We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. TS Eliot - the Four Quartets

Ending starts at the beginning

It is important that the ending of a young person's therapeutic journey with this team/worker (and planning for this) is made explicit from the very earliest phase of engagement (see In my beginning is my end).

Ending requires:

1. Forwards Planning

See In my beginning is my end for discussion of how and why to introduce the inevitable ending of "treatment" right from the beginning of any work.

As ending and discharge or transfer comes closer it is crucial to keep communicating this clearly and sensitively to the client, with an emphasis on drawing up plans that will cover the most likely....

2. Pro-active networking and coordination

Building networks and links

3. Reporting and Communicating

Report writing and Professional Communication

4. Rehearsal and Practice

See Crisis Contingency Planning

5. A "long tail" - boundaried ways of sustaining interest.

Rather than a fixed and final discharge date, in some cases a more graded withdrawal is helpful. See Long-tail of gradually diminishing contact.