Working in Collaboration.
Helping a Community
Flourish.
How Studio 3's long-term partnership with a specialist community provider helped embed Low Arousal practice across an entire organisation — reducing restrictive practices by over 90% and supporting some of the most complex individuals to live full, meaningful lives.
Key outcomes at a glance
90% +
Decrease in all forms of restrictive practices over 22 years
22
Years of continuous partnership, and counting
20 +
Days of specialist input delivered annually across the organisation
Our role
Studio 3 has provided long-term input to this provider since 2004. The relationship began with a single, very complex client whose placement was at risk of breaking down. Once we began working with that individual, our Low Arousal approach was progressively embedded across the whole organisation, and the partnership has continued to grow ever since.
Direct clinical support for individuals with complex and traumatic histories
Input to the management team on
restrictive practices and human rights-based approaches
Supervision of Assistant Psychologists
Development of debriefing and staff wellbeing support systems
Our approach
What began as a single client intervention became a whole-organisation transformation.
Over 22 years, Studio 3's Low Arousal approach has been woven into how this provider thinks, trains and operates, not as an external input but as a core part of their culture. A significant part of that work has focused on staff wellbeing. Supporting people with very complex needs is demanding work and staff stress is a direct factor in the quality of care.
Studio 3 worked with the organisation to build structured debriefing and wellbeing support, recognising that caring for the carers is not optional. It is fundamental.
2004
Studio 3 engagement begins, focused on a single high-risk placement
Early years
Low Arousal approach embedded progressively across the whole organisation
​
Ongoing
Specialist input expanded to 20+ days per year — individuals, management and staff teams
​
Present day
Partnership continues, psychological input embedded as a fundamental component of care
The impact
Psychological input is now a fundamental component of care, not
a bolt-on
Over 90% decrease in all forms of restrictive practices including restraint
Can confidently support high-risk individuals who might otherwise face much higher levels of restriction
Staff debriefing and wellbeing support embedded across the organisation
90% +
Over 90% reduction in restrictive practices
Across a 22-year period, all forms of restrictive practices including restraint have decreased by more than 90%, a direct result of sustained Low Arousal practice embedded at every level of the organisation.
Why this matters
This case study is about more than a service improvement. It is about what becomes possible when a provider and a specialist partner commit to the long haul together.
The changes here did not happen through a single training programme or a short-term intervention. They happened because both organisations stayed at the table, year after year, and kept building on what was working.
​
The individuals this service supports could have ended up in settings with far higher levels of restriction and far less community connection. Instead they have high quality, person-centred placements and lives that are genuinely their own.
That is the real measure of this work.