LION Therapy CIC has a bold ambition: to change the system of how care-experienced individuals are treated by the society which created them. By care-experienced, we mean people who have spent time in care when they were under 18, but who struggle with the psychological difficulties these experiences have left them with. We also offer treatment to parents who have had their child taken into care by Social Services.

Currently, there is no nationally-provided, evidence-based, low-fee-at-the-point-of-need, expertly-delivered, longer-term psychological therapy available to help such individuals feel ‘sympathised with’.

By definition, care-experienced people have suffered poor and ruptured attachment relationships.  These early relationships form the basis of self-esteem; poor self-esteem is the cause of many downstream problems from abusive relationships to substance abuse to poor educational attainment. 

By supporting LION Therapy to do our critical work, a care-experienced individual can change ‘their hell within’ to something more benign and, by doing so, ensure the relationships they make can nurture others and nourish them.

The Bigger Picture

Outcomes for looked-after children in the UK are often poor, including higher rates of teenage pregnancy, poorer mental health, higher risk of criminal justice involvement, and lower educational achievement.

Research indicates that one in three young women who are care-experienced and have a child removed are likely to return to family court with subsequent children. Every time a child is taken into care, it costs the UK taxpayer £50,000. In 2016/17, there were 173,002 children involved in care proceedings, of whom 47,172 were infants. That number has risen to 83, 630 as of March 2024.

The cycle of deprivation and trauma all too often repeats, with looked-after children becoming parents who struggle to parent effectively due to their untreated Complex PTSD and accompanying problems such as domestic abuse and substance misuse, resulting in their babies being taken into care at vast expense to the public purse.   

LION Therapy can bring down the costs of care proceedings and reduce the burden on blue-light services in the community (fire/ambulance/police) as well as in Criminal Justice costs, since short prison sentences, due to drug addiction issues, domestic violence and/or recidivism, are common in the care-experienced population.

The benefit to society of these patients feeling better about themselves is a reduction in anti-social behaviour, a reduction in demand for social services and primary care services (GPs/psychiatric support), an increase in their job prospects and crucially, sustained and long-term improvements in their childrens’ developmental outcomes at school and beyond.

Relative to the cost of prison (£60,000/year) or a care proceeding (£50,000), therapy for care-experienced people is tiny (£2,000/year) but makes far more difference than a year in prison will to their chances of living a healthy and happy life.

Annie Pesskin has been doing this work on a low-fee basis for some years and describes her experience of working with LION Therapy clients here.