International delegation visits Take Two
Early years
A group of our international colleagues recently came from Norway to spend time with Berry Street’s Take Two service.
The RVTS Sør (South) service is a Norwegian government-funded domestic violence, sexual abuse, traumatic stress, migrant/refugee health and suicide prevention resource centre and training service. They have a special focus on working with children and families.
Our relationship with RVTS began when they sought Take Two’s expertise in setting up their service. Ten years later they came to Australia to share how they are going and what they have learned along the way.
RVTS use evidence-based and evidence-informed approaches to help children and families recover from trauma – just like we do. They are also accredited as an organisation to use the Child Trauma Academy’s Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT).
Unlike Take Two though, they don’t see clients themselves. Instead, they provide trauma training for support system services. They educate teachers, childcare staff, housing officers, child protection staff and foster parents. They say they “help the empathetic helpers.”
“There is no such thing as a difficult child, but there are children who have difficulties. Warm adults make a difference.”
In their words, they view trauma through a lens of understanding:
While I can’t speak Norwegian, their profile video really resonated with me and many others at Take Two. It really helps show how the scariest behaviours of children are ways of dealing with the emotional pain they are feeling.
We thank RVTS Sør for generously sharing their experiences and knowledge with us, and we look forward to collaborating with them in the future.
Take Two is a Victoria-wide outreach service provided by Berry Street on behalf of the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services. The service is recognised all over the world as a leading model of how best to support children and young people who have experienced complex developmental trauma.
Take Two can provide specialist clinical consultancy services to other organisations. Contact us for more information.
By Allison Cox, Director, Berry Street – Take Two
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