Just Right State Programme – Support for Adoptive Families

As an adoptive parent or family receiving SGO support, it can be difficult to know how to respond when your child is finding change hard. As part of bespoke therapeutic support tailored to your family's needs, The Just Right State Programme could help you and your child by helping children learn how to self-regulate their emotional states and behaviour.

The Just Right State Programme at a glance:

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This programme can form part of a bespoke support package for adoptive and kinship families in the West Midlands and UK, tailored to the needs of the family.

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Suitable for adoptive families and for families receiving SGO support in the UK

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Fully funded at no cost to the parent(s)

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Led by qualified Theraplay® therapists with training in Sensory Attachment Intervention

Beacon Family Services CIC support a wide range of struggling families, including:

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Families who are worried about their child's anxiety, emotional wellbeing or mental health

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Parents / carers struggling with their child's behaviours or Childhood Challenging Violent and Aggressive Behaviours (CCVAB)

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Families experiencing a life change, such as illness, divorce or a bereavement

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Fostering, adoptive or blended families looking for support to develop new relationships

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Families looking for support with neurodivergence, such as Autism or ADHD, or disabilities

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Parents / carers who would like to deepen their relationships and be a more connected parent

If you are struggling with family life, please browse our support services on our Families hub.

Alternatively, you can fill out our contact form and we will get back to you to discuss your family's needs.

Click here to find out more about who we are and what we do.

Online • 12 Sessions total • Funded (free to parents and guardians)

Are you finding that everyday experiences with your child can be unpleasant or overwhelming? Does your child find transitions, a change of routine, new textures or tastes, or new situations upsetting and difficult to adjust to?

Many of the children who we see at Beacon Family Services experience sensory difficulties. If you are out of tune with how things feel, managing your emotions can become more difficult. The Just Right State Programme, devised by Eadoin Bhreathnach, can help.

The Just Right State Programme can form part of our overall therapeutic support for your adoptive or kinship family in a way that is tailored to your needs.

It can combine two programmes - The Children's Programme and The Parent's Programme - to help you and your child progress in addressing emotional states and behaviour.

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In the fairytale version of the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Goldilocks goes into what seems to be an abandoned cottage and discovers three chairs, three bowls of porridge, and three beds. Two options don't suit her, but in each case, there is one option that is 'just right'.

Getting things ‘just right’ helps us manage our environment and world. As children and adults, we need to understand the way our bodies and brains respond to the sensations, smells, taste, sounds, places and people in our lives. Learning about what feels 'just right' in terms of movement and sensation can help our ability to manage the often competing physical and emotional demands of daily life.

Sensory sensitivities can be overwhelming, and feeling ‘just right’ allows children to feel safe and connected. As an adoptive parent or adult receiving SGO support, you can help your child feel safe and understood when you make space to learn about what makes children feel ‘just right’ and support their sensory needs.

To find out more about the Goldlocks approach and its benefits in regards to the Just Right State programme, click the link below.

Find out more

Online • 6 Sessions

Over 6 sessions, parents attending the Just Right State Programme learn the developmental and attachment principles behind the children’s activities and use of The Scared Gang Books.

During the sessions parents discuss their child’s behavioural problems and their goals for their child with the therapists. Parents will also complete a Sensory-Emotional Profile Questionnaire about their child which will help identify their child’s sensory-attachment patterns.

Following each session parents are provided with tailor-made home and outdoor activity ideas for their child’s pattern. Parents will be introduced to the therapy ball and its safe use at home.

Parents will also learn basic strategies to manage their own stress levels. The aim of the programme is to enable parents to provide an enriched environment within the home that facilitates the core components of successful parent child engagement – the capacity to self regulate and to mutually regulate.

In-person • 6 Sessions

The optional Children's Programme needs to be commissioned by a school or Adoption Agency for a group of children, and must be delivered in-person.

Delivered over 6 sessions, it looks at the use of sensory activities and foods, to help children learn how to self-regulate their emotional states and behaviour.

The programme uses cartoon characters called 'The Scared Gang' to represent the different survival patterns of behaviour. The different characters help children understand how each 'scared' character may react to different situations and shows children what each of the characters does to achieve their own 'Just-Right' state.

The goal of the programme is to enable children become more emotionally aware of themselves and others, to give them simple tools to enable them to self regulate and achieve the just right state, whether it is to engage in academic learning, interacting with their peers, or to be able to get a good night’s sleep.

Programme delivery

The programme is delivered over 12 sessions: 6 sessions for the child(ren) and 6 for the parent(s).

The Children's Programme is delivered online with the parent or guardian present.

The Parent's Programme is delivered online WITHOUT children present.

Please note that parents will be asked to bring some items to the session such as snacks, a ball, or playdough. You will get notice of this in advance to give you time to prepare.

Sessions led by qualified experts

The programme is co-delivered by two Theraplay® therapists; Charlotte Jenkins from Beacon Family Services and Catherine Eveness from Theraplay® South West.

Both these qualified therapists are also trained in Sensory Attachment Intervention.

Eligibility

To be eligible for the Just Right State Programme, you must be:

Living in the UK
An adoptive family OR a family receiving SGO support

How to apply

Families cannot apply directly - however, your Adoption Agency social worker (or school, in the case of the Children's Programme) can commission the Just Right State Programme for you!

You can send this page to your school or social worker, and they are welcome to contact us via the contact form link below:

Request Support

“The Just Right State is unique in its ability to enable the parent and child to begin to make the links between sensory and emotional processing, and how the use of strategies can positively impact on the development of these skills and abilities. Supporting the development of these skills and abilities in children, alongside their parents, can have a profound and positive impact on the long-term outcomes for the whole family”

Chris West, Service Evaluation author for Devon Local Authority's use of the Just Right State Programme

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