Effective Training in Psychosocial Interventions for Work with People with Serious Mental Health Problems
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/13619322200600014 |
| Date | 01 June 2006 |
| Pages | 7-14 |
| Published date | 01 June 2006 |
| Author | Charlie Brooker,Alison Brabban |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
Effective Training in
Psychosocial Interventions
for Work with People
with Serious Mental
Health Problems
Charlie Brooker
Professor of Mental Health & Criminal Justice
University of Lincoln
Alison Brabban
Consultant Clinical Psychologist
Shotley Bridge Hospital
Framework Feature
Background
There is now sufficient evidence to support the
effectiveness of psychosocial interventions for
psychosis (PSI) for the National Institute for Clinical
Excellence (2002) to conclude that family
interventions and cognitive behaviour therapy should
be routinely available for service users with
schizophrenia and their families or carers.
Unfortunately a gulf exists between these
recommendations and the reality of what services can
provide. Part of this difficulty is that many
practitioners do not have the necessary skills to
implement what are now considered effective
interventions. Training is therefore a significant issue
in terms of the delivery of an evidence-based service.
In particular, appropriate types of PSI training need to
be available to provide the workforce with the entire
range of skills to deliver an efficient and effective
modern mental health service.
Most often PSI is seen as equating to cognitive
behavioural-orientated family interventions and
individual psychological interventions such as
cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). However, these
interventions are only the tip of the iceberg and have
to be built upon a core set of values and capabilities.
These essential skills should be intrinsic within all PSI
training and practice and include an emphasis on
respecting and supporting service users and their
carers, promoting recovery, identifying and working
with the person’s needs and strengths, recognising and
dealing with social inequality and exclusion as well as
working with the complex balance between promoting
safety and positive risk-taking. These core
competencies, although promoted by the National
Institute for Mental Health in England within the The
10 Essential Shared Capabilities (Hope, 2004) as
fundamental to all mental health practitioners, are not
always found within basic mental health training.
This paper reviews the evidence base for training
in psychosocial interventions for psychosis in an
attempt to determine what is known about the impact
of this, the quality of the research/evaluation, and how
this knowledge might best be used to inform future
purchasing and provision.
Method
A comprehensive literature search was undertaken in
August and September 2003 to identify all evaluations
The Mental Health Review Volume 11 Issue 2 June 2006 ©Pavilion Publishing (Brighton) 2006 7
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