Taking conversations forward: a systemic exercise for teams threatened by service restructures

Abstract

This paper describes a systemic exercise for clinical staff facing multiple changes to team structure and threats to their sense of belonging. The exercise was adapted from a consultation intervention that addressed a team's resourcefulness in responding to behaviours that challenge in intellectual disabilities (Smyly, 2006). As clinical psychology trainees from outside the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS), we aimed to facilitate a context in which staff could share past experiences of collectively overcoming challenges, and in this way nourish a sense of belonging. Through building layers of dialogue, taking the observer perspective and reflection in the context of such threats to personal, professional and team identities, a shared direction may be claimed again. Practitioner points Providing space for teams to reflect on past experiences of overcoming challenging situations may empower teams and enhance a sense of belonging during difficult transitions Moving towards an explorative and interactive space for personal and professional selves, away from problem‐saturated narratives, creates a context for innovation and change Exercises that develop layers of conversation can scaffold relational risk‐taking, celebrate difference, and guide collaboration towards developing narratives of belonging

Reflecting Team Practices outside the therapy room: A thematic analysis of a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) away‐day process with a team undergoing change

“…RTP is primarily used in family therapy clinics and as a training tool, but it has been generalised to supervision and consultation with staff teams, particularly within learning disability and health contexts (Campbell & Groenbaek, 2006;Fredman et al, 2017;Hughes & Ekdawi, 2001;Partridge et al, 1995;Rikberg Smyly, 2006Rikberg Smyly & Coles, 2017). However, we can find fewer examples of RTP being used to consider team health, wellbeing and communication style (Randall-James & Head, 2017). This paper will describe an exploration of whether RTP could be helpful in creating a structure whereby clinical and non-clinical staff could find their voices in ways which enabled more listening and created more of a sense of agency in responding to planned changes.…”