Between love and behaviour management: the psychodynamic reflective milieu at the Mulberry Bush School

ABSTRACT

This article presents findings from a qualitative research study of the Mulberry Bush School (MBS), a therapeutic residential primary school caring for children with severe social, emotional and behavioural difficulties. The article notes the challenges of working with children who have experienced traumatic relationship breakdown, and reviews ideas and practices developed at MBS to support the children’s development. There is a discussion of the research study’s methodology and main findings. The researchers argue that the therapeutic milieu at MBS maintains a creative tension between a secure, playful context and one where emotional disorder and disturbance are not suppressed. The study describes how a particular psychodynamic model of reflective practice has been successfully instituted at MBS to create a ‘staff therapeutic milieu’ supporting the group living and group learning through which therapy principally occurs. The article closes with comments on the applicability of this model to residential child care practice generally.