw and retreat or want someone to indulge, protect or comfort them. Just as toilet-trained children may suddenly lose their bowel and bladder control following the birth of a younger sibling teenagers too will regress to more childish levels of behaviour under the impact of strains or stress.

(Wheal 1998: 5)

In their day-to-day work with young people in secure units it is essential that staff are able to distinguish between what may be described as ‘normal’ adolescent behaviour and manifestations of disturbed and delinquent behaviour which arise from the individual circumstances of a young person or are brought about as a result of being locked up in an institutional setting.

Staff also need knowledge about the world in which young people are growing up and the differences between today and yesterday. Although it is helpful for adults who work with young people to be aware of their own experiences as adolescents and of the kinds of feelings and opinions they had as a young person, they also have to be aware of the changes that have occurred in society over recent years. Of course the age of staff will be relevant here and many older staff have had the experience of already bringing up their own children through the period of adolescence. Being exposed to working with young people in custody may be very challenging for this group of staff as their contact with the young people makes them recall and reflect on how they were as parents to their own children.

For younger staff the pressures are different but no less real. For them the issues may be to do with their own more recent experiences of being parented and coming to terms with adult authority in a mature way. Younger staff who are still acting out their own adolescent rebellion, or older staff reliving theirs, are not uncommon features of life in secure units. More than any other group, adolescents evoke powerful feelings in those who work closely with them. Having an awareness of these feelings and being able to understand and manage them are essential for effective working. It is also why the optimism we have previously described as essential for this work is justified. Holding on to the belief that adolescents can and do change is critical, for, after all, this is the very definition of what adolescence is all about, although for long periods of time when the same behaviour occurs over and over again, it doesn’t seem like it! As someone wisely once put it: when adolescents are being children it is all right because you can nurture them; when they are being adult it is all right because you can talk to them rationally; but when they are being adolescents it is impossible!

The importance of thinking

Working with Young People in Secure Accommodation takes ideas seriously and in Chapter 3 we consider a number of ideas which, although originating in different disciplines, have direct relevance to and bearing on work in secure units. Ideas are important because they provide helpful reference points when facing some bewildering event or trying to make sense of something that seems barely rational or out of kilter with what might usually be expected. These are constant features of life in secure units where people work closely together in often stressful situations and are tasked with looking after disturbed young people. Odd things happen; people behave in ways that are un expected; feelings emerge, often of a violent or sexual nature, that you thought you would never have or had long buried; you find yourself wanting to do or say something that you barely believe you are capable of. Sometimes these sorts of thoughts and feelings cannot be acknowledged. In some instances it may not be safe even to admit feeling a bit unsure about something, let alone to admit feeling murderous towards someone or to talk about the sexual tension in the staff and young people’s group at the moment! But these are the feelings whose content, if discussed carefully and sensibly, is able to provide so much information about what is going on either within the group or with a particular young person. They also offer reassurance to a worried member of staff that they are not going mad or turning into a psychopath!

Having a toolbox of ideas that can provide some help to explore these feelings in neutral but explanatory language is critical. To make ideas work you need to be able to think, and yet providing time and opportunity for staff to think does not often figure greatly in the key targets or performance indicators for most organisations. However, it could be argued that thinking is perhaps one of the most critical tasks for staff. When we discuss the idea of containment in more detail we shall see how the important principle of ‘holding in the mind’ requires staff to think about the young people in their care and how this in turn contributes to their well-being. Ideas are not just important for helping to make sense of the ‘here and now’, although this is the locus for much of the residential worker’s dealings with young people; they are also the framework for understanding human development and for building models to show how experiences connect and make sense on the larger scale.

The views of young people

Listening and taking into account the views of young people have become a recognised part of most of the formal casework processes in both welfare and justice systems. We shall see how case management meetings in secure units are designed to encourage participation by young people and their families, and how in day-to-day activities the positive involvement of young people contributes enormously to creating a healthy environment. Although the intention at policy level is clear about the involvement of young people there are still huge issues as to how effectively in practice this participation is allowed to happen. In Chapter 4 we look at some research into this important area and also consider in detail the particular experiences of two young people who spent long periods in secure units.

Focus on practice

Chapters 5, 6 and 7 are in many respects the core chapters of Working with Young People in Secure Accommodation as they directly address issues of day-to-day practice in secure units and what managers are required to do in order for this work to be effective. The way in which daily work routines are organised and the manner in which staff perform their duties are critical factors in determining the overall outcome of the time spent by a young person in secure accommodation. A recurring theme, therefore, throughout these chapters is the importance of the consistent provision and delivery of reliable primary care by a staff team who understand its significance. This is the bedrock upon which more sophisticated interventions are built. The ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Setting the scene
• 3 Ideas matter
• 4 It's the stories that are important
• 5 What happens inside? Part I
• 6 What happens inside? Part II
• 7 The art of management?
• 8 Making the impossible even more difficult
• 9 The extraordinary ordinary
• References and suggestions for further reading
• Index