Playfulness
Gentle warmth and shared enjoyment, used sensitively when the young person feels ready.
Our approach
Understanding the child.
Building the relationship.
Care happens in everyday moments: being listened to, sharing a meal, finding a new interest or having a trusted adult alongside you after a difficult day.
Talk to us about our approach ↗01
Safety and consistency
Clear routines, thoughtful boundaries and individual care planning help create a stable, nurturing home.
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A voice in everyday life
Young people’s wishes, feelings, identity and culture inform their care. We support choice, participation and relationships that matter, where safe and appropriate.
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Support that responds to need
We work with social workers, education and health professionals. PACE underpins how we work with young people across Wrottesley Care Ltd, bringing playfulness, acceptance, curiosity and empathy into everyday relationships.
Our underlying approach
Wrottesley Road: PACE in everyday care
PACE is the main approach used at Wrottesley Road. Playfulness, acceptance, curiosity and empathy guide everyday relationships, routines and responses when a young person is distressed. At Himley House, PACE is also used as part of the wider five-pillar framework.
Acceptance
Accepting the young person and their feelings while maintaining safe boundaries around harmful behaviour.
Curiosity
Exploring what an experience or behaviour may mean, without blame, assumptions or interrogation.
Empathy
Showing that we recognise difficult feelings and staying alongside the young person as they work through them.
Connection and emotional regulation come first, alongside any immediate action needed to keep people safe. Support workers respond with warmth and clear boundaries, then support reflection and repair when the young person is ready.
Himley House
Himley House’s own five-pillar framework
Developed for Himley House, our five-pillar framework brings established PACE and trauma-informed principles together around the realities of caring for one young person. Its originality lies in how we organise these principles into a shared approach to everyday relationships, the home environment and reflective practice. It is our framework for residential care, rather than a new clinical therapy. PACE shapes how we put each pillar into practice.
Strengths, identity and achievement
We recognise interests and strengths, respect identity and celebrate progress. We help the young person choose goals and activities that matter to them.
Understanding behaviour and unmet need
We look beyond the behaviour to understand what happened, how the young person felt and what they may need. We use their views to inform and review support.
Calm, reflective care
We remain calm and consistent, help the young person settle and maintain safe boundaries. We reflect on difficult moments and repair relationships when the young person is ready.
Safety, regulation and the sensory environment
We provide predictable routines and communicate respectfully. We adapt lighting, noise and other aspects of the environment to the young person’s needs.
Reviewing progress and adapting care
We review safety, belonging, emotional wellbeing, participation and growing independence together. These are connected needs, not stages a young person must pass through.
Understanding progress
We review progress through the young person’s goals and views, everyday observations, education, participation and wellbeing. Reviews help us recognise what is working and adapt support as needs change.
Additional therapeutic support
Daily therapeutic care, key-work and activities are delivered by the residential team. Himley House does not employ in-house therapists. At both Himley House and Wrottesley Road, any additional specialist therapeutic input must be agreed with the placing local authority before it begins, with its scope and funding agreed separately. Arrangements are based on assessed needs and take account of the young person’s wishes.