A sort of friend: narratives from young people and parents about collaboration with a mental health outreach team

Abstract

Mental health issues among young people have received increasing attention in Norway as more are diagnosed with and report mental health problems. In this study, we focus on the personal and social recovery processes of young people with mental health difficulties. The aim of the study was to explore how young people and parents experience collaboration with a community-based mental health outreach team around recovery processes, using a narrative analysis. Three topics from the findings are discussed: relationships and collaborations built on the service user's goals, closeness and distance in professional helping relationships, and comprehension of professionalism.

Part III: Recovery-Oriented Practices in Community Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services: A Meta-Synthesis

“…Many qualities were emphasized as significant for professionals in collaboration with service users. Being respectful and non-judgmental [ 58 ], trusting and safe [ 55 , 62 ]), caring and available [ 45 ], and not being a distanced professional [ 55 ] reflect crucial qualities in recovery-oriented practices. Further, being flexible, such as being able to help with service users’ needs as needed, was highlighted as important [ 46 ].…”

“…Flexibility also includes having the freedom to assess and decide on the actions required to meet service users’ needs [ 46 ]. Being a resource and being an advocate for service users were important to service users’ ability to access and comprehend services and the local community [ 46 , 62 , 63 ]. Skills in talking with service users about difficult topics, in involving family members appropriately, and in being able to tune into the moment and situation in spontaneous and informal ways were found to be important factors [ 51 , 63 , 64 ].…”

“… 6–8 professionals participated in 8 focus group interviews. Four themes were developed, describing how professionals work to support the service users: Safety through relations, (relations as important foundation for feeling safe, safe relations developed through everyday life practices) Safety through the place (physical setting), Sense of pride through mastering (participation in settings like work, activities) Appraisal as a fertilizer for pride (focus on positive sides) [ 62 ] To explore how young people and parents experience collaboration with community-based mental health outreach team supporting the young people’s recovery processes Phenomenological approach, using in-depth interviews to construct narratives 5 young adult service users and 4 parents Two narratives about collaboration: Stories of the young people—(a) I need someone: To trust, Allows the time to build trust, Does not give up on me, Is there to help and like me, Takes initiative when I cannot; Is like a friend who can share something personal with me; (b) Be able to tell my stories or things to share, (c) Need to get help when I need, Do things together, Be here to help me when I need, Be able to meet when I need/want The stories of the parents—(a) Trust the person—The person is safe with my child, (b) Someone my child has a good relationship, (c) Help with things parents cannot, (d) Providing good help (flexible, suitable to my child’s needs), and (e) Need to consolidate multiple collaborative relations …”

Inner and Outer Voices in Research: How Dialogical Approaches Can Enhance Knowledge Development in Mental Healthcare

“…Sub‐study 1 focuses on dialogical workshops with the service providers of the outreach mental health team focusing on their perspectives of mental health services for young people (Soggiu, Klevan, Davidson, & Karlsson, 2019). Sub‐study 2 consists of interviews with young service users and their relatives with the focus on collaboration around services in recovery processes (Soggiu, Klevan, Davidson, & Karlsson, 2020). The present article is Sub‐study 3, which has a focus on dialogical research methods in collaborative research.…”

“…The group was involved in various tasks such as developing thematic interview guides for interviews, engaging in dialogues about the themes and the focus of the project, and participating in analysing the data. In Sub‐study 2, the expert team and the first author had conducted preliminary thematic analyses of data from interviews with five young service users and five parents focusing on what they had discussed in the interviews (Soggiu et al, 2020). Findings from the preliminary analysis were presented to the participants, in a reflective process.…”