DDP THERAPY OR DYADIC DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOTHERAPY
DDP - Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy - what is it?
Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP) is a therapeutic approach designed to help children who have experienced developmental trauma and disrupted attachments in their early childhood relationship experiences. Children who have experienced relational trauma and loss find it difficult to feel safe and secure within their own birth families and/or their new foster/adoptive families. These children may be experiencing what is often referred to as "developmental trauma". DDP therapy can help to build trust and openness and help children and young people to begin to allow themselves to experience "emotional connection" learning to building trusting and loving relationships.
- DDP is a specialist attachment and trauma informed therapeutic approach designed to help the child and parent/carer (Dyad - meaning two people) to begin to make sense of a child's early experiences of mistrust to develop a safe, secure and trusted relationship.
- This therapy can help the child to build safe and trusting relationships which can help the child to heal from previous trauma's and support them so they can go on to thrive and develop more securely attached relationships as they grow and develop.
- DDP is often used with children and young people who have been adopted, fostered or who live in kinship/special guardianship care, recognising their early history of disrupted attachments, loss and trauma.
- It aims to help children begin to begin to experience relational safety and security developing trust and emotionally connected relationships with their parents.
- DDP can also support children in their own birth families who have experienced "relationship trauma" as a result of traumatic and difficult life events such as domestic violence, post-natal depression, mental and/or physical health issues which can cause insecure relationship patterns to develop.
- DDP specifically aims to help parents or caregivers and their child make deeper emotional connections with each other.
- Parents who want to engage in DDP will need to have attended "therapeutic PACE informed parent sessions on an individual basis, group or course to enable them to use and embed their therapeutic parenting skills supported by the DDP therapist. (See PACE Therapeutic Parent Training)
DDP is also part of a wider systemic model that can help parents and everyone involved in supporting the child (e.g. teachers, social workers, extended family), teams and organisations – understand and discover what they can do to be most helpful for the child and their family. This therapy aims to work out whether and how your child’s development might have been affected and how you might be able to help your child’s development progress.
Reach out
The first step starts here! Drop us a line to discuss your situation and arrange an appointment.
Who is it for?
DDP can support children with "developmental/relational trauma" and attachment based difficulties.
- Children in Care: DDP is specifically suited to supporting children and young people who have been adopted or fostered or living with Kinship Special Guardianship Parents, living in a long term therapeutic residential homes, , enabling them to develop more trusting and secure attachments in their new families.
- Birth families: DDP is an effective therapeutic intervention to support children and young people who live with their biological parents where there has been a history of early life/relationship trauma.
- We advocate ensuring that all DDP therapeutic work is preceded by parents/carers completing a series of therapeutic PACE parenting sessions or a course.
At TFC we can support children and young people using Adoption Support Funds (ASF) agreed and authorised together with the child's adoption social worker. We have strong working alliances with a number of local adoption agencies and Local Authority partners, ensuring that families can be financially supported to engage in this important work. Please enquire using our contact us information.
Biological parents and their children engaging in DDP therapy can be supported using one of our Parent Support groups. To attend a therapeutic parenting course designed specifically to support parents who have children with attachment and developmental trauma please enquire about these courses (See Therapeutic Parenting section).
DDP therapy and PACE parenting sessions/groups/training can all be funded with Adoption Support Fund (ASF) for families who have adopted a child or who are SGO parents or Kinship Carers. TFC are approved providers for ACE adoption and Special Guardianship Care as well as offering ASF approved work from a number of other Local Authorities through an Adoption Social Workers application.
What does DDP aim to do?
It aims to:
- Help your child to develop a more secure and trusting relationship with you, providing the emotional connection for healing past trauma.
- Help you to gain a better understanding of the reasons for your child's behaviour using an attachment and trauma informed understanding (See Therapeutic parenting section).
- Support parents in making sense of their own emotional responses to their child's behaviour.
- Help you make more sense of the reasons behind your child’s challenging, confusing and difficult behaviours.
- Help you and your child to develop an attachment and trauma informed relationship, enabling them to make emotional connection with you.
- Help your child to develop relationship security.
- To reduce conflict in relationship and ensure that everyone supporting the child can adopt an "attachment and trauma informed" approach.
- Controlling behaviours will reduce as the relationship biomes more secure.
- When stressed the child might return to old ways of relating and behaving. For example they might become more controlling again. However it will be easier to help the child feel less stressed. The child will then feel secure again.
- The child will find relationships easier.
- The child will regulate emotions more easily.
- The child will manage stress better.
- The child will understand their emotional experience better.
- As the child is helped to heal from the past trauma they will become more emotionally healthy.
With the use of DDP therapy we aim to increase your child’s attachment security.
Make contact
If you would like to enquire and find out more about our DDP therapy please drop us a line.
We are fully accredited
