Therapy We Offer

Our Therapeutic Approach

At Clover, Dyadic Devel­op­men­tal Psy­chother­a­py (DDP) is our over­ar­ch­ing ther­a­peu­tic approach. Ground­ed in attach­ment the­o­ry and built on the prin­ci­ples of PACE—playfulness, accep­tance, curios­i­ty, and empathy—DDP pro­vides the foun­da­tion for all our ther­a­peu­tic work. With­in this frame­work, we offer a range of inte­grat­ed ther­a­pies to sup­port each child’s unique needs. Ther­a­play is a play­ful, rela­tion­ship-focused inter­ven­tion that strength­ens con­nec­tion and builds trust through struc­tured, inter­ac­tive activ­i­ties. Life Sto­ry Work helps chil­dren make sense of their past and build a coher­ent nar­ra­tive about their lives, sup­port­ing iden­ti­ty and emo­tion­al well­be­ing. BUSS® (Build­ing Under­de­vel­oped Sen­so­ri­mo­tor Sys­tems) address­es gaps in ear­ly phys­i­cal devel­op­ment that can impact emo­tion­al reg­u­la­tion and learn­ing, using move­ment-based activ­i­ties to sup­port foun­da­tion­al neu­ro­log­i­cal growth. Togeth­er, these approach­es cre­ate a nur­tur­ing and holis­tic ther­a­peu­tic envi­ron­ment where heal­ing and growth can take place.

Supporting Children with Complex Needs

At Clover Child­care Ser­vices, we care for chil­dren and young peo­ple who have often expe­ri­enced ear­ly trau­ma, includ­ing sep­a­ra­tion, loss, neglect, abuse, and insta­bil­i­ty. These expe­ri­ences can shape how a child sees the world—making it dif­fi­cult for them to trust adults or form healthy rela­tion­ships.

Many of the chil­dren referred to us have faced:

  • Attach­ment dif­fi­cul­ties

  • Mul­ti­ple place­ment or per­ma­nen­cy break­downs

  • Entrenched behav­iours and devel­op­men­tal trau­ma

Placement Stability and Therapeutic Care

Since open­ing in 2007, Clover Child­care Ser­vices has con­sis­tent­ly achieved high lev­els of place­ment sta­bil­i­ty across all of our homes. We spe­cialise in medi­um- to long-term place­ments for young peo­ple who:

  • Have emo­tion­al and behav­iour­al dif­fi­cul­ties

  • Present with com­plex health and social care needs

  • Have a his­to­ry of inse­cure attach­ments and chal­leng­ing behav­iour

  • Have expe­ri­enced mul­ti­ple break­downs in fos­ter care or res­i­den­tial set­tings

  • Require a core assess­ment to sup­port ongo­ing care plan­ning

Wher­ev­er pos­si­ble, place­ments are made in a planned and con­sid­ered way. How­ev­er, we also under­stand that emer­gen­cies hap­pen. Same-day place­ments may be accom­mo­dat­ed depend­ing on:

  • The needs of the referred child or young per­son

  • The needs and dynam­ics of the cur­rent res­i­dent group

  • Agree­ment from all involved par­ties that the place­ment is suit­able

  • Avail­abil­i­ty of detailed back­ground infor­ma­tion to sup­port safe care

  • A short-term plan and review date being agreed in advance

Expert-Led Therapeutic Support

Our ther­a­peu­tic mod­el is informed and sup­port­ed by:

  • Dr Les­ley Ash­by, Con­sul­tant Child and Ado­les­cent Psy­chi­a­trist

  • Dr Ben Gur­ney-Smith, Char­tered Clin­i­cal Psy­chol­o­gist

Dr Ash­by works close­ly with staff teams to explore any attach­ment, psy­chi­atric, or devel­op­men­tal issues indi­cat­ed in a child’s pre­sen­ta­tion. Togeth­er, we reflect on these needs to devel­op effec­tive ther­a­peu­tic inter­ven­tions that pro­mote heal­ing and growth.

Dr Gur­ney-Smith pro­vides spe­cial­ist train­ing to all staff in Facil­i­tat­ing Attach­ment-Based Prac­tice, and offers Dyadic Devel­op­men­tal Psy­chother­a­py (DDP) for chil­dren who are assessed as ready to engage in this deep­er ther­a­peu­tic work.

Creating Safety and Connection

Our team is skilled in con­tain­ing the anx­i­ety and dis­tress that chil­dren often bring with them—particularly fol­low­ing fam­i­ly break­down or dis­rupt­ed place­ments. We pro­vide:

  • Clear, con­sis­tent bound­aries

  • Pre­dictable, nur­tur­ing rou­tines

  • A safe, struc­tured envi­ron­ment where trust can grow

Through this sta­bil­i­ty, chil­dren begin to feel emo­tion­al­ly con­tained, allow­ing them to safe­ly explore their world and build new, healthy rela­tion­ships.

A Calm Setting for Healing

All of this takes place in a serene rur­al loca­tion, nes­tled between the Nor­folk Broads and the coast. Here, young peo­ple ben­e­fit from:

  • Ther­a­peu­tic rou­tines

  • A bal­ance of struc­tured activ­i­ties and pri­ma­ry play

  • Con­nec­tion to nature and a sense of calm that sup­ports emo­tion­al reg­u­la­tion