Our Homes
Appletree Treatment Centre has three homes for boys and girls aged 6 to 12 years old: Appletree is home for up to 12 children, Fell House is home for up to 8 children and Willow Bank is home for up to 5 children.
Our high staff ratios enable us to provide a structured, therapeutic, twenty-four hour programme which focuses on helping children to form positive relationships. These enable the children to increase their self-esteem, which in turn allows them to acquire the skills which they need to succeed at home and in school. Often our children need to return to play and role play experiences of much younger children in order to progress developmentally. Our teams are trained and supported to help them to do this in a safe, caring and appropriately stimulating environment.
It is very important to us that our children feel cared for and respected. We involve them in day to day decisions about food and activities. We encourage them to make their bedrooms personal to them and consult them about decoration and layout. We also want our children to experience predictability and routine. We plan the day so that they know what will be happening and when.
We help our children to take pride in their appearance, cleanliness and clothes. We celebrate their successes and help to keep them safe physically and emotionally when they are distressed. Often our children need help to learn about emotions, to be able to name feelings and learn to process them.
We help our children to learn about how to behave and how to treat others. Often the first step is to help them to learn to care about their own selves and then gradually to care about others.
We work in partnership with families and professionals and are regularly in contact so that information is shared and the children know that the adults are working consistently together. We know that we make a difference as many of our leavers have stayed in touch for many years and look back fondly on their time at Appletree and thank us for our help in making their lives happier.
We want to help our children to learn to socialise and integrate in the community. When they are ready we support them to join local clubs which appeal to their interests. In the past these have included brownies, cadets, drama, gymnastics, majorettes, football and rock climbing. We also enjoy cinema, bowling, walking, swimming, laserquest and trips to zoos, museums, play grounds and the beach.
