In April 2023 the Allaži Children and Family Support Center in Lativia contacted the Mulberry Bush to ask if we would support them to develop and implement a new project for the social rehabilitation of children with behavioural disorders who have suffered childhood trauma.
The project is the first of its kind in the country and represents a significant investment and commitment, from the Ministry of Welfare in Latvia, to tackle the unmet needs of up to 10,000 children in Latvia, and a further 36,000 children identified as at risk. The Ministry believe that these “children need a high-quality, long-term social rehabilitation service in an institution whose staff are specially trained to work with children who have experienced a long-term or significant trauma”.
The Allaži Children and Family Support Centre, which currently runs a 30-day and 60-day rehabilitation provision for children, presented a model for a residential therapeutic school based on the Mulberry Bush. This was accepted and throughout 2023, Uldis Abele and Aelita Ziemele have worked with Sarah Paget from MB Consulting to develop a specification and implementation document. Just before Christmas 2023 the Latvian government agreed the terms of the specification including the financial package and awarded this to the Allaži Centre for delivery. It is within the terms of the contract that the Mulberry Bush provides support and training for the initial two-three years of the development of the new provision.
In January 2024. the Senior Leadership Team for the new service visited the Mulberry Bush for a week to undergo intensive introduction to the Mulberry Bush approach. Some of the team have visited us and worked with us before, and are very familiar with our approach, but others were new to the work. The team was made up of Uldis, Aelita, Ruta, Evija and Janis.
The week involved all departments of the Mulberry Bush in a process of sharing information, knowledge and skills as well as documents and policies that would help support the team in the development of the new work.
“”A hugely inspiring journey they are undertaking – making radical changes!” Dave Roberts
“What they are trying to do is transformational, and very impressive. The challenge of creating a culture rather than sustaining one can’t be overstated”. Mike Staines
“‘All of the group have enough respect and love for each other to endure the hard times”. Latvian Team
“’What a huge undertaking, and fantastic that the Latvian government is funding such an important venture’.” Caryn Onions
“We spent a lot of time seeking shared meaning – something right at the core of relational work. Distilling our approach down to something you can transmit across language and cultural barriers really makes you think properly.” Mike Staines
They were feeling that they now had “More understanding of the enormity of the project – but these past couple of days there is more clarity of the structure and not doing it alone” Latvian team
Evija, Child Psychiatrist said after her visit that she said that being at the Mulberry Bush “brought up a memory for her about when she started training as a Child Psychiatrist, she remembered what it felt like to be passionate and full of imagined possibilities of what she could achieve and the difference that she could make, over time she has lost that passion and feels worn down, but being at the Mulberry Bush, she has seen her passion realised and seen that it is possible to make a difference, she said she felt hope!”
A blanket to keep them safe and wish them well with their amazing journey:
