Channels & Choices Therapeutic Children's Services

We've been out across the community and put together a video with input from all departments of Channels & Choices to spread the word about the amazing work we do. This video is only a brief glimpse into the huge depth and variety of the work we do with our children, but we hope you find it inspiring and thought-provoking.

It's not too late to get your SETCC tickets! Follow the link below and make sure you're part of an amazing event! https://lnkd.in/eyhmqcky

We're still on the lookout for House Managers & Deputies for our new Therapeutic Residential Homes! If you've got the skills we need, or know somebody who does, get in touch or tag them in the comments! We offer unparalleled support - our Managers get to focus solely on the success of the home, while our team back in Head Office takes care of payroll, recruitment & the rest. Let us help you succeed and check out our vacancies here: https://lnkd.in/dzmfgCn

Fresh from his watery adventures last week, we wanted to introduce you to one of our key personnel, Les! Les is our Maintenance Team Leader, and as such is responsible for the upkeep of our many locations across the Dover/Deal area. He often finds himself wearing many different hats in one day, from plasterboarding a wall one moment to wearing a hi-vis and directing traffic the next! He's been at Channels and Choices for 5 years, but has actually worked at the Kearsney Manor site since it was a nunnery, having joined them in 2003 after previously working on the iconic Hoverspeed Hovercrafts in Dover. Les prides himself on the thoughful design of spaces across our community - making sure that the young people have what they need but with additional consideration for their unique circumstances. One example would be the installation of towel buttons rather than rails - a solution that ensures the children can't pull anything off the wall but still get to hang their towels. Not a lot of people think of this, but in the summer holidays (and other breaks) Les will take a trip through the school and run all the taps to keep the water flowing and fresh. In terms of other unexpected aspects, he once found half a toy galleon wedged around the U-bend in one of the house's toilets! Thanks Les for all you do for the young people in our care!

Check out our Therapy Team vacancies! It's an exciting time to be joining Channels & Choices as we are focusing on expanding our Therapy team. We've got new opportunities for therapists across the department, including OT, SALT and a Child & Adolescent Therapist. Check out the vacancies here and get in touch! https://lnkd.in/dzmfgCn

The South East Therapeutic Childcare Conference (SETCC) returns in 2024 with keynote speakers Dr Karen Treisman MBE and Professor David Shemmings OBE PhD. Social care practitioners will benefit from improving their knowledge of therapeutic care and practical learning strategies focusing on the importance of relationship based practice. All attendees will receive CPD certification. Places are limited so book your ticket today https://bit.ly/SETCC24

Check out our latest vacancies! We're always on the lookout for potential Residential Support Workers and Learning Mentors - but the real focus at the moment is on Registered Managers and Deputy Managers! Maybe you're the person we're looking for? Check out our vacancies here: https://lnkd.in/dzmfgCn

What is a Therapy Assistant? Channels & Choices is fortunate enough to have two among our roster - our fantastic Louise and Jess. A lot of people have images that spring to mind if you say "Therapist" or "Teacher", but we wanted to shine a spotlight on some of the less visible individuals within our community! Therapy Assistants certainly carry out varied work! They support the entire therapy team; psychological, SaLT & OT, ensuring we get the most out of them. They are involved right from the start of the children’s journey into residential. This will often be within the network before interactions with the children, for example, information gathering and sharing. Often Therapy Assistants are a link between the children, residential homes, foster carers, school & therapists, helping to keep communication open within the community. As with every individual at Channels & Choices, the child is at the center of everything they do. They will work alongside SaLT and OT to assist with assessments, often carrying out observations to inform the assessment process. They can also carry out 1:1 interventions with the children to support therapist recommendations, after an assessment. These could be in the form of specific language programs / Comic Strip Conversations / sensory circuits / fine & gross motor interventions to name a few! Incorporating relational games and activities can promote children’s communication, interactions & daily living. Louise and Jess also are responsible for creating a wide range of universal and bespoke resources used to support children’s daily living – for example, visual timetables, choosing cards, interactive games, social stories & more! They support whomever is the facilitator for Therapeutic Thinking Time within the residential houses, and finally will support (alongside the rest of the community) children transitioning from residential to fostering.

We are recruiting for a Registered Manager in one of our Therapeutic Children's Homes. If you have the skills we need, or know somebody who does, please do get in touch or tag them in the comments! We offer unparalleled support - our Managers get to focus solely on the success of the home, while our team back in Head Office takes care of payroll, recruitment & the rest. Let us help you succeed and check out our vacancies here: https://lnkd.in/dzmfgCn

Please join us in welcoming Michelle, our new Training Manager and a position we've been looking forward to filling for a while. Her passion lies in training and developing people to ‘be the best that they can be’, and very kindly wrote a little introduction we can share below. 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 30 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴’ 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘥𝘶𝘭𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘫𝘰𝘣 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘴 𝘉𝘦𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘔𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘰𝘳, 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘗𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦’𝘴 𝘈𝘥𝘷𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦, 𝘈𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘙𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘳, 𝘓𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘈𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘳, 𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘊𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘳, 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘦 𝘋𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘊𝘢𝘳𝘦, 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘘𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘈𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘳. 𝘏𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘶𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳, 𝘐 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳. 𝘛𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘳, 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘺, 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘧𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦. 𝘈𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘥𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵.𝘐𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘳, 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘴. 𝘏𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦, 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘶𝘭𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦/𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩. 𝘐 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦.