One of MacKillop’s team of Principal Practitioners, Fiona McIlwaine, tells us why self-care is so important for foster carers.
Too often, foster carers put everyone else first; they see to the needs of their foster kids, families, and friends and often their own wellbeing is pushed to the back of the queue. Fiona McIlwaine, Principal Practitioner for MacKillop Family Services, wants to make sure that self-care is at the top of their agenda,
“By looking after yourself, you are doing the best for the kids and young people you work with. Seeing to your own needs is not selfish, it’s essential to staying well, healthy and strong and that’s when you will be at your most powerful and effective.”
MacKillop’s Principal Practitioners work across programs to support clients and staff to keep families at the centre of everything we do,
“We work with whoever is around the child. The evidence is that if systemic family-sensitive practice is embedded in everything that we do, it will have better outcomes for everyone involved.
“Kids will nearly always connect back to family in some shape or form, so if we are careful to work to strengthen family connections from the very beginning, often we can prevent kids having to come out of families in the first instance. And if they do come out of their homes, we must do everything we can to support them to retain that connection,” says Fiona.
The Principal Practitioners also play a key role leading reflective practice groups and support for foster carers; and clinical leadership and work with carers and supervisors in residential care homes and teachers in our education program.
“An important part of my role is to be available to foster carers and staff to provide a therapeutic space to help them unpack the impact of dealing with difficult situations,
“Carers who are having a difficult time or who are struggling with particular issues can arrange an appointment through their case managers and we will provide a safe space where they can identify what is going on for them.
“We are also trialling consultation times set aside specifically for foster carers where sessions can be tailored around the impact of trauma and giving practical advice about self-care for carers.”
In the long term, the aim of the Principal Practitioners is to build the capacity of therapeutic care across all roles at MacKillop so that the children, families and young people we work with will all experience the benefits of therapeutic care.
Although it’s still early days for the Principal Practitioners, Fiona believes the support they offer is building upon the already fantastic support foster carers provide to children, young people and their families. “Since I’ve been here, I’ve been struck by the love and compassion that carers have for the children and young people they work with. Their commitment is profound, and the children and their families are supported by a level of deep care that I find very moving.
“It is heart warming to be part of a team supporting carers because they are at the centre of our therapeutic care and it’s important that they have the resources to be in a strong, healthy place to care for the kids and families who need them.”