It is designed to provide service users with skills for managing in crisis situations and with difficult emotions, in order to reduce their use of risk behaviours (e.g. self-harm and violence/aggression) which can lead to, or prolong hospital admissions. The programme consists of six group sessions, which are designed to be delivered over three weeks (i.e. two sessions per week).
Each session aims to introduce the service users to a different skill and to provide them with the opportunity to practice the skill during the session, and between sessions. In addition, it is expected that each session will be repeated by the ward staff on the following day to increase learning opportunities and to provide reinforcement of the skills.
The new programme was developed by Elise Stephen (Principal Clinical Psychologist), Laura Porter (Assistant Psychologist) and Jamie Makower (Assistant Psychologist). It was also recently presented at the Division of Clinical Psychology Conference held in Liverpool (18-20 January 2017) by Laura Porter (Assistant Psychologist) and Avril McAlees (Principal Forensic Psychologist).
The poster presentation was very well received, with colleagues from other secure hospitals and those who work on acute wards showing interest in the programme. The team were also awarded the runner-up prize in the poster presentation competition. The judging criteria was focused on the abstract’s structure, the poster’s overall design and layout as well as the clarity of the presenter’s communication and the clinical utility of the poster’s content.