Your home for expert commentary about child protection, out-of-home care, and related endeavours.
Brought to you by Colby Pearce
Trauma informed practice is less about correcting behaviours of concern, and more about responding therapeutically to the reasons for them.
Colby Pearce
Clinical Psychologist
Watch, Read, Listen
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The Work You Cannot Leave At The Door, with Marie Clutton
Working in residential care with boys and young men who have experienced trauma and displayed harmful sexual behaviour changes you, and that is one of the most honest truths shared on the Secure Start Podcast. Marie Clutton reflects on how people often assume they can “leave the job at the door”, yet therapeutic childcare rarely…
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Reclaimed Belonging, with Richard Rollinson
A child disappears into the underside of a foam settee, furious when the adults cannot find her. Another child “loses” Super Ted again and again, and what looks like chaos turns into a quiet test: will you come looking, will you bring me back, will I still belong? I sit down for the second instalment…
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Caring Means Holding Grief Without Turning Punitive, with Richard Rollinson
Care gets framed as gentle and cosy, but that story falls apart the moment you work closely with children who have lived through fear, loss and disruption. I sit down with Richard Rollinson for another instalment of objects that help use remember and think, to explore a tougher, more honest view: care as something we…
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A Big Heart And Spare Room Is Not A Care Plan, with Gareth K Thomas
Foster care is often sold with comforting slogans, but trauma-informed care demands something far more honest. Gareth K. Thomas, a former foster parent turned foster care consultant, argues that recruitment messaging like “a big heart and a spare room” actively harms placement stability because it attracts good people who are unprepared for developmental trauma, neglect,…
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Residential Care Should Be A Thoughtful First Choice For Some Kids, with Martha Holden
“Residential care is the last resort” sounds like a policy line, but it lands as a verdict on children and on the people who care for them. In this podcast conversation, Co-Director of the Residential Child Care Project at Cornell University, Martha Holden, and I push back on that idea and explore what happens when…
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Small Moments Build Safety And Hope, with Mary-anne Hodd
A child can walk into a house with a full fridge and a clean bed and still feel terrified. That’s the gap we’re trying to close, and it’s why this conversation matters. I’m joined by Mary-anne Hodd, founder of Journeys That Care, a CPD accredited training and consultancy that blends lived experience with psychology, teaching,…
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Leaving Care In Germany And Why Support Drops Away, with Tanja Abou
Leaving care is often framed as a simple skills problem: can you cook, budget, do laundry, get to school on time. On The Secure Start Podcast, German social worker and researcher Tanja Abou argues that this framing misses the heart of transition from out-of-home care. The real question is relational and trauma-informed: will a young…
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Good Residential Child Care Starts With Understanding Pain, with Professor James Anglin
I am really pleased to release the 50th episode of The Secure Start Podcast, and to have Professor James Anglin, a name synonymous with quality residential child care, as my guest. Professor Anglin began his career as a child and youth care worker in a mental health centre in Vancouver, after which he developed a…
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Who Counts As A Trauma Survivor When No One Sees You, with Ruth Clare
Children of veterans are rarely named as a distinct group in Australia, yet the risk factors are stark: PTSD in parents, high rates of family violence, addiction, shame, and a culture that discourages help seeking. On The Secure Start Podcast, Ruth Clare describes growing up as the daughter of a traumatised Vietnam veteran, then discovering…
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Making The Unbearable Bearable In Trauma-Informed Care, with Dr Laura Steckley
When people are overwhelmed, they don’t need a lecture. They need someone who can help them think again. That’s the heart of our conversation with Dr Laura Steckley, a leading researcher in therapeutic residential childcare, as we tackle one of the most misunderstood ideas in trauma-informed practice: containment. We start by naming the problem. “Containment”…
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