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

Berry Street's Take Two program is a Victoria-wide therapeutic service helping to address the mental health impacts on children of the trauma they have experienced from abuse, neglect 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 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 the leading trauma-specific therapeutic service for vulnerable babies, children and young people in Victoria. Take Two provides Victorian Government funded mental health services to children and families in a range of settings, 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.

We are also funded by the Victorian Government to provide trauma-specialist services for families who have experienced trauma as a result of family violence in some parts of the state. These programs are:

• Restoring Childhood - for babies, children and young people who need therapeutic support to recover from family violence.
• The Wattle Project & Restoring Relationships in the Mallee - for young people using violence in the home.

We are also leading a Commonwealth Government-funded trial program in the Hume local government area. The Falcon Project provides trauma-informed support for boys and young men using violence in the home and intimate relationships.

Take Two is site-certified in Dr Bruce D. Perry’s Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT™).

NMT™ 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.

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 aims to support and strengthen 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 experience
• 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 therapeutic expertise.

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 trauma expertise.

Referrals

Referrals for the Take Two Intensive Therapeutic Service can only be made by Victorian Government Child Protection staff. If you work in the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing, 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.

Research and reports

Read more about Take Two’s practice guides, tools and resources.

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.

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