Sanctuary in Action

The Sanctuary Model (Sanctuary) is a trauma-informed model of care for human services. The model is made up of tools, norms and theoretical underpinnings that form the basis of building safety and promoting recovery from adversity within the context of communities. Sanctuary focuses on healing those who have experienced trauma, by being purposeful and deliberate about the well-being of the system as a whole, including the client, staff, the organisation and more broadly the community. Churches of Christ Care Pathways have been implementing this model within the Australian out-of-home care context including Foster and Kinship Care, Intensive Foster Care, Residential, Supported Independent Living and Intervention Services for the past three years. This article provides a brief description of components of the model, including the SELF model, Community Meetings, Safety Plans, Psycho-Educational Group Work, Self Care Plans, Red Flag Meetings and Team Meetings; detailing practice examples from its use within an Australian context. This article aims to make the link between the model and practice.