Developing family-sensitive services: How to effect real change in services

Traditional mental health services tend to be individualistic and fail to take account of the importance of social networks in people’s lives.Many staff in services do not have a clear rationale for why they exclude... [ view full abstract ]

Traditional mental health services tend to be individualistic and fail to take account of the importance of social networks in people’s lives.Many staff in services do not have a clear rationale for why they exclude families, but the involvement of families often generates anxiety and fear, for example, in relation to confidentiality conflicts. However, this lack of involvement fails to take into account the key role played by those close to service users in supporting their recovery. In fact, in many serious case reviews following suicides and homicides, there are clear indications that the outcome may have been different if families had been listened to.

Grainne Fadden and Shelagh Musgrove will outline a number of strategies that have been successful in developing more family-inclusive services. They will also discuss the benefits of looking after family members' own mental health needs,with reference to ideas from their research around recovery for family members.