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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Building Trauma Informed Leadership – A podcast interview with Tom Ellison
Why Clear Primary Tasks And Brave Authority Transform Children’s Homes Clear leadership in children’s residential care starts with one deceptively simple question: what are we here for? Defining the primary task sounds easy, yet many leaders default to jargon or vague mission lines that can’t guide daily choices. When the work is complex and emotional,…
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Building Healthy Birth Family Connection – A podcast interview with Adriana Dias
How a Reflective, Respectful Approach Helped Families Choose Healthier Relationships Child protection is often described with neat outcomes and rigid timelines, but the lived work rarely fits those lines. This episode explores a project in Portugal, Revira Volta, that set out to build healthier relationships between girls in residential care and their birth families by…
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Building Trauma Informed Schools – A podcast interview with Megan Corcoran
How supporting adults creates the safety children need to learn, belong, and heal Belonging sits at the heart of healing, and this conversation explores how schools can become places where children recover, learn, and feel seen—without asking teachers to be therapists. The core idea is simple: when adults in education and youth services feel supported,…
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Building Trauma-Responsive Care – A podcast interview with Richard Cross
What if “care for the carers” is the real key to healing children? Richard Cross unpacks attachment, containment, and why residential care isn’t always a last resort.
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The Case for Quality Residential Childcare – A podcast interview with Bruce Henderson
“We don’t need to pit different kinds of care against each other. The real question is quality.” Professor Bruce Henderson shares compelling research showing why high-quality residential care should be an option—not a last resort—for vulnerable children.
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Reimagining Children’s Homes: From Last Resort to Purposeful Healing, with Kevin Gallagher
Not Forever Homes, But Forever Impact In this insightful episode of the Secure Start podcast, host Colby Pearce engages in a profound conversation with Dr. Kevin Gallagher, a veteran practitioner with nearly 30 years of experience in UK residential care. Their discussion delves into the evolving landscape of residential care, its purpose, and how it…
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Challenging Last Resort Thinking: Why Some Children Thrive in Residential Care, with Dr Laura Steckley
Reimagining Residential Childcare: Insights from Dr. Laura Steckley The latest episode of the Secure Start podcast features Dr. Laura Steckley, a leading academic and researcher in therapeutic residential childcare from the University of Strathclyde. With over three decades of experience spanning practice, teaching, and research, Dr. Steckley brings profound insights into an often misunderstood area…
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The Science of Prevention: How We Can End Child Maltreatment, with Benjamin Perks
The Importance of Attachment and the Science of Prevention in Child Development In a recent podcast episode, Benjamin Perks, Head of Campaigns and Advocacy at UNICEF, shared profound insights about child development, attachment theory, and the global effort to end child maltreatment. His personal journey from growing up in residential care to becoming a leader…
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From Winnicott’s Piano to Adolescent Minds: Peter Wilson’s Journey
Uncertainty as Strength: Why Not Knowing Matters Peter Wilson’s journey into the world of child and adolescent psychotherapy is a testament to the power of serendipity and openness to unexpected opportunities. From his initial degree in industrial economics to becoming a founder of Young Minds and working with some of the most influential figures in…
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Relentless Kindness: The Foundation of Therapeutic Care, with Adela Holmes
Trauma-Informed Care: The Power of Relentless Kindness in Therapeutic Residential Settings In the challenging landscape of therapeutic residential care for traumatised children, a profound approach has been quietly transforming lives for nearly two decades at Hurstbridge Farm in Victoria, Australia. This revolutionary model, developed by Adela Holmes, has consistently demonstrated that relationship-based care grounded in…
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