It all began in September when I submitted my initial application to the Churchill Fellowship. Fast forward to Thursday 16th May 2024 and with a nod to Sir Winston as I passed through Parliament Square, I made my way on to the Churchill Fellowship office for my interview.
Over the years, my work as a Psychological Therapist and Occupational Therapist has brought me into contact with many incredible care-experienced people. I have always felt both shocked and saddened by the young age at which individuals in state care are required to go out into the world on their own. This abrupt withdrawal of state support is often referred to as the 'care cliff', where independence and adulthood must somehow be achieved overnight, often in the absence of continued and consistent attachment relationships.
As a Psychological Therapist supporting individuals who have experienced developmental trauma and loss, attachment and relationship is at the heart of my therapeutic practice. We think a lot about the significance of transitions, separations and endings in therapy, yet sometimes these understandings can be so easily lost within overburdened and under resourced health and social care systems.
Which brings me to the focus of my Churchill Fellowship and the title above (Secure Base not Care Cliff; Why attachment matters). The concept of a secure base comes from attachment theory (Bowlby). It refers to the idea that a parent / caregiver provides a stable and consistent foundation from which a child can confidently explore the world and develop independence. What if the state care system could better provide this function? What if the focus could shift from independence to interdependence? What if there could be an open door rather than a cliff edge...
Transitions and endings are of course an inevitable part of life, but to ask a young person to go out into the world unsupported when they have never experienced a sense of permanency feels fundamentally wrong.
My hope in completing this Fellowship - to engender more thoughtfulness, understanding and support for the young people currently being expected to navigate this extremely difficult life juncture and to advocate for better.
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