Professional Services
for Care Sector organisations
We offer organisations and government agencies a range of OOHC and Foster Care related services including:
• Out of Home Care Accreditation and Compliance Support Services
• Intensive case management
• Reportable conduct investigations
Please contact our Lismore office on 02 6627 3700 for further information and assistance.
Professional Services
for Care Sector organisations
We offer organisations and government agencies a range of OOHC and Foster Care related services including:
• Out of Home Care Accreditation and Compliance Support Services
• Intensive case management
• Reportable conduct investigations
Please contact our Lismore office on 02 6627 3700 for further information and assistance.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
ABOUT ADOPTION >
For urgent help, or if you need to speak to our intervention team asap please:
< insert appropriate response here>
NDIS enquiries:
ndis@caspa.asn.au
Media and fundraising enquiries:
For job application enquiries:
careers@caspa.asn.au
If you would like to share a compliment or complaint please email us at: XXXXfeedback@caspa.asn.au
For urgent help, or if you need to speak to our intervention team asap please:
< insert appropriate response here>
NDIS enquiries:
ndis@caspa.asn.au
Media and fundraising enquiries:
For job application enquiries:
careers@caspa.asn.au
If you would like to share a compliment or complaint please email us at: XXXXfeedback@caspa.asn.au
For urgent help, or if you need to speak to our intervention team asap please:
< insert appropriate response here>
NDIS enquiries:
ndis@caspa.asn.au
Media and fundraising enquiries:
For job application enquiries:
careers@caspa.asn.au
If you would like to share a compliment or complaint please email us at: XXXXfeedback@caspa.asn.au
The safety and the wellbeing of children and young people are at the centre of everything we do. Through our work, we know first hand that a child’s wellbeing is deeply connected to family and culture.
CASPA provides a range of quality and innovative services and programs for young people under our care, and to other professional organisations operating in our community.
Our Care Services
Therapeutic Residential Care for children and young people
CASPA is recognised as a leader in the area of specialist therapeutic residential care for children and young people who cannot live at their family home for their own safety and wellbeing.
Our residential care program is an outcomes-focussed program, designed to assist children and young people achieve stability and develop the skills to enable them to progress toward positive social, economic and health outcomes.
We understand that children who come into Residential Care have been affected by trauma and as a result, they have complex behavioural, emotional, social, physical and educational needs.
Integrated into our operations is a complex care therapeutic framework. This means that our direct-care staff are provided with a range of on-call specialist clinical support, including psychologists, counsellors, education specialists and medical specialists.
A comprehensive assessment of a child’s needs helps shape individualised care plans, which are then reviewed and updated regularly.
Our residential care initiatives embrace a range of mental health programs, including art therapy and guided group activities, as well as skill development programs. We also provide Supervised Family Contact and Family Restoration plans.
The Charter of Rights for Children is enshrined in New South Wales legislation (Care & Protection Act 1998) and our care teams and programs play a vital role in promoting the rights of the children in our care.
CASPA prides itself on providing high-quality emergency respite and youth work support and we operate a 24-hour emergency call-out service.
CASPA staff are provided with extensive training in Trauma and Attachment Theory, Therapeutic Crisis Intervention, Suicide/Self-harm Prevention and Intervention, Cultural Awareness and other childhood development training needed to provide quality care and support.
We have a number of homes in our region that can be utilised for the purpose of emergency respite for young people.
Emergency Respite Care
FOR URGENT HELP OUTSIDE BUSINESS HOURS, OR TO SPEAK TO OUR AFTER HOURS SUPPORT TEAM PLEASE CONTACT:
LISMORE
After Hours Support
Family Services
The number one factor most closely connected with positive outcomes for
children is a meaningful connection to family. Our first priority is keeping families together and supporting them to achieve their dreams.
Our programs and
services for families
We operate a range of services and programs that are focused on enabling families to overcome barriers such as disadvantage, homelessness, domestic violence, lifestyle and cultural challenges and achieve a stable and nurturing environment.
Family Preservation services we provide intensive in-home support to families experiencing circumstances that affect their ability to parent or where child protection concerns exist. The intensive case management is voluntary for the family and can last up to two years. Our focus is to prevent family breakdown, build resilience and increase parenting capacity.
Family Finding every child has an extended family and we believe that every effort should be made to try and locate them. A meaningful connection to family helps a child develop a sense of belonging, and can help reduce loneliness, experienced by most children in out of home care.
Supervised family contact involves supervised visitations that help maintain family bonds while meeting the requirements of orders made by the Family or Children's Court. Our qualified facilitators make practical arrangements with families and children to meet in our specifically equipped family contact rooms. A detailed visit report is provided by the facilitator, which can be used in court and other legal proceedings.
Mentoring we provide youth worker support to young people who are at risk and have come to the attention of Community Services.
Traumatic experiences in childhood can have a direct neurobiological impact on a young developing brain, particularly emotional regulation. The nature of the impact is different from the trauma experienced by a healthy adult brain.
For this reason, therapeutic care is delivered only by way of trauma-informed responses to children and families.
Our Therapeutic Services
Our approach to therapeutic care for children and young people
Children who have endured ‘complex’ trauma which is ongoing and interpersonal, such as physical and emotional abuse, sexual abuse, and/or neglect, can often suffer long-lasting effects that are expressed in many facets of their lives.
As they grow older, these children have difficulty identifying and managing their emotions and behaviours. They can experience persistent anger, anxiety or depression and other behavioural and mental health challenges.
Our therapeutic care is achieved through positive, safe, healing relationships and experiences, informed by a sound understanding of childhood trauma, disrupted attachment and individual developmental needs.
The first step for our therapeutic caregivers is to support children and young people to feel safe. From there CASPA provides creative therapeutic interactions, involving opportunities to express, reflect, reframe and integrate experiences of trauma and disrupted attachment. The process involves focusing on skills such as distress tolerance, emotional regulation, capacity to trust and integration within the community.
Our Therapeutic Framework
Our Therapeutic Framework includes a range of evidence-based approaches to best meet the varied, complex and ever-changing needs of individual children and young people, who are included in decisions about their placement, care, interventions, education and wellbeing.
Our caregivers, supported by a team of on-call clinical professionals, form a key role in young people’s lives, allowing therapeutic strategies to be applied on a moment-to-moment basis and throughout daily interactions and challenges.
When we offer safe, reliable and responsive relationships to children with complex needs, we provide them with vital opportunities to build skills and to develop a positive sense of self.
Evidenced-based therapies offered at CASPA
Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP)
Attachment Self-regulation Competencies (ARC)
Integrative Arts Psychotherapy
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)
Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA)
Gestalt Psychotherapy
Positive Parenting Program (Triple P)
Collective practices offered at CASPA
Bruce Perry | Six Core Strengths of Childhood Development
Cornell University | Therapeutic Crisis Intervention
Dan Hughes | Attachment Theory
Dan Hughes | PACE Model
Richard Rose | Life Story Therapy
Sarah Bloom | Sanctuary Model
Solution-Focused Brief Therapy
Our Therapeutic Group Programs
CASPA runs a range of group therapy programs for the children and young people in our care and has experienced consistently positive outcomes for participants.
Our staff trained in facilitating these programs can provide a fee-for-service tailored program to meet the requirements of your organisation.
For more information please call
or email
‘Fix It’ Program
The ‘Fix It’ Program is designed to engage young people in repairing damage to property that they have caused when acting out. The children are supported by qualified building, maintenance and repair teams and the aim is for young people to experience a sense of redemption instead of embarrassment or shame after an incident where damage has occurred. The program also provides an opportunity to learn new skills and experience a sense of achievement when the job is completed.
Art Therapy
Art therapy uses the creative process of art as a means of expression, which is particularly effective for children who are typically less capable and less comfortable expressing themselves with words. It can help young people process emotions and feelings, obtain insights about themselves and improve symptoms of pain, anxiety and tension.
Music Therapy
Music therapy aides in the development of physical, sensory and cognitive skills including listening, sequential memory, information recall, concentration and attention span. Through music and associated skill development, an increase in self-confidence, self-esteem, personal insight and motivation can occur and it is proven to reduce tension, anxiety and stress.
Body-Based Rhythm and Music program
Based on findings from the latest research in neurobiology, CASPA offers a yoga and meditation program incorporating repetitive, synchronised movement, along with mindfulness practices with children and young people who are willing to engage. This involves a dynamic blend of breathing exercises, physical postures, stretching, meditation, visualisation and relaxation to bring the child or young person into a greater awareness of their body which increases their mindfulness and improves their ability to self-regulate when experiencing stress.
Rhythm to Recovery Drumming program
This simple, engaging and evidence-based program created by Australia’s Simon Faulkner is designed for emotionally complex young people as a series of highly engaging and accessible rhythmic exercises. Childhood trauma experts report that rhythmic patterned exercises like drumming help to return the disorganised brain to a state of balance. Young people love this group program and are supported by trained facilitators and counsellors to connect with peers and make sense of their emotions.
PhotoVoice Photography Workshop
The PhotoVoice program utilises photography and sound media to explore issues that affect the lives of the participants. Trained group facilitators supervise small group field trips to agreed community locations so participants can collect sound bites and take photos that capture and express their lived experience. Participants are supported through the process to learn new ways of coping and new distress tolerance skills as well as connecting with peers in a safe environment.
Outdoor Education Group
A two-night therapeutic camp for small groups that draw on holistic and integrative systems of knowledge to engage young people in new ways of coping with stress and trauma. For some young people it’s through the exploration of nature that they can begin to explore the nature of the self.
Young Women's Group
With the guidance of a counsellor in the presence of a small, safe group of teenage women, participants learn about and explore some of the difficult and unique issues adolescent women are likely to go through. The aim is to educate and empower young women who may have an experience of sexual assault or who are interested in exploring what a healthy relationship might look like.
We offer organisations and government agencies a range of OOHC and Foster Care related services including:
• Out of Home Care Accreditation and Compliance Support Services
• Intensive case management
• Reportable conduct investigations
Please contact our Lismore office on 02 6627 3700 for further information and assistance.