Biscuits and perseverance: reflections on supporting a community intellectual disability team to reflect
| Published date | 12 July 2013 |
| Date | 12 July 2013 |
| Pages | 211-219 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/AMHID-03-2013-0022 |
| Author | Esther Wilcox |
| Subject Matter | Education,Health & social care |
Biscuits and perseverance: reflections on
supporting a community intellectual
disability team to reflect
Esther Wilcox
Esther Wilcox is a Clinical
Psychologist at Sussex
Partnership NHS Foundation
Trust, Worthing, UK.
Abstract
Purpose – This paper aims to share information and reflections on the proce ss of setting up
case formulation meetings in a community intellectual disability team supporting adults with
intellectual disabilities.
Design/methodology/approach – The case formulation meeting was set up and pioneered by a clinical
psychologist working in the team. This paper offers a description of the process of setting up the meetings
and experiences of initial meetings.
Findings – Evaluations of the meetings were consistently positive, but attendance from the team members
was dependent on ongoing marketing of the meetings by the team’s psychologist. Feedback suggested
that there may be direct benefits to the clinical work of the team and that the conversations allowed
for improved management of risk. This suggests that time spent on facilitating such meetings can help to
improve the quality of a service.
Originality/value – Other papers have helpfully shared experiences of setting up formulation meetings in
other settings. To the author’s knowledge, this is the first paper which shares the experience of setting up
and running a case formulation meeting in an adult community intellectual disability team setting.
The paper’s focus on meetings which floundered, and focus on lessons learnt for the continuation of the
meetings is also of practical value.
Keywords Intellectual disabilities, Learning disabilities, Case formulation, Multi-disciplinary,
Quality, Disabilities
Paper type Case study
Introduction
Consultation skills have, for many years, been considered to be a core component of the role
of clinical psychologists (e.g. see Pilgrim, 2008). “Consultation” is a term with a myriad of
definitions, but in a National Health Service (NHS) team setting, and with reference to
psychologists, it is perhaps about “advising on complex cases and supervising therapists”
(Pilgrim, 2008): supporting others to develop a better understanding of people, systems
and situations through an individualised formulation or set of working hypotheses. Papers are
increasingly surfacing sharing the ideas and experiences of psychologists who are consulting to
healthcare teams (e.g. Daynes et al., 2009; Lake, 2008a,b). These have largely been positive
experiences and feedback collected has suggested that the teams have, on the whole, valued
the consultative spaces. As well as being an approach used in supporting teams of direct care
staff (e.g. Ingham, 2011), the ideas have been used with health teams which support people
with intellectual disabilities. Ingham et al. (2011) used a biopsychosocial formulation-based
working model with staff in an in-patient intellectual disability service. This sort of process fits
well within an agenda of true multi-disciplinary working which is increasingly acknowledged in
the NHS as important criteria for successful and productive supports. The 2007 new ways of
With many thanks to Dr Karen
Dodd for her advice on early drafts
of this paper.
DOI 10.1108/AMHID-03-2013-0022 VOL.7 N O. 4 2013, pp. 211-219, CEmerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 2044-1282
j
ADVANCES IN MENTAL HEALTH AND INTELLECTUAL DISA BILITIES
j
PAGE 211
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