Therapeutic services for children, young people and families (Take Two)

Berry Street's Take Two program is a therapeutic service helping to address the mental health impacts on children of the trauma they have experienced from abuse, neglect, family violence or adverse experiences.

At Take Two we see who the child is, not just the behaviour.

Take Two supports families and caregivers nurturing babies, children and young people aged 0 to 17 years old.

We use clinical frameworks, neurobiological research and evidence-informed approaches to try and understand a child’s experience through their eyes. We know the children we work with are not to blame for the trauma they are suffering.

The damage done from within relationships can only be healed within relationships. That's why we work to repair or create new networks of caring relationships in a child’s life.

Real change can happen for a child when the adults in their life understand what they need.

We have the skills and expertise to see the child, their feelings and needs rather than just their behaviours. We can help a child understand their emotions, build on their strengths and encourage their hopes for the future.

All babies, children and young people have the right to feel safe, loved and valued.

We are a leading trauma-recovery program for babies, children and young people and their families.

Take Two services

1. Trauma-informed mental health services to children and families involved in Child Protection system, including:

• therapeutic foster care
• therapeutic Aboriginal home-based care
• therapeutic residential care units
• for young people who are placed in secure care services
• for families to keep children living with them safely, or returning to live with them after being in out-of-home care.

2. Therapeutic services for children who have experienced family violence or are using violence in the home. These programs include:

• Restoring Childhood
• Restoring Relationships – including The Wattle Project in north-east Melbourne and Restoring Relationships in the Mallee

Take Two is site-certified in the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT^TM).

NMT^TM draws on principles of trauma research, neurodevelopment and relational neurobiology. It provides us with an understanding of the young person’s developmental experiences on their current functioning and then indicates which interventions will be useful and in what sequence.

We use a range of evidence-based and evidence-informed interventions with the children and families we support.

We offer NMT™-informed secondary consultations across Australia.

We are currently accepting expressions of interest from individuals and organisations wanted to become Phase 1 certified in NMT^TM.

More information about NMT™ secondary consults and certification training.

Child Parent Psychotherapy

Child Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) is an evidence-based therapy for young children who have experienced family violence together with their caregiver/s. CPP considers how trauma and the caregivers’ relational history affect the caregiver-child relationship and the child’s development. It supports and strengthens the relationship to help restore and protect the child’s mental health.

Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing

Eye Movement Desensitisation and Processing (EMDR) is an evidence-based form of psychotherapy for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). EMDR aims to support service users to resume adaptive processing of traumatic memories, through carefully regulated exposure to the traumatic memory. It targets:

• past experiences
• current triggers
• future potential challenges.

Take Two provides training, assessments, clinical services and consultancy on a fee-for-service basis for organisations and professionals around Australia who require specialist child-focused therapeutic expertise.

Please contact us for a free consultation to discuss your needs.

Referrals

Referrals for the Take Two Intensive Therapeutic Service can only be made by Victorian Government Child Protection staff. If you work in Victorian Child Protection, funded referrals need to be submitted via your Principal Practitioner.

For support for babies, children and young people who have experienced family violence, find out more information about Restoring Childhood.

For support for young people aged 12-17 years who are using violence at home, find out more about Restoring Relationships & The Wattle Project.

If you or a child you are caring for has already been referred to Take Two and you want more information, please contact your case manager, care team or Take Two clinician directly.

For all other Take Two referrals please see use the Take Two referrals web form.

Contact us to discuss other services, including:

• tailored in-house professional development or online training.
• individual clinical assessments and therapeutic services.
• occupational therapy, speech pathology and neuropsychology clinical assessments and therapeutic services.
• facilitated reflective practice.
• other services requiring specialist child-focused trauma expertise.

Research and reports

Read more about Take Two’s resources, research and evaluation reports.

Read published research about Take Two.

Work with us

We recruit staff across Victoria from a range of disciplines, including social work, occupational therapy and psychology. Find out more about working with Take Two.

Berry Street’s Take Two Program is a partnership with:

• La Trobe University: Social Work and Social Policy, Department of Community and Allied Health
• Mindful Centre for Training and Research in Developmental Health
• Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA).

We also partner with other community service organisations across Victoria, including with Aboriginal organisations.

Berry Street Take Two
Phone 03 9450 4700
Email taketwo@berrystreet.org.au

Take Two is an Australian Council of Healthcare Standards (ACHS) accredited health service.