Systemic Family Therapy
School-based delivery for children and young people, and their families,
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Our aim is to tackle the issue of children and young people struggling at home and school by addressing its root cause, which is often challenging family circumstance that requires a bespoke approach of therapeutic support for all the family.
We are seeking funding for the launch of our first family therapy clinic based on a school site, to situate expertise within the very settings where distress is first noticed, early intervention is possible, and impact is urgent.
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We want to provide immediate and where necessary, intensive and long-term support for families facing complex relational challenges, that meets families where they are, nurturing generational change, and transforming the life trajectories of children and young people: to help prevent family breakdowns, to help families stay together (where appropriate), and after children are taken into care, to be involved in facilitating children coming home (where possible).
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When a pupil is struggling, school becomes the frontline
- yet it can also be the most powerful place
to notice, respond, and begin to repair.
Nearly 400,000 children were identified as Children in Need (CIN): as of March 2024 -a bout 1 in every 30 children
As of 2022/23,
there were approximately 107,000 looked-after children across the UK - an 8% increase over past 5 years
​Projections could reach almost 100,000 in England alone, by 2025, a 36% increase over a decade.
Number of children in care across Hampshire, site of our first school-based clinic, rose by 39% in just 2 years, to 1,728 children as of
mid-2022.
Why a school-base clinic is imperative
​Children’s Services and Social and Health Care at breaking point. If a family situation is not an urgent case, they may wait weeks or months for an initial social care assessment due to staffing shortages and rising demand. Also, in 2023–24, 78,577 young people waited over a year, and 34,191 waited more than two years for treatment at Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (Children’s Commission, 2024).
Spending on early intervention services by local authority agencies has dropped by 44%, while spending on residential care for children has surged. The result? Families often don’t receive support until crisis point, fuelling care entry and compounding trauma.
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This model has the potential to serve as a natural extension of the Government’s Education Mental Health Lead initiative bridging gaps between early help and clinical thresholds, and as a buffer to long waiting lists.
Our clinic’s school context enables:​
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- Early identification of need
- Reduced stigma, with therapy offered in familiar settings
- Collaborative continuum of care, involving teachers, support staff, and safeguarding leads​
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Drawing on systemic principles and trauma-informed practice, our school-based clinics offer families a space to reset, reflect, and reconnect.
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