Supporting Children and Young People through Transitions
A transition is defined as a discontinuity in a person’s life
space. These transitions are life events which have a major impact. Children
and young people who have involvement with Children’s Services are likely to
have a range and variety of transitions such as loss and change to cope
with. Carers and social workers should have an appropriate understanding of
the effects of such discontinuities in order to support children and young
people to negotiate such transitions as successfully as possible.
Sometimes discontinuity is defined socially or culturally. There is evidence
of the extent of cultural similarity in perceptions of what are important
discontinuities and the amount of effort which is required to adjust to the
discontinuity.
The previous, experience, perception and resourcefulness or “resilience” of
the individual will also determine to some extent, the amount of adjustment
required to manage a transition. Also however the degree to which a
transition is: an intentional change, a sudden event into which one is
thrust or a growing awareness of moving into a life stage, will trigger a
pattern of reactions.
This pattern or cycle is predictable and progresses through seven stages. It
is important for carers and professionals to understand the cycle in order
to assist children and young people to undertake the coping tasks relevant
to all transitional events. These coping tasks are to manage the degree of
strain generated by stress and to make adjustments about the appropriateness
of old and new behaviour patterns.
The task of managing strain requires capacity to regulate affect/emotion.
Children and young people’s style of managing emotion will depend upon their
attachment style and attachment relationships. Attachment relationships are
founded upon safety and contribute to resilience. Knowledge of the range of
attachment styles which young people experience and use to regulate affect
is essential to ensure that professionals attain an intersubjective
experience (joint affect, attention and intentions) with the child or young
person. Such intersubjective experiences are the basis for approrpriate
support to children and young people experiencing transitions
The learning objectives:
By the end of this course learners should understand:
• The range of transitions for children, young people and adults.
• The way in which transitions are defined culturally, socially and
individually.
• The importance of being aware of and seeking understanding of the
perception of each individual child and young person.
• The cycle of stages of reactions to transitions.
• How to identify which stage of a cycle a child or young person may be at.
• The key coping tasks in dealing with transition.
• How professionals can maximise support for children and young people to
undertake them.
Learning methods:
• Experiential exercise: Transitions
• Tutor presentations
• Case studies
• Handouts
• Small group work
• Group Discussion
