Institutionalization, Management Structure and Therapy in Residential Work with Emotionally Disturbed Children

Summary The author discusses the term institutionalization and attemptsto define it. From this point he examines residential socialwork from the premise that it must be treatment orientated ifit is to avoid the pitfalls of institutionalization. The needfor treatment to be contained within a flexible management structureis explored in detail and, following from this, five criteriafor the running of a therapeutic residential unit are outlined.The latter half of the article concentrates on how these theoreticalpoints have been developed in practice in the unit in whichhe works, amplifying their relevance by describing a typicalday of work for the author