TAO Activities

TAO Activities is an alternative provision that is child centred, we use outdoor education as our main tool of delivery but are not restricted by this. We focus heavily on the social and emotional development of young people, using nurture group principles, child centred therapy, trauma informed practice.

We provide a four phased intervention to help meet learners’ needs:

Phase one: Building rapport We develop very strong relationships with all our young people, parents and families. We see this as key to help meet whatever objectives need to be met, to provide boundaries and to progress the young people.

Phase two: Activities In this phase we give the young person the opportunity to try three different activities, this could be climbing, canoeing, and walking. It could equally be sculpting, mechanics, and walking. This phase is centred around the young persons’ needs, aspirations, and interests. It is also designed to help push their comfort zones slightly.

Phase three: Specialisms In this phase the young person picks one activity, they then stay with this activity and become a specialist in it, gaining awards and accreditations. For example, if they choose

climbing we will provide opportunities for them to; gain NICAS awards, NGB training if appropriate, the opportunity to lead climb, and ensure that all the other accreditation is centred around this activity. e.g. the Rescue and Emergency Care (REC) First Aid will have assessment scenarios built around climbing.

This phase is designed to really push comfort zones, and push for emotional responses, as well as strategies to help the young person self-regulate.

Phase four: Reintegration This phase is personal to the young person and prospective future establishment. It may include a bridging project (a work project they start with us but finish in the future establishment), it may include supported visits to the establishment, it may include a key worker meeting us and being a part of a session, equally it could just be a meeting to share information.

All of our staff are mental health level 3 trained, and we have in house multi systematic therapy practitioners, psychotherapists, and NLP (neuro linguistic programming) master practitioners