Understand theoretical approaches to building effective professional relationships with children and young people and their families.
1.1 There are several key approaches to developing professional relationships with children and young people such as psychological, behaviourist, humanist and psychodynamic theories; family therapy/systems approaches; and the principles of restorative justice.
Psychological approaches, thinking about ways of working that are based on theory and research on what psychologists discover about anything that might actually help people.
Behaviourists, determine that what we do is based on the environment that we are presented with. Whereas, Humanists believe that behaviour is personal and subjective, that all behaviour is an interpretation of who they are as individuals. And Psychodynamic theories get ‘inside the head’ of the individual and try to analyse the way they think and why they think that way.
Family therapy/systems examine the whole family and individual’s roles and influences within the family and then there are the Principles of Restorative Justice, which are to repair harm by the acknowledgment of harm by the individual, the individual’s appropriate reparation and their own ability to empathise with the victim and their circumstances.
1.2 Building an effective relationship is necessary to achieve positive outcomes because individuals behave more positively to someone they trust. Trust has to be earned by regular positive contact; you have to be respectful, caring, dependable and responsible. Positive relationships encourage autonomy, self-confidence and self-management and can lead to a more effective and enduring solution.
It is very unlikely that a positive outcome is going to be effective if there is no basis for a relationship; for example an individual may interpret the professional’s well-meaning solution as