Jun 3, 2026 · 38 min · 11 segments
The 2am shift: therapeutic parenting when you're exhausted, understaffed and on your own It's 2am. A young person is in crisis. You've been on shift for nine hours. And someone in your training…
Chelsea BaileyHost
Carmel SaulbreyHost
Anyone listening that is, uh, working in residential childcare in particular will know.
Um, but the 2:00 AM shift, we're talking about that really, really hard period of time for the children and for the adults.
And it can be where some of our most brilliant therapeutic practice can take place.
But if we don't do it in the right way and we're not careful, it can also be where we can cause some of the most damage.
Because often we do have incidents at night, and I just think when I came, and when I, when I'm at the homes, I thought, they're being on shift sometimes since 8:00 AM.
They've done all the work during the day, and then things go on at night, and it's really, really tough.
But why don't we first look at why are nights so challenging for our children?
Loads of reasons, but the, the key things to think about is that nighttime can be a really scary time for children.
You know, I think any parent can probably relate to bedtimes being difficult and, you know, scared of the dark, you know, what might happen.
But particularly if you look after children, we come in with a lot more challenges.
Um, that could be because nighttime has been a time where really difficult things have happened to a child.
That could be, um, you know, uh, various traumatic memories that, that, that can surface, uh, when it gets dark, when it's bedtime.
Uh, it's when child, children are left alone, so the, the safe people are not around them anymore, and so that, that can feel very unsettling, unnerving, and unsafe.
Um, so their nervous system is starting to go a little bit off-kilter, a little bit offline when it's bedtime.
But at nighttime, that goes away, and so it can just feel like, "I've got to just try and fall asleep and wake up in the morning and hope that everything's gonna be okay, but I can't fall asleep." And when you are dysregulated, when you are not able, when you do not have the skills to communicate what that might be feeling like for you, that can then look like dysregulation.
Anyone listening that is, uh, working in residential childcare in particular will know.
Um, but the 2:00 AM shift, we're talking about that really, really hard period of time for the children and for the adults.
And it can be where some of our most brilliant therapeutic practice can take place.
But if we don't do it in the right way and we're not careful, it can also be where we can cause some of the most damage.
Because often we do have incidents at night, and I just think when I came, and when I, when I'm at the homes, I thought, they're being on shift sometimes since 8:00 AM.
They've done all the work during the day, and then things go on at night, and it's really, really tough.
But why don't we first look at why are nights so challenging for our children?
Loads of reasons, but the, the key things to think about is that nighttime can be a really scary time for children.
You know, I think any parent can probably relate to bedtimes being difficult and, you know, scared of the dark, you know, what might happen.
But particularly if you look after children, we come in with a lot more challenges.
Um, that could be because nighttime has been a time where really difficult things have happened to a child.
That could be, um, you know, uh, various traumatic memories that, that, that can surface, uh, when it gets dark, when it's bedtime.
Uh, it's when child, children are left alone, so the, the safe people are not around them anymore, and so that, that can feel very unsettling, unnerving, and unsafe.
Um, so their nervous system is starting to go a little bit off-kilter, a little bit offline when it's bedtime.
But at nighttime, that goes away, and so it can just feel like, "I've got to just try and fall asleep and wake up in the morning and hope that everything's gonna be okay, but I can't fall asleep." And when you are dysregulated, when you are not able, when you do not have the skills to communicate what that might be feeling like for you, that can then look like dysregulation.
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