Service User Involvement in Training for the Therapeutic Management of Violence and Aggression

Abstract

Involving service users in mental health education and training has increased considerably over the last few years, especially in the initial pre-registration training of mental health professionals (social workers, nurses, psychologists). There is a growing understanding of the important contribution that service users can make to developing the mental health practitioners of the future. Involving service users in the education of future mental health practitioners is seen as important in providing students with the opportunity for developing greater awareness and understanding through the unique insights of people's lived experience of mental health conditions, and of their contact with mental health services. This paper describes the involvement of service user trainers in the development and delivery of a short training course in physical restraint for mental health professionals. It considers the impact of including service users who themselves have experience being restrained in acute mental health settings, from the perspective of course participants, tutors and the service user trainers themselves.

Making Mental Health Count

“…a number of countries have been encouraging the involvement of consumers in the education of health professionals. in England, initiatives have been undertaken for the involvement of service user trainers in the development and delivery of training courses in physical restraint for mental health professionals (Obi-udeaja et al, 2010). in other countries, including france, germany, Poland, the united kingdom and the united States, other less formal systems of exchange have been supported, such as "trialogues", which are encounters on equal footing between people with mental health problems, family members and carers, and mental health professionals (amering, 2010).…”