Life Beyond the Cubicle is an exciting Making Families Count project that aims to educate and update staff on the importance of involving families wherever possible during mental health crises to improve patient care, avoid harm and reduce deaths.
The project is informed by the lived experiences of a wide range of people. Dorit Braun, the project coordinator, has blogged about her experiences.
The project is working in partnership with Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust service users, families/carers, and clinicians to develop and test an eLearning resource. The work to develop the eLearning resource is funded by NHS England (South Eastern Region).
The eLearning resource is being designed to enable professionals to properly engage families and friends in a care pathway for someone with an acute mental health episode, as defined by the person and/or their family. Key issues addressed include confidentiality, consent, information sharing, listening to families, safety planning, and domestic violence.
There is a huge body of evidence and a great deal of guidance that supports the proper involvement of families and friends in the assessment and care of people during and after a mental health crisis. Yet we know that this is not routinely done.
The process of developing and testing the eLearning resource will help to identify barriers to the implementation of guidance, support clinicians to reflect on their practice and improve it, and disseminate the learning from the project.
The project is supported by an Advisory Group, drawn from a wide range of professionals and agencies.
If you would like to test the eLearning modules in Winter 2023/24, please get in touch.
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