SYMPOSIUM: BUILDING FAMILY SKILLS

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Authors: Laura Hayes, Carol Harvey, Graeme Hawthorne, Amaryll Perlesz, VIC; John Farhall, James Campbell, Carol Harvey, Mirella di Benedetto, Brendan O’Hanlon, VIC; Carol Harvey, Brendan O’Hanlon, Margaret Leggatt, John Farhall, David Juriansz, Jenny Burger, Colin Riess, Amaryll Perlesz and Noel Renouf, VIC

Year: 2007

Event: 2007 TheMHS Conference

Subject: BUILDING FAMILY SKILLS TOGETHER: AN IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY FOR EVIDENCE-BASED FAMILY INTERVENTIONS IN PUBLIC MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES, BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE – THE CARE-GIVING EXPERIENCE OF FAMILY MEMBERS LIVING WITH RELATIVE HAVING SCHIZOPHRENIA, WHAT FAMILY WORK IS DONE BY MENTAL HEALTH CLINICIANS? AN EXAMINATION OF FAMILY CONTACTS WITH STAFF OF CONTINUNING CARE TEAMS.

Type of resource: Conference Presentations and Papers

ISBN: 9780975765333

Abstract: PAPER 1
BUILDING FAMILY SKILLS TOGETHER: AN IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY FOR EVIDENCE-BASED FAMILY INTERVENTIONS IN PUBLIC MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES

Carol Harvey, Brendan O’Hanlon, Margaret Leggatt, John Farhall, David Juriansz, Jenny Burger, Colin Riess, Amaryll Perlesz and Noel Renouf, VIC

ABSTRACT
The Building Family Skills Together program is providing an evidence-based family intervention, Behavioural Family Therapy (BFT), to consumers and families within a Victorian public mental health service (North West Area Mental Health Services). It draws on the Meriden program which has implemented BFT successfully in training over 2000 clinicians in Britain, as well as Family Sensitive Practice and international literature on implementation. Building Family Skills Together is providing training in BFT to all clinicians within two Continuing Care Teams (or Community Mental Health Centres). A Family Practice Consultant from the Bouverie Centre is placed in the service to provide intensive on-site assistance to the teams. The Consultant sees families with clinicians, provides group supervision and individual support and works with service management to overcome barriers to implementation. A brief overview of the “implementation evidence” and the rationale for the chosen implementation strategy will be provided.



PAPER 2
WHAT FAMILY WORK IS DONE BY MENTAL HEALTH CLINICIANS? AN EXAMINATION OF FAMILY CONTACTS WITH STAFF OF CONTINUNING CARE TEAMS.

John Farhall, James Campbell, Carol Harvey, Mirella di Benedetto, Brendan O’Hanlon, VIC

ABSTRACT
Working with family members and other carers of mental health consumers is widely encouraged by clinical practice guidelines and by state and national government policies, however, in public mental health services, practices appear to be varied, evidence based programs are infrequent, and there is little systematic data available about the nature of contacts that do occur. This paper reports data on the extent and nature of contacts between clinical staff and family caregivers at five continuing care



PAPER 3
BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE – THE CARE-GIVING EXPERIENCE OF FAMILY MEMBERS LIVING WITH RELATIVE HAVING SCHIZOPHRENIA

Laura Hayes, Carol Harvey, Graeme Hawthorne, Amaryll Perlesz, VIC

ABSTRACT
The situation for families caring for a relative with a serious mental illness is receiving increasing attention in the past decade and there is increasing evidence that family interventions such as Behavioural Family Therapy(BFT) can help relieve care-giving burden. Thirty families in Melbourne with a relative with schizophrenia were interviewed regarding their experience of care-giving. Five themes emerged from a qualitative evaluation. They were: themes of living with turbulence, concerns with supervision and dependence, feeling restriction of their own life, living with strong emotional reactions, and observing effects on the whole family. The implications for service delivery are discussed as well as the potential for interventions such as BFT for meeting carer needs.

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