Advanced practice
Advanced-level practice using play as the primary medium of the work with children and adolescents.
What a graduate can demonstrate
Advanced practice records demonstrated competence, not attendance. On completion, a graduate can demonstrate each of the following, assessed against the HICS Advanced Practice Outcomes Standard. Depth does not widen scope: the ten absolute limitations bind a member holding advanced practice exactly as they bind every member.
01
Observational screening of development, attachment and presentation, used to plan and review the intervention, never diagnosis and never a psychometric instrument.
02
Plan and conduct a phased intervention with a child using play-based mediums and techniques, selecting mediums for the child’s age, development and presentation, and justifying the choices made across a real process.
03
Apply attachment theory to the child’s presentation and to the intervention design, including work on the caregiver and child bond, and parents or caregivers as partners in the process.
04
Adapt the work for the child in trauma, sexual abuse disclosure, divorce, bereavement, alternative care and school-based difficulty, and state where each needs escalation or referral rather than continued play-based work.
05
Manage consent, assent and information-sharing with separated or disputing caregivers, act on mandated reporting immediately and correctly, and handle requests for reports and subpoenas, including declining what a counsellor may not produce.
06
Keep process notes of a standard that protects the child, the practitioner and the process, including where matters may become legal.
07
Operate under a supervisor authorised in child and adolescent work, with the quarterly caseload review and trigger-based supervision that the practical component itself runs under.