Mapping the Ideas Shaping Healing, Relationships and Development
Welcome to The Secure Start Atlas of Therapeutic Care.
The Atlas has been developed from conversations with leading practitioners, researchers, educators, organisational leaders and people with lived experience who have appeared on The Secure Start Podcast.
Rather than presenting a single model or viewpoint, the Atlas brings together the collective wisdom emerging from these conversations. It identifies where ideas converge, where perspectives differ, and how they connect to inform contemporary therapeutic care.
The Atlas is designed as a living knowledge resource. As new podcast episodes are released, new contributor profiles, concepts and connections will be added, allowing the Atlas to continue growing alongside the field itself.
Whether you are a psychologist, social worker, teacher, residential care worker, foster or kinship carer, policy maker, researcher or student, the Atlas aims to support thoughtful, evidence-informed practice that improves the lives of children and young people recovering from adversity.
How the Atlas is Organised
The Atlas is organised into a series of interconnected knowledge domains. Each domain contains concept pages that synthesise the thinking of multiple contributors, together with links to individual contributor profiles and relevant podcast episodes.
Over time, these domains will expand as new ideas emerge and new conversations are added.
1. Human Development
Understanding how children grow, adapt, recover and flourish.
Concepts
- Attachment
- Brain Development
- Child Development
- Developmental Trauma
- Identity
- Belonging
- Emotional Regulation
- Resilience
- Hope
- Play
- Curiosity
- Meaning Making
2. Relationships
Understanding the relational foundations of healing.
Concepts
- Therapeutic Relationships
- Attachment Security
- Trust
- Co-regulation
- Attunement
- Accessibility
- Responsiveness
- Relational Safety
- Repair
- Permanence
- Connection
3. Therapeutic Practice
How therapeutic care is understood and delivered.
Concepts
- Therapeutic Parenting
- Therapeutic Residential Care
- Therapeutic Foster Care
- Therapeutic Education
- Reflective Practice
- Containment
- Mentalisation
- Understanding Behaviour
- Everyday Interactions
- Boundaries
- Assessment
- Risk
- Healing Environments
4. Organisations
Creating environments where therapeutic practice can flourish.
Concepts
- Leadership
- Organisational Culture
- Organisational Congruence
- Workforce Wellbeing
- Supervision
- Reflective Teams
- Program Fidelity
- Implementation Science
- Staff Support
- Psychological Safety
- Workforce Development
5. Systems
The wider systems that influence children’s lives.
Concepts
- Child Protection
- Foster Care
- Residential Care
- Leaving Care
- Family Support
- Education
- Health
- Justice
- Disability
- Poverty
- Policy
- Advocacy
6. Lived Experience
Learning from those who have experienced care.
Concepts
- Voice
- Participation
- Identity
- Recovery
- Belonging
- Relationships
- Transition to Adulthood
- Self-understanding
7. Research and Evidence
Building and translating knowledge into practice.
Concepts
- Evidence-Based Practice
- Practice-Based Evidence
- Translational Research
- Implementation
- Evaluation
- Outcomes
- Quality Improvement
8. Philosophy of Care
Exploring the deeper questions that underpin therapeutic work.
Concepts
- What is Care?
- Ethics
- Compassion
- Curiosity
- Responsibility
- Presence
- Reflection
- Story
- Language
- Meaning
- Hope
- Humanity
Contributor Profiles
The Atlas currently contains detailed profiles of more than fifty contributors to The Secure Start Podcast. Each profile summarises the contributor’s central thesis, major contributions, primary themes, practical applications and relationship to the wider field of therapeutic care.
As new conversations are published, additional contributor profiles will be added.
Atlas Maps
Visual knowledge maps will illustrate how contributors, concepts and themes connect across the field of therapeutic care, making it easier to explore relationships between ideas.
The Secure Start Principles
As the Atlas grows, recurring ideas emerging across contributors will be synthesised into a set of foundational principles that reflect the collective wisdom of the field.
A Living Resource
The Secure Start Atlas of Therapeutic Care is intended to remain a living resource. It will continue to evolve as new research emerges, new voices are heard, and new conversations are added to The Secure Start Podcast.
Our hope is that the Atlas becomes more than a companion to the podcast. We hope it becomes a trusted reference for everyone committed to understanding, supporting and improving the lives of children and young people recovering from adversity.
Click here to progress to the next page: How to use the Secure Start Atlas of Therapoeutic Care.