The Village Care Services
Everyone says it takes a village to raise a child but when that child is neurodiverse, or there are adverse experiences, that village often needs extra support. The Village Care Services are here to provide that little bit of professional help when it’s needed most.
The Village Care Services was created out of a vision for collaborative and holistic support to those who may ‘slip through the cracks.’
Our team has been working alongside children and families for several years supporting a number of clients with special needs including ASD, intellectual impairment and psycho-social disabilities in the child protection context. When looking to obtain additional support for these clients we have found there is a distinct lack of services equipped to provide trauma and attachment informed disability support.
Our specialised support involves children, adolescents, their families/carers and broader care team. We have a passion for developing relationships with our clients and their families or carers to improve overall wellbeing and to meet plan goals. Our services range from community access and in home support, to assistance in building independent living skills and to working with complex and high-risk behaviours.
The Village Care Services understands that whilst no family is perfect or the same, a child’s family is the foundation of their life. We work with families to provide services that are not only disability and trauma focused, but also focused on strengthening the participants natural support system.
Our Services
Daily Living and Social Supports
A generalised service to assist clients with every day needs ranging from in-home support with afternoon routine to support with social and recreational programs in the community.
Independent Living Skills
Our living skills program is designed to support young people (15-21) from initial capacity assessment, goal-setting and skills development whilst living at home/with carers, all the way to post-transition support.
Support for Clients with Complex Behaviours
The Village Care Service’s Senior Support workers have experience working with young people with high-risk behaviours stemming from disability and/or trauma experiences.
Psychosocial Recovery Coaching
The Village Care Services work with individuals with a psychosocial disability to understand and conceptualise what recovery looks like for them.
Request Callback
Send us your details and we will give you a call to discuss your needs.
The Village Way
Our model has been developed to incorporate our shared values, evidence and experience-based practice development.
The Village Care Services’ values are central to the work we do and underpin all services and policy.
- Social Justice / Equity – We believe that every child deserves the same opportunities in life to set them up for future health and happiness. We also recognise that children with disability, adverse childhood experiences or facing other barriers often need a great deal of additional support in order to achieve the same outcomes as the majority of their peers.
- Family – Professionals, friends and other supports come and go but for most of us, regardless of how imperfect they are, it is our family that will be there in the end. This goes for our clients as well, even for those living in out-of-home care.
- Empathy – We work on the assumption that everyone is doing the best they can with what they know and the capacity they have in the moment. We need to understand first so we can support second and teach third.
- Trauma and attachment – our policy and program is informed by our understanding of the roles of trauma and attachment in child development. Bruce Perry’s Neurosequential model of brain development, Mary Ainsworth’s attachment theory, The Adverse Childhood Experiences Study and Stephen Porges polyvagal theory are just a few of our favourites. We further recognise the ongoing impacts of inter-generational trauma on our Aboriginal people and are committed to culturally safe practices guided by our Aboriginal clients, their families and community representatives.
- Positive Behaviour Support – We recognise behaviour is a result of the interaction between individual and environment and that there are no inherently “bad kids.” We combine a functional behaviour approach with understanding of child development, including any delay or disability, along with recognition of the impact of trauma on emotional regulation.
- The Human Rights Model – We value diversity within our community, recognise people with disability as experts in their own lives and are committed to working with them and other stakeholders to remove barriers impacting community participation and quality of life.
- Relationship-based – We strive to build relationships not only with our direct clients but also with their family/broader support network so that we can better understand and address the needs of the client. We promote relationships between our clients and others to increase natural support and with recognition of the role of attunement in neurological development and healing.
- Behaviour support – We first focus on managing the environment and providing clear and consistent responses to reduce the likelihood of challenging behaviours occurring. We work with clients, family/carers and other stakeholders to understand any underlying needs, triggers or functions and consider any necessary environmental training and capacity building. Where required we develop intensive crisis management plans or work with specialist on the development of behaviour support plans.
- Targeted Activities – Programming is driven by client interest and goals however we also take all opportunities to incorporate strategies to promote connection, capacity and healing. For example, an outdoor adventure may include some targeted enquiry from the support worker around how to use our breath to lower our heart rate (self-soothing), closing our eyes and listening to the sounds of the ocean (mindfulness) and/or a setting our intentions for the week once we reach the top of the mountain (positive self-talk). Our support workers are also experts at sneaking some language development or problem-solving into a simple Lego activity.
- Mentoring and Social Learning – The Village Care Services provide training and support to our staff to ensure all support workers have a high level of self-awareness and have self-care and emotional regulation strategies in place. Our support workers use themselves as a tool to both teach and model strategies as well as to normalise the need for this. This may occur during goal- orientated activities or by taking the opportunities that present during behaviour events, conflict or challenging activities.
