About Us
What do we do
Changing Spots provides advice and support to parents, carers, child caring agencies, schools and others to assist children and young people who are struggling, or who are experiencing bullying.
We may work therapeutically one-to-one with children or young people who are caught up in oppositional behaviour, or who are vulnerable in other ways,.
We occasionally run short retreats for children or adolescents.
Additionally, Changing Spots is planning an important project aimed at providing long term or permanent accommodation for children and young people experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
We have a large acreage in the Shoalhaven area where we hope to establish a number of cottages for this purpose. Planning is underway, and the progress of this project will depend on the availability of financial support from the community.
Our philosophy
Changing Spots has a particular approach to understanding and managing troubling behaviour in children and young people.
We have developed a model that is based upon respect for children, that centres around a compassionate understanding of them, and that importantly, relies upon power sharing with them in managing behaviour.
This model does not in any way deny the importance of consequences for actions, however it delivers those consequences in ways which do not inflame the situation or trigger the child in unhelpful ways.
We are opposed to using coercion or punishment in responding to 'poor behaviour'. We have found it is not needed, and no-one wins when such responses are used.