The Secure Start Podcast

23/08/2026

Episode 57 of The Secure Start Podcast, with Marie Clutton of Amberleigh Care, is now live! It is such an inspiring conversation - I challenge you to look and listen!

https://thesecurestartpodcast.com/2026/08/23/the-work-you-cannot-leave-at-the-door-with-marie-clutton/

Working in residential care with boys and young men who have experienced trauma and displayed harmful sexual behaviour changes you, and that is one of the most honest truths shared on the Secure St…

09/08/2026

Episode 56 of The Secure Start Podcast - Reclaimed Belonging, with Richard Rollinson - is now live and accessible via the link in the first comment.

In this conversation Richard and I unpack what belonging really means in out-of-home care and therapeutic residential care. We talk about how the stories we tell children about their parents can either stabilise them or split them apart, and why it matters to honour birth family without denying harm. Richard shares a practical reframe for the child who says “my mother doesn’t love me”, and we tease out the difference between making a necessary judgement and being judgemental.

If you take something positive from the conversation, please consider liking, subscribing, and sharing the podcat episode in your network. It really helps me to be able to continue to bring you high value content via the podcast.

https://thesecurestartpodcast.com/2026/08/09/reclaimed-belonging-with-richard-rollinson/

A child disappears into the underside of a foam settee, furious when the adults cannot find her. Another child “loses” Super Ted again and again, and what looks like chaos turns into a quiet test: …

07/08/2026

The Secure Start Atlas of Therapeutic Care is Growing. See the link for the second concept page, concerning "Attachment".

https://thesecurestartpodcast.com/concept-2-attachment/

At a Glance Key QuestionsAnswersWhat is attachment?A biologically based relational system that motivates children to seek protection, comfort and support from familiar caregivers when they feel vul…

06/08/2026

And just like that, the Triple-A Model of Therapeutic Care becomes the foundational therapeutic care approach for a residential child care provider in Ireland.

Appreciated for it's simplicity and clear direction regarding what therapeutic care looks like in practice, the Triple-A Model of Therapeutic Care responds to one of the primary challenges in residential child care provision: consistency of care across staff.

To find out more about how the package might benefit your social care organisation or program, do get in touch.

26/07/2026

I am very pleased to release another conversation between Richard Rollinson and I on The Secure Start Podcast. There is so much to pause and reflect on that I have decided to release it in two parts.

In this first instalment, we acknowledged that care gets framed as gentle and cosy, but that story falls apart the moment you work closely with children who have lived through fear, loss and disruption. We explore a tougher, more honest view: care as something we carry, not just something we do. Richard brings two objects to make the point - a Care Bear and the Oxford English Dictionary - and cites definitions that connect “care” to grief, mental suffering, doubt and sorrow. It lands because it sounds like the real emotional labour of child and youth care, residential care, foster care and therapeutic support.

We remind the listener about Richard’s love of objects and storytelling: how a childhood habit of arranging things, an unforgettable stage performance filled with objects, and decades of practice in the Mulberry Bush community shaped a way of communicating that invites people in rather than telling them off. We talk about presence, remembering and the strange truth that a single detail can hold a whole world, including a photo where a father’s shoe becomes a doorway into family history, disability and connection.

We also get practical about safeguarding and organisational culture. Richard contrasts whistleblowing with something that should sit beside it: voicing concern early, as course correction, so teams can question routines before harm happens. That leads into containment and reflection about how supported staff can hold children’s feelings without becoming punitive, how naming an experience can calm a storm, and how good containment spreads through a group in the best possible way.

If you care for children, lead a team, or want trauma-informed practice that stays human under pressure, you’ll find plenty to pause on. Subscribe, share this with a colleague, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway or the object that carries your story.

https://thesecurestartpodcast.com/2026/07/26/caring-means-holding-grief-without-turning-punitive-with-richard-rollinson/

Care gets framed as gentle and cosy, but that story falls apart the moment you work closely with children who have lived through fear, loss and disruption. I sit down with Richard Rollinson for ano…

25/07/2026

The Triple-A Model of Therapeutic Care in therapeutic residential child care.

02/07/2026

Whether you are a parent, teacher, psychologist, social worker, foster carer, residential care worker or mentor, this conversation is a powerful reminder that changing a child's future often begins by recognising what is already within them.

Watch the full conversation with Robbie Gilligan on The Secure Start Podcast for more evidence informed discussions on child development, trauma informed care, attachment, resilience, foster care, residential care and helping children thrive.

Subscribe to Secure Start Podcast Clips for practical insights from leading international experts in psychology, child development, education and therapeutic care.

https://youtu.be/sUmeqJw07pY

This is a clip from The Secure Start Podcast's episode with Robbie ...

01/07/2026

A short animation I created some time ago about children who foster.

Available research, and anecdotal experience, suggests that children and young people who foster play a critical role in the success, or otherwise, of an out-of-home care placement.

Children and and young people who foster are the birth children of foster carers. They may be similarly aged as the child who is fostered and share parental care with the fostered child. Through the role they play supporting their parents and the fostered child, children and young people who foster are thought to benefit in the development of their character via the role.

Children who foster may also be adults with their own children who share their grandparents with the fostered child. As adults, they may also support their parents in the fostering role.

Children and young people who foster have also been referred to as “forgotten children”, in consideration of their experience. Children and young people who foster can feel as though their own needs are less pressing, or even less important than those of the fostered child. Wellbeing is threatened and relationships are strained, leading to a decision to end the placement for the fostered child in many instances.

The end of the placement has potential negative impacts for children and young people who foster. Among dependent children of the foster carers, the end of the placement may result in insecurity about the continuity of love and care. Teenage and adult children may experience shame and guilt about the placement ending.

The foster parents, themselves, are likely to be impacted by the placement not working out. Feelings of failure may compromise their caregiving capacity and wellbeing, at least for a time.

For the sake of children and young people who are in-need of out-of-home care, child welfare authorities and fostering agencies need to recognise the role children and young people who foster have to play in placement outcomes, and ensure that they feel important and supported too.

Transcript of the video:
I am a child who fosters, but I am not a child.

Only mum and dad think of me that way.

They look after children who cannot live at home.

I thought it would be great at first; someone else to talk to and do things with.

Someone we could help to know what normal family life is.

It started OK.

Now, I feel like I have to fight to be noticed.

Sometimes I feel like the forgotten child.

Mum and dad spend all of their time talking about and responding to the child.

I can see that the child knows it too.

They smile at me whenever mum or dad does something for them.

Like I am the competition in some game they are playing.

And they’re still not satisfied. They want more and more. They have to win.

They get into my things as well. Nothing’s off-limits to them.

Mum and dad don’t even punish them!

They say the child does it because their needs weren’t met at home;

That their parents had problems that got in the way of caring for the child.

That they need consistent care from accessible, responsive, and emotionally-connected adults.

That they need adults who understand them and respond to their experience.

Well, I still need that too.

I need my mum and dad to be there for me without me having to ask; to say the words that show that they understand what is happening for me and our family right now; to show that my needs are important without me having to explain them; and to sit with me and experience what I am feeling.

I need care too.

I want to help my parents, and the child.

I am not a bad person.

It just needs to be fair.

By Colby Pearce

27/06/2026

Children who have experienced abuse, neglect, and developmental trauma are especially sensitive to inconsistency. In this clip from The Secure Start Podcast, I speak to why foundational caregiving programmes consistently outperform more complex models when it comes to long-term implementation and outcomes.

Rather than asking carers and professionals to adopt increasingly sophisticated therapeutic techniques, I explain why organisations achieve better results by embedding simple, relationship-based principles that people can apply consistently every day.

This content explores:

• Why consistency may be the greatest protective factor for children recovering from trauma
• Why inconsistency is often the primary trigger for traumatised children
• The importance of sustainable caregiving approaches
• Why simple, foundational practice creates stronger long-term outcomes
• How organisations can improve staff adherence and programme fidelity
• Building trauma-informed cultures that last

If you enjoy content exploring trauma-informed practice, attachment, therapeutic parenting and child development, consider subscribing for more conversations from leading international experts.

25/06/2026

I have written a companion for the Secure Start Classroom AURA App. You can download it here. The companion is written for teachers and educators, and covers the reasoning behind the app, its evidence base, and how to extend upon it.

A companion for the AURA app for use at home is coming soon.

https://securestart.com.au/wp2/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Connected-Classrooms-for-AURA.pdf