Sarah joined Connecting Families in 2006. Sarah has a postgraduate qualification in Social Work, and an undergraduate degree in Psychology. Sarah has been working with individuals, children and families in a range of settings for over twenty years. Sarah uses a Partnering for Safety approach and has extensive experience in assessing parenting capacity, identifying areas of risk and safety, as well as parental capacity for change. Sarah has experience in creating collaborative partnerships with parents, carers and the Department for Child Protection towards addressing child safety concerns and enhancing children’s wellbeing.
Sarah has worked with parents and caregivers on issues that impact on their parenting such as drug dependency, mental health issues and the effects of trauma, abuse and violence. Sarah’s work has been informed by Narrative Family Therapy and she is able to view abuse and its effects within a wider social context. Sarah has advanced training in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.
Sarah has worked with parents and carers to assist in repairing relationships and supporting children to manage complex and challenging behaviours. Sarah has advanced training in Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy.
Sarah has worked collaboratively to compile individual story books for children to provide explanations for the child of their entry into care. This is to assist children to understand the circumstances that their parents were struggling with, and to provide a trauma narrative that is supportive of the child’s self-concept. These story books drawing on ideas from life story work, Dyadic Developmental psychotherapy and contain elements of psychoeducation.