Working Relationally with Youth in Child Protection Institutions: A Milieu‐Therapy Perspective

Children and youth who have shown serious difficulties or if it is surmised that parents over time will not be able to care for the child or youth, could be placed in a child protection institution. The therapeutic work in such institutions is often described as milieu therapy. There has been little focus on the milieu therapist's relational work in child protection institutions. The research question for this study was: What factors are described by milieu therapists as significant for relational work with youth placed in institutions? To answer this question, we collected data from qualitative semi‐structured interviews with four milieu therapists working in child protection institutions. Interpretative phenomenological analysis helped us identify three overarching categories: (1) structural and personal factors as a basis for relational work; (2) various forms of communication in relational work; and (3) relational work with a starting point in everyday events.