THE ROLE OF THE RESIDENT PROFESSIONAL WORKER

This article discusses, resident psychiatric treatment as developed at the Children’s Service Center, is a child guidance process into which has been introduced the factor of residence for the child. The experience revolves around his participation in psychotherapy. As in an out-patient clinic, the parent is actively and responsibly engaged. The clinical group is augmented by a new member, who is an immediate part of the child’s daily living. The purpose of this discussion is to outline the role of the resident professional worker and to indicate the use that is made of the resident setting. The resident professional worker is not a house parent because the real parent has retained his parental role in the child’s life, and the residence does not have foster value for the child. If the child is under foster custody, he knows that his guardianship continues with the placement agency. Indeed, if a child in treatment related to a resident staff member as his parent, there would be further conflict in his domestic values. The resident worker can often help a child introduce these difficulties to his treatment hours. She may find that he is ready to trust her with much of his troubled feelings, as he finds her a warm and accepting person, and as their conversations are fortuitously timed, often taking place shortly after, or arising immediately out of, an incident. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)