November 2023: LINKS and OurSPACE: Findings and recommendations from the evaluations of two trauma-informed services

Webinar

Missed the live webinar? A captioned recording - external site launch is available to view now.

Details

The LINKS Trauma Healing Service (LINKS) has been in operation in two locations (Greater Newcastle and Nepean Blue Mountains) since October 2017. LINKS involves multi-disciplinary teams delivering evidence-based treatment programs to children and young people in out-of-home care (OOHC). LINKS aims to:

• increase stability of OOHC placements
• respond to trauma and other underlying causes of child abuse and neglect
• decrease trauma symptoms and improve psychological wellbeing of children and young people and carers.

OurSPACE provides specialist outreach therapeutic trauma support covering all of NSW for children and young people under the age of 15 years who live in foster care or kinship care and have experienced at least two placement changes in the previous six months.

An evaluation of LINKS was undertaken by the Parenting Research Centre and of OurSPACE by the Australian Childhood Foundation. In this FACSIAR Lunch and Learn, researchers from these organisations shared their findings from these evaluations, and lead clinicians from each service discussed the implications of the findings for their service. Elizabeth Hagarty (Director, Psychological & Specialist Services) provided details about the implications of these findings for DCJ Psychological & Specialist Services and talked about the ongoing work/success beyond the evaluation.

This webinar was chaired by Jessica Stewart (Executive Director, FACSIAR).

Presentation materials

Demonstrating the effectiveness of the LINKS Trauma Healing Service for children and young people in out-of-home care.

Dr Catherine Wade - Principal Research Specialist, Parenting Research Centre

Jane Davenport - Manager/Clinical Psychologist with the LINKS Trauma Healing Service

Download slides used in this presentation (PDF, 964.3 KB)

Evaluation of OurSPACE - Specialist outreach trauma therapeutic support: Findings and recommendations

Joe Tucci - Chief Executive Officer, Australian Childhood Foundation, Chair, National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse

Sue Buratti - Program Manager Therapeutic Services NSW, Australian Childhood Foundation

Download slides used in this presentation (PDF, 1.9 MB)

Question and Answer 

Elizabeth Hagarty, Director, Psychological & Specialist Services, Department of Communities and Justice

Additional resources

Parenting Research Centre's Evaluation Report on the LINKS Trauma Healing Service

• LINKS Trauma Healing Service Evaluation Report 3 – Final Report - external site launch (Scroll to the bottom of the page for the link)
• Parenting Research Centre Homepage - external site launch

Australian Childhood Foundation's Report on the Outcomes of the OurSPACE NSW program

• Outcomes of the OurSPACE NSW program: Changing trajectories for children and young people in out-of-home care in NSW (2018 – 2022) - Report - external site launch
• Australian Childhood Foundation Homepage - external site launch

FACSIAR Lunch and Learn

• July 2022: Improving mental health outcomes for children and young people in out-of-home care
• July 2023: Trauma-informed psychological treatment for young children and their caregivers: An evaluation of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy

Questions or comments

Contact: ResearchPartnerships@dcj.nsw.gov.au - external site launch