Family group conferences in public mental health care: An exploration of opportunities

Abstract

Family group conferences are usually organized in youth care settings, especially in cases of (sexual) abuse of children and domestic violence. Studies on the application of family group conferences in mental health practices are scarce, let alone in a setting even more specific, such as public mental health care. The present study reports on an exploratory study on the applicability of family group conferencing in public mental health care. Findings suggest that there are six reasons to start family group conference pilots in public mental health care. First, care providers who work in public mental health care often need to deal with clients who are not motivated in seeking help. Family group conferences could yield support or provide a plan, even without the presence of the client. Second, conferences might complement the repertoire of treatment options between voluntary help and coercive treatment. Third, clients in public mental health care often have a limited network. Conferences promote involvement, as they expand and restore relationships, and generate support. Fourth, conferences could succeed both in a crisis and in other non-critical situations. Sometimes pressure is needed for clients to accept help from their network (such as in the case of an imminent eviction), while in other situations, it is required that clients are stabilized before a conference can be organized (such as in the case of a psychotic episode). Fifth, clients who have negative experiences with care agencies and their representatives might be inclined to accept a conference because these agencies act in another (modest) role. Finally, the social network could elevate the work of professionals.

Evidence-Based Approaches to Remedy and Also to Prevent Abuse of Community-Dwelling Older Persons

“…The lessons gained through Holkup et al's study [17] and other studies focused on whole family approaches [18–22] would support this initiation. In turn, the knowledge and skills gained from each Family Care Conference would enhance and strengthen this approach for stopping elder abuse.…”

“…Although family group therapy, family meetings to discuss the care of ill family members, and family-based approaches to improve the health of an individual or the family as a whole have been employed for many years, family group conferences aimed at stopping the abuse of an older family member are a relatively new and as yet largely untested approach [18–22]. For instance, although Tapper reports family care conferences have been used in New Zealand since the 1990s for child welfare and protection situations, as they resulted in decreased domestic violence, they are only now being used in New Zealand for cases of detected elder abuse [18].…”

‘You don't show everyone your weakness’: Older adults' views on using Family Group Conferencing to regain control and autonomy

“…Berzin et al (2008). FGC is generally used in child care but it is increasingly applied in other fields such as public mental health care (de Jong & Schout, 2011), and in cases of social isolation, child abuse, problematic debts and domestic violence (Nixon et al, 1996;Hayden, 2009;McGarrell & Hipple, 2007;Crampton, 2007;Wright, 2008). For older adults, the only pilot project strictly focused on FGC for older adults was a relatively small scale project in Kent, for older adults facing abuse (Daybreak bluebird, 2010).…”

Prevention of coercion in public mental health care with family group conferencing

“…Besides the practice in Essex, we did not find any reports about the use of FGC in a public mental health setting. Interim findings from our research brought to surface that there are good reasons to start experimenting with FGC in the PMHC (see: De Jong & Schout, n.d.), especially in the prevention of coercion. The tapping and mobilizing of resources, as described in the literature about FGC, could be seen as an elaboration of outpatient treatment and could therefore play a key role in the by Van der Post et al .…”