
Who are we? What do we do?
eQe have been delivering professional therapeutic provision and interventions in schools for more than 10 years; teaching and training people for 15 years; and working professionally in and with the natural environment since 1983.
A brief history
eQe – Equilibrium and Enablement Ltd has grown out of the work begun at the Alf Morris Centre, Wythenshawe, Manchester, which was set up by Bridget Sheehan in 2002.
The Alf Morris Centre was a Primary Learning Support Unit funded by Excellence in Cities with the brief to provide a ‘therapeutic’ provision for pupils in the surrounding Primary schools who were failing to access school fully for emotional reasons.
As a qualified teacher and therapist Bridget Sheehan was able to combine educational and therapeutic approaches to produce a unique intervention. Data was collected from participating schools, the pupils and their parents to evaluate the approach. The data showed:
Significant, measurable progress occurred in:
– 75% of children in emotional behaviour
– 67% of children in learning behaviour
– 58% of children in conduct behaviour
The work progressed to enable schools to use a similar combination of approaches themselves, after attending training programmes developed by Bridget Sheehan. As a result the first Th.Inc.Rooms® (Therapeutic Inclusion Rooms) were also established in the surrounding Primary Schools.
This development emerged from the observation that not all progress was maintained after the children stopped attending the Centre itself, and it was apparent that the intervention would be even more effective and sustainable if delivered within the children’s school setting.
By April 2008, when Excellence in Cities funding ceased, there were already 45 functioning Th.Inc.Rooms® across the city. Secondary and Special Educational Provision had also begun to use the approaches. Rochdale LEA had also taken the approach on board and Bridget Sheehan had trained some of their own staff to deliver the training programme.
Directed by Bridget Sheehan, the Alf Morris Centre continued to develop new interventions to increase the range of approaches available to Th.Inc.Rooms® schools. A range of additional training opportunities was set up by Bridget Sheehan enabling school staff to further develop their skills. The Alf Morris Centre closed in July 2008 when the funding ceased and eQe was set up by Bridget Sheehan to further support and develop the use of these approaches within educational settings.
For copies of our Policies and Procedures please email bridget.sheehan@eQe-ltd.com