'Helping People to Get Better - Helping People to Stay Well'
Supporting service users and their carers is an important part of what we do. We know that reducing social isolation and improving support has significant impact in reducing hospital re-admission rates and family stress and that one of the keys to recovery and keeping well is a good support network. Caring is stressful. Carers, families and support networks are complementary to the work that we do with service users and there is a strong evidence base for developing this approach further. The most obvious benefits are for service-users and family members who report feeling much more involved in the care process, feeling listened to by professionals and feeling in more control should their family member experience a relapse.
What is family intervention?
Family Intervention is a type of practical support which aims to help families cope with the difficulties they face on a day-to-day basis. It involves a number of sessions where a family worker works together with a family to try to tackle any problems the family is facing.
The first sessions are educational and include discussions about relevant mental health problems and help available. Further sessions go on to look at simple ways of improving communication in order to reduce stress.
Each member of the family is encouraged to work towards personal goals, with the help of other family members.
The approach is very collaborative, with the family worker and the family members working together as equal partners.
How can Family Intervention help?
Family Work can improve a family's knowledge and understanding of mental health problems, medications, other treatments and services available, offer support, help to solve problems as a family, help with achieving personal goals, help families get on better and reduce the amount of relapses and time spent in hospital
Further information can be found on our website at www.meridenfamilyprogramme.com
