The Spiral to Recovery: An Australian Model for Therapeutic Residential Care

This article gives a brief overview of the Spiral to Recovery practice framework as it is being used at Catalyst child and family services in far north Queensland. The Spiral is an evidence informed framework for therapeutic residential care (TRC), designed for children and young people with complex and extreme emotional and behavioural difficulties who reside in out-of-home care (OOHC) placements. The Spiral is a stage-based framework where the initial aim is to establish actual and felt safety before young people meet the challenges of healing and growth. The framework rests on a theoretical base of trauma, attachment and socialisation theories. The article also describes how the Spiral framework has been implemented at Catalyst, demonstrating the need for congruence between organisational and practice frameworks.