A secure base? The adolescent–staff relationship in secure residential youth care Annemiek T. Harder, Erik J. Knorth and Margrite E. Kalverboer Department of Special Needs Education and Youth Care, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands ABSTRACT The client–therapist relationship is recognized as an important factor contributing to outcomes of child and youth care. Particularly in secure residential youth care, in which adolescents with mainly exter- nalizing behaviour problems are often placed coercively, the client– staff relationship seems to be important for the achievement of positive outcomes. The present study aims to assess the client–staff relationship for a group of 135 adolescents in secure residential care and factors associated with a positive relationship. The results show that adolescents, group care workers and teachers experience a limited affective bond in their relationship 2 months after the ado- lescents were admitted to the secure care centre. Adolescents do tend to use care workers and teachers as a secure attachment figure, which suggests that an affective bond is no precondition for the adolescents to experience staff as a secure base. Main predictors of a good relationship are the positive treatment skills of both group care workers and teachers. These findings point to the need for training of care workers and teachers so that they are better prepared for working with these adolescents. Correspondence: Annemiek T. Harder, Faculty of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Department of Special Needs Education and Youth Care, University of Groningen, Groote Rozenstraat 38, NL-9712 TJ Groningen, The Netherlands E-mail: A.T.Harder@rug.nl Keywords: adolescence, difficult behaviour, empirical research, residential care, secure accommodation Accepted for publication: January 2012 INTRODUCTION An important contributing factor to outcomes of mental health care is the relationship between clients and their therapists (Karver et al. 2006).This relation- ship is most commonly defined as an emotional con- nection (e.g. affective attachment, affective bond [AB], social support) and/or a cognitive connection in terms of agreement on the tasks and goals of therapy (Karver et al. 2005). Important client factors influenc- ing the relationship are e.g. the client’s motivation for and expectations of the treatment (Karver et al. 2005). Important therapist factors related to the client– therapist relationship are e.g. a client-centred attitude, communication and listening skills and self-reflection (Ackerman & Hilsenroth 2003). The relationship between clients and therapists especially seems to be important in the context of child and youth care, because child and adolescent clients typically are not self-referred and often enter into treatment unaware of their problems, resistant to change and/or in conflict with their parents (Shirk & Karver 2003; Karver et al. 2006). Particularly in a secure residential care context, in which adolescents are usually placed under coercion, the relationship between clients and therapists seems to be important. Secure residential care can be defined as the most intensive type of residential care and refers to a type of service in which young people receive mandated care and treatment in a locked facility. Clients in secure residential care often show a lack of motivation for treatment (cf. Englebrecht et al. 2008). Moreover, previous research indicates that there is a strong asso- ciation between the quality of the client–therapist rela- tionship and treatment outcomes for young people with externalizing problems (Shirk & Karver 2003): a group that is often prominently represented in secure residential care (Bullock et al. 1990). doi:10.1111/j.1365-2206.2012.00846.x 1 Child and Family Social Work 2012 © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd