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Abstract: Open Dialogue is a resource‐oriented approach to mental health care that originated in Finland. As Open Dialogue has been adopted across diverse international healthcare settings, it has been adapted according to contextual factors. One important development in Open Dialogue has been the incorporation of paid, formal peer work. Peer work draws on the knowledge and wisdom gained through lived experience of distress and hardship to establish mutual, reciprocal, and supportive relationships with service users. As Open Dialogue is now being implemented across mental health services in Australia, stakeholders are beginning to consider the role that peer workers might have in this model of care. Open Dialogue was not, initially, conceived to include a specific role for peers, and there is little available literature, and even less empirical research, in this area. This discussion paper aims to surface some of the current debates and ideas about peer work in Open Dialogue. Examples and models of peer work in Open Dialogue are examined, and the potential benefits and challenges of adopting this approach in health services are discussed. Peer work in Open Dialogue could potentially foster democracy and disrupt clinical hierarchies, but could also move peer work from reciprocal to a less symmetrical relationship of ‘giver’ and ‘receiver’ of care. Other models of care, such as lived experience practitioners in Open Dialogue, can be conceived. However, it remains uncertain whether the hierarchical structures in healthcare and current models of funding would support any such models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an introduction to epistemic trust for speech-language pathologists (SLPs). ‘Epistemic trust’ describes a specific form of trust that an individual places in others when learning about the world, particularly the social world. To date, the relevance of epistemic trust to SLP clinical practice has received little theoretical or empirical attention. The aim of this paper is to define epistemic trust and explain its relationship with parent-child attachment and mentalization which have, in turn, been linked with language development and use. Suggestions are made for ways in which SLPs may encourage epistemic trust in clients, emphasizing the need to establish strong therapeutic alliances. The authors conclude that epistemic trust is an important consideration for SLPs and that further research exploring the relationship between epistemic trust and language skills is needed to better understand the interplay of these variables and inform clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities (NJCLD)1 strongly supports comprehensive assessment and evaluation of students with learning disabilities by a multidisciplinary team for the identification and diagnosis of students with learning disabilities. Comprehensive assessment of individual students requires the use of multiple data sources. These sources may include standardized tests, informal measures, observations, student self-reports, parent reports, and progress monitoring data from response-to-intervention (RTI) approaches (NJCLD, 2005). Reliance on any single criterion for assessment or evaluation is not comprehensive, nor is a group assessment, such as universal screening or statewide academic assessment tests, sufficient for comprehensive assessment or evaluation. This paper is intended to inform administrators, educators, parents, and others concerned about the effective identification and education of students with learning disabilities about the components, processes, and participants necessary for comprehensive assessment and evaluation, as well as optimal practices that should further enhance the education of students with learning disabilities. The NJCLD has long recognized that inappropriate assessment and evaluation practices may result in questionable incidence rates for learning disabilities (NJCLD, 2001a). Similarly, the NJCLD (2001a, 2001b) has provided a solid foundation for addressing the issues of assessment, evaluation, identification, and eligibility of students with learning disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Standardised formats in social work have often been seen as neo-liberal and linked to New Public Management. Analysing naturally occurring data from social work interactions (conversations) in a homeless shelter, we argue that examining street-level bureaucracy from a discursive perspective enables us to discover new aspects of formrelated interaction. By investigating several approaches to form-talk, we see how standardisation, routinisation, time and documentation function in concert to accomplish social work. We argue that, while some talk strictly adheres to questionnaires, allowing little space for client voice, other types of form-related talk do not adhere directly to form questions, providing more space for client voice. Importantly, the former interactions are discursively narrow spaces for client participation but provide transparency of the accountable event in play, while the latter discussions are more participatory client spaces that reduce transparency of the accountable event. As a result, we are both critical of the use of forms in the casework context and cautiously optimistic in terms of implications for social work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family violence is becoming increasingly visible in Australia, with many state and federal governments taking on more responsibility to address family violence and its impacts on those affected. Current efforts are focused on practice frameworks, identifying and responding to risk factors, and social justice frameworks including legislating against family violence in a range of jurisdictions and addressing more broadly the structural and cultural forces that perpetuate violence and further oppress those victimised. Family violence is not unique to Australia, with prevalence rates internationally suggesting family violence occurs irrespective of country, race, age, culture, effectiveness of social policies or socioeconomic status. This paper explores relevant foundational concepts of Bowen family systems theory (BFST) as it relates to family violence and explores opportunities to evolve practice in this area. BFST offers a unique contribution towards addressing family violence, particularly in relation to the public health challenge of addressing family polyvictimisation. The paper also explores how BFST conceptualises family violence and the role of the professional in working with the family as a single emotional unit. The unique focus of BFST on observing and defining self within the emotional family unit through observation of the underlying multigenerational emotional patterns of functioning provides unique opportunities to evolve and develop both the capacity of clinicians and responses to families who are navigating the serious and challenging impacts of family violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Behavioral social work is the application of behavior analysis to the field of social work. There are behavioral social work interventions for individuals, groups, and communities. Nevertheless, behavioral social work is far from a widely adopted approach among social work practitioners. A reason for the underuse might be seen in the fact that most interventions in behavioral social work aim at individual clients and groups. Social work could further benefit from the application of methods taken from behavioral community interventions. Behavioral community interventions modify the behavior of a larger group of people (e.g., pedestrians using a crosswalk, cafeteria patrons, students using a university building) with antecedent- and consequence-focused interventions. The article describes a training program for social work students in behavioral community interventions. Results of two projects, undergraduate students designed and performed, are presented. Behavioral community interventions are recommended as a valuable part of the education of social workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: COVID‐19 necessitated emergency telepractice for student‐led speech‐language therapy clinical practicals in training institutions, with limited preparation and evidence‐based guidelines. Beyond the pandemic, practitioners and university training sites are likely to continue to offer telepractice necessitating thorough preparation for telepractice services underpinned by a comprehensive understanding of the complexities involved in online therapy. Aims: Adopting realist evaluation principles, our aim in this paper was to explore broadly what works and does not work in a set of student‐led telepractice sessions in a diverse, resource‐limited context. The broader goal of this project was to provide evidence‐based support to enhance the efficiency and success of telepractice sessions in student clinical training contexts. Methods & Procedures: We used qualitative observational methods with reflexive thematic analysis to analyse 28 video recordings and 61 observation notes of student‐led paediatric telepractice sessions from a South African university clinic as part of a pilot study. Outcomes & Results: We identified four overarching considerations for student‐led telepractice: (1) additional, specific preparation is required, (2) with greater management of technology and adaptation of tasks, especially during times of poor connectivity; (3) telepractice relies heavily on caregiver input and collaboration; and (4) promoting engagement online, holding a client's attention, building rapport and offering reinforcement are critical skills that are complicated by the lack of face‐to‐face contact. Conclusions & Implications: Our findings indicate that telepractice pedagogy needs to be explicitly taught and students require practical assistance as they learn how to use this service delivery approach effectively. There are some aspects peculiar to telepractice that require unique consideration and planning, especially in contexts where service providers and users may be unfamiliar with this form of service provision. The findings of this pilot study can be used by clinical educators and student clinicians to enhance clinical training opportunities involving telepractice. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: What is already known on this subject: Many speech‐language therapy (SLT) student clinicians had to transition quickly to telepractice service provision during COVID‐19 with limited existing guidelines and support, especially in contexts where teletherapy is typically non‐existent or difficult to access. Although there is some literature available on experiences of telepractice, there is very little evidence‐based research which explores the mechanics of such sessions in real‐time and which offers practical support to student clinicians and clinical educators engaging in this mode of service delivery. What this study adds: This pilot study examined video‐recorded, student‐led, paediatric, speech‐language teletherapy sessions to understand challenges and considerations involved in using telepractice as a clinical training tool. Findings show that additional preparation for telepractice sessions is required, particularly in contexts of poor digital literacy; students must learn to manage technology, especially when connectivity poses a challenge, and adapt therapy tasks for online work with clients; telepractice relies heavily on caregiver input and collaboration, more so than in in‐person consultations, and this relationship requires careful management; and promoting engagement online, holding a client's attention, building rapport and offering reinforcement are critical yet challenging skills in telepractice. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work?: Our findings highlight a need to teach telepractice pedagogy explicitly and support students practically in learning how to provide therapy effectively via this mode of service delivery. Observational methods for studying practices in recorded telepractice sessions can be used as part of a reflective approach to clinical training. Using already available data allowed us to unpack the 'messy reality' of clinical training using telepractice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domain Name System (DNS) plays an infrastructure role in providing the directory service for mapping domains to IPs on the Internet. Considering the foundation and openness of DNS, it is not surprising that adversaries register massive domains to enable multiple malicious activities, such as spam, command and control (C&C), malware distribution, click fraud, etc. Therefore, detecting malicious domains is a significant topic in security research. Although a substantial quantity of research has been conducted, previous work has failed to fuse multiple relationship features to uncover the deep underlying relationships between domains, thus largely limiting their level of performance. In this paper, we proposed AGCN-Domain to detect malicious domains by combining various relations. The core concept behind our work is to analyze relations between domains according to their behaviors in multiple perspectives and fuse them intelligently. The AGCN-Domain model utilizes three relationships (client relation, resolution relation, and cname relation) to construct three relationship feature graphs to extract features and intelligently fuse the features extracted from the graphs through an attention mechanism. After the relationship features are extracted from the domain names, they are put into the trained classifier to be processed. Through our experiments, we have demonstrated the performance of our proposed AGCN-Domain model. With 10% initialized labels in the dataset, our AGCN-Domain model achieved an accuracy of 94.27% and the F1 score of 87.93%, significantly outperforming other methods in the comparative experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite evidence of the importance of self-of-the-therapist factors for positive clinical outcomes, supervisors interested in helping their supervisees enhance their therapeutic effectiveness by honing their use of self may not have the framework to guide this process. In this article, we present the Person-of-the-Therapist Training (POTT) as a model that offers a clear philosophical perspective and specific tools to incorporate self of the therapist work in supervision. We start with a general introduction to POTT, its philosophical underpinnings, and its main concepts. Then, we describe the POTT supervision goals and specific emphasis. Subsequently, we present two POTT instruments (signature theme and case presentations and papers). With a vignette, we illustrate the use of the two instruments and show how this work on the person of the supervisee translates into the supervisee's clinical work with their clients. Specific recommendations about the implementation of POTT supervision are also included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known about the relationship between treatment organization characteristics and client outcomes or drug-related harms in community opiate substitution therapy. In the absence of sufficient scientific evidence, the organizational configuration of addiction treatment services is often decided on an ad hoc and sometimes politically motivated basis as the evaluation of the impact of policies or practices on clients at the organizational level is limited. The objective of this multi-site cross-sectional study was to identify and understand how client characteristics and staff perceptions of organizational functioning related to client engagement in community-based opiate substitution therapy services in Ireland. This paper reports on a cross-sectional survey of clients (n = 262) and staff (n = 132) questionnaires across 12 discrete community-based prescribing service providers (organizations) in Ireland. Measures of client engagement in treatment were shown to be higher in organizations with more positive staff ratings of organizational functioning. In particular, in organizations where staff reported having greater job autonomy, clients reported better overall engagement. Specifically, greater staff autonomy in organizations related to greater levels of treatment participation (p = 0.034), treatment satisfaction (p < 0.001), and better rapport with staff (p < 0.001). Clients who were the longest in treatment expressed significantly poorer rapport with staff (p = 0.44) and were less likely to seek out support from peers (p = 0.023), while those in stable accommodation reported greater participation in treatment (p = 0.009). Levels of peer support were not related to organizational characteristics, but clients with lower levels of education (p = 0.002) and those in early treatment (p = 0.017) were more likely to seek support from peers. The findings establish the importance of assessing organizational and client attributes as part of an overall strategy for enhancing the quality of treatment. This paper provides valuable information for policymakers and provides an ample basis for further exploration of how treatment organizations work, and not just that they work. Policymakers and planners need to consider introducing specific interventions for clients or staff in the context of a 'whole systems' approach. From an organizational and planning perspective, this should involve further consideration of measures that relate to increasing staff's sense of autonomy. This paper provides further evidence that the success of policy-making or planning relating to treatment organizations can be successfully measured at the client and organizational levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 profoundly shaped how service providers in the antiviolence sector interact with clients, coworkers, and community stakeholders. In addition to stressors inherent in antiviolence work, service providers negotiated new, challenging social distancing and remote communication strategies. In this paper, we analyze interviews with 23 antiviolence workers in the US Great Plains region, focusing on participants' descriptions of workplace boundaries and intimacy. We demonstrate how COVID-19 both expanded and contracted public/private boundaries and formal/informal connections in antiviolence workers' daily experiences. Pandemic conditions revealed the pressing need for frontline workers to exercise discretion over levels of intimate engagement with coworkers and clients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The personal importation scheme is a legislative mechanism that allows health consumers to import unapproved medicines under certain conditions. This article analyses the legal and policy basis for the scheme and considers how reforms to advertising laws for therapeutic goods may restrict communications about it. The article represents the first published analysis of the personal importation scheme's interaction with the communications of health professionals and buyer's clubs. It considers how these communications may be affected by legal amendments, particularly where unapproved medicines may be accessed through the scheme. Methods: An examination of Australian therapeutic goods law concerning the personal importation scheme was conducted, including both the historical law and recent regulatory reforms. Illustrative tables were prepared to identify scheme-related advertising that may contravene therapeutic goods law. Risk estimates were allocated to several new legal rules to indicate whether health professionals or buyer's clubs would contravene these laws when promoting the scheme to health consumers for unapproved medicines. Results: Representations made directly to the public by health practitioners or on buyer's clubs websites about accessing unapproved therapeutic goods through the personal importation scheme are likely to contravene one or more advertising laws. Conclusions: The Therapeutic Goods Administration has very strong powers to initiate compliance or enforcement action for advertising breaches in Australia for many promotional practices. Arguably, in the age of the internet and in the context of emerging expensive medicines, these powers should not be used to restrict health practitioners or buyer's clubs from sharing information about the lawful personal importation scheme to health consumers in need. Nevertheless, the study finds that health practitioners who promote or refer to the availability of unapproved medicines through the personal importation scheme outside of a consultation are likely to contravene the law and may be subject to disciplinary or enforcement action. What is known about the topic?. The personal importation scheme has not been studied extensively. This paper investigates whether recent updates to the advertising laws will affect the operation of the personal importation scheme and health practitioners' ability to refer to it in public. What does this paper add? This paper represents the first ever analysis of the way in which the personal importation scheme interacts with health practitioners' statements, buyer's clubs, and the internet. What are the implications for practitioners ? The study finds that health practitioners who promote the availability of unapproved medicines through the personal importation scheme outside professional consultations are likely to be liable to enforcement action from the Therapeutic Goods Administration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to establish strategies of coping with COVID-19 pandemic adopted by the clients of social assistance from the perspective of social workers. The qualitative research among Polish social workers and family assistants was conducted from September to November 2021. Based on 30 in-depth interviews with social work professionals, groups of social assistance clients' behaviours were identified and classified into the theoretical models of reactions to social change by Merton and Giddens. The following types of behaviour have been selected and categorized into four groups of reactions when dealing with social workers in a pandemic situation: coolheaded calculation, defiance, confusion, and adaptation. At the same time, reactions to the situation of social change were categorized into one of the strategies of active or passive behaviour: innovation, contestation, retreat, and acceptance. In addition, we discussed the impact of clients' coping strategies on social workers and established three attitudes of the surveyed social workers: adapting to the pandemic situation and customer behaviour, assuming the role of an emotional buffer and informant, and expecting support from superiors and coworkers. Knowing the behaviour of social assistance clients in a challenging situation makes it possible to adopt tailor-made measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is not a research paper in the conventional sense. Instead, it is a reflexive account of the building of a relationship which would not have happened without the existence of digital technologies and might not have happened but for the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. It was through reading a digitised resource (an online PhD thesis) in the first UK 'lockdown' that Bob, now a semi-retired academic in the field of adult and organisational learning, began to reappraise his upbringing in a children's home in Scotland. Meanwhile, it was in getting to know Bob (through emails and Zoom meetings) and by accessing Bob's retrospectively digitised case record that Viv, the author of the PhD thesis and now a semi-retired social work academic, was stimulated to revisit her early research from a fresh perspective. We argue that our real-life example, serendipitous and unique as it undoubtedly is, demonstrates the democratising potential of the digital transformation that is currently being played out in child and family social work. Furthermore, it seems likely that digital technologies will continue to bring new and unexpected opportunities for forming such relationships in the future. Plain Language Summary: In this article, two older academics (one from social work and the other from management learning) introduce their meeting online during the Covid-19 pandemic and the relationship they have been building since then, from the very different perspectives of a social work researcher and a former resident of a children's home in Edinburgh in the 1940s and 50s. Bob and Viv describe coming together as an opportunity for shared learning, and they suggest that child and family social workers should be ready for, and welcome, such opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Western culture, "hearing voices" is often considered a symptom of mental illness. After reinterpreting this phenomenon from perspectives that emphasise the socio-cultural aspects of the construction of these voices, this paper describes a case report involving a psychological intervention divided into six phases. The aim is to challenge the dominant narratives that stigmatise the experience of hearing voices, and propose alternative meanings that can improve the hearer's ability to manage the voices by converting them from a disease into a personal and relational resource. Using the metaphor of an "inner dialogue", we show how changes in the client's interpretation of the voices, and way of relating to them, can be co-constructed by the client and the therapist. The paper concludes with some critical reflections on the medicalisation of mental distress, highlighting the importance of expanding our understanding of the experience of hearing voices, not only in clinical terms, but also on a social and cultural level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need for professional reflection has been argued extensively in social work literature. A separate literature has demonstrated the potential of using conversation analytic research (CA) in interventions seeking to inform professional practice in social and health care. Nevertheless, we know little about how social workers actually do 'reflection' and how CA can be used to facilitate reflection, specifically. The objective of this paper is to examine how CA can be used in interventions that develop reflective professional practice. Our dataset consists of audio recordings of 21 mutual learning and innovation platforms, taking place as part of a collaboration between researchers and five Danish social work agencies. We use CA to examine how researchers and professionals reflect on social work interactions. We find that the use of CA (a) makes professionals aware of aspects of practice that are often performed in routinised ways and (b) provides concrete starting points for the non-evaluative reflection on such practice. The paper has implications for researchers and professionals looking to utilise CA in developing reflective practice as it outlines one model for intervention, demonstrates the detailed ways in which reflection may be accomplished in interaction and discusses the organisational requirements of such interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Migrant and ethnic inequalities in maternal and perinatal mortality persist across high‐income countries. Addressing social adversity and inequities across the childbirth trajectory cannot be left to chance and the good intentions of practitioners. Robust, evidence‐based tools designed to address inequity by enhancing both the quality of provision and the experience of care are needed. Methods: An inductive modelling approach was used to develop a new evidence‐based conceptual model of woman–midwife relationships, drawing on data from an ethnographic study of relationships between migrant Pakistani women and midwives, conducted between 2013 and 2016 in South Wales, UK. Key analytic themes from early data were translated into social–ecological concepts, and a model was developed to represent how these key themes interacted to influence the woman–midwife relationship. Results: Three key concepts influencing the woman–midwife relationship were developed from the three major themes of the underpinning research: (1) Healthcare System; (2) Culture and Religion; and (3) Family Relationships. Two additional weaving concepts appeared to act as a link between these three key concepts: (1) Authoritative Knowledge and (2) Communication of Information. Social and political factors were also considered as contextual factors within the model. A visual representation of this model was developed and presented. Conclusions: The model presented in this paper, along with future work to further test and refine it in other contexts, has the potential to impact on inequalities by facilitating future discussion on cultural issues, encouraging collaborative learning and knowledge production and providing a framework for future global midwifery practice, education and research. Patient or Public Contribution: At the outset of the underpinning research, a project involvement group was created to contribute to study design and conduct. This group consisted of the three authors, an Advocacy Officer at Race Equality First and an NHS Consultant Midwife. This group met regularly throughout the research process, and members were involved in discussions regarding ethical/cultural/social issues, recruitment methods, the creation of participant information materials, interpretation of data and the dissemination strategy. Ideas for the underpinning research were also discussed with members of the Pakistani community during community events and at meetings with staff from minority ethnic and migrant support charities (BAWSO, Race Equality First, The Mentor Ring). Local midwives contributed to study design through conversations during informal observations of antenatal appointments for asylum seekers and refugees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single session therapy (SST) is an increasingly popular approach to mental health treatment that aims to address clients' presenting difficulties in a single appointment. However, experiential approaches to SST are limited. In this paper I describe the theory and practice of "chairwork" – an integrative, action-focused method of intervention centred on the concept of self-multiplicity – and outline how these procedures can be coherently applied in a single-session format. A preliminary protocol for delivering single-session chairwork (SSC) or "brief dialogical psychotherapy" is presented, alongside a case illustration that demonstrates features of this approach. Finally, directions for future research and the continued development of chairwork as a psychotherapeutic modality are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses critical realism to identify mechanisms that activate successful relationships. It draws data from a longitudinal, mixed‐methods study of youth who used multiple services. It examines functionality of four relational mechanisms: power, recognition, responsiveness and mutuality that lead to positive change and explores the implications of these for practice with youth with complex needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is growing recognition that parallel processes are central components of supervision and may be a supervisor's primary source of data about a client's and a therapist's unconscious processes and the ongoing therapeutic relationship between them. The term "parallel processes" refers to the process through which unconscious conflict emerges within one dyad (supervisor–supervisee or supervisee–client) and then becomes reflected or re-enacted in another dyad of the triangle. This paper reviews the literature on parallel processes in social work, according to relational theory. Illustrated here are two case examples featuring particular types of unconscious processes generated within the supervision triad (supervisor, student, and client). In one case the process arose in treatment and was re-enacted in a supervision setting, and in the other case it arose in supervision and was re-enacted in treatment sessions. When analyzed within the setting of group supervision for supervisors-in-training these examples demonstrate some of the core components of bidirectional parallel processes in supervision and their application to social work field education. We used the relational approach and its clinical applications to help supervisors understand the student–client relationship, as well as their own involvement in the intricate interactions that develop between client and student and between student and supervisor. The examples also illustrate how the learning process in groups combines clinical and theoretical material to further the professional growth and development of supervisors and their students, with a view to improving the latters' interventions with clients through parallel processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Routine outcome monitoring (ROM), including the use of feedback, has become a much vaunted method in psychological therapies but is little used in university/college counselling and mental health services, perhaps because its adoption raises questions for many practitioners and service leaders. There is a need for both clinical‐ and research‐based statements to clarify the reasoning and rationale for ROM. This paper aims to present and respond to common challenges of and reservations about using ROM in student counselling and/or mental health services. Method: The article poses 15 questions and issues about the adoption of ROM drawn from the literature on this topic and further refined by practitioner‐ and researcher‐members of a consortium comprising service leads, practitioners, and researchers working in the field of student counselling in the UK. The questions address nine themes: (1) the purpose and yield of ROM; (2) the burden of measurement; (3) the impact on clients and process of therapy; (4) consistency with therapeutic theory; (5) client groups and settings; (6) concern from practitioners; (7) equality, diversity, and inclusion; (8) implementation; and (9) relationship with the paradigm of practice‐based evidence. Findings: Responses to each of the 15 questions are provided from a methodological, evidence‐based, and clinical perspective. Conclusions: The responses provide practitioners with the necessary information to enable them to make informed decisions as to the value, or otherwise, of adopting ROM, including feedback, in the delivery of counselling interventions, and generating evidence created from clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While recognition that some service users do not want social work involvement has grown in recent years, little research has explored what relationships between social workers and 'involuntary clients' look and feel like in practice and how they are conducted in real time. This paper draws from research that observed long-term social work practice in child protection and shows how relationships based on mutual suspicion and even hate were sustained over the course of a year, or broke down. Drawing on a range of psycho-social theories, the paper adds to the literature on relationship-based practice by developing the concept of a 'hostile relationship'. The findings show how hostile relationships were enacted through conflict and resistance – especially on home visits – and how anxiety and other intense feelings were often avoided by individuals and organisations. Much more needs to be done to help social workers recognise and tolerate hostility and hate, to not retaliate and to enact compassion and care towards service users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper wishes to help heal the lack of trans people's representation in art therapy research that coincides with the lack of art therapy literature theorising body tracing. Supervisor, art psychotherapist and service user have come together to offer a research process that questions power dynamics and uses lived experience to explore an approach of body tracing that differs from body mapping and so contributes a further approach in this field for working with people whose identities question the status quo of power. Specifically, we wish to demonstrate the relevance of body tracing as a tool for facilitating the gender transitioning process. We explore how it offers a lived experience in the here and now that promotes agency and an internal locus of control over what is to be modified and what is to be maintained. It creates an embodied space for a new identity to be shaped. We examine how the contextualisation of creative process modalities (sensory experience, formal decision-making and symbolic meaning) within the resulting body-space aids the integration of states of self and bodily awareness and connectedness. We hope to inspire further research in this field that can support an institutionalised adoption of body tracing within an art therapy setting for gender transitioning service users. Art therapists have only written a little about working with trans people. The same is true of the technique of body tracing. This paper speaks about both of these areas. The service user has taken the role of lived experience author in order to work together with the art therapist and her supervisor, so that all three voices can talk on equal terms about their experiences in these areas and explore a way of using body tracing that they believe can empower people who are gender transitioning. A technique called body mapping already uses body tracing to help people who feel disadvantaged because of their identity (for example, their sexual orientation, the colour of their skin, religion, nationality etc.). Our research offers an additional approach with some distinct features. The lived experience author describes how the act of drawing around the body and then being able to modify this outline promoted a sense of control over his body, leading to a feeling of greater control over his life. This helped him reclaim ownership of his body at a time when other people were deciding the hormones he took and the options available. Our method integrates bottom-up and top-down processes to help a person feel more connected with their body. Working on the body tracing involves many physical sensations that vary for each of the four stages of the process. Memories and thoughts may also come to mind connected with lived experiences and fantasies. The physical feelings in the body can be filtered thanks to the images and colours in the representation of the body on the paper. We hope that other people will join our research so that institutions supporting trans people can offer this service to their users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today's digital and distributed information environment, engaging with users is imperative for the success of liaison librarianship in the academy's learning and research environment. Such associations require the liaison's personal approach for connecting and building relationships with clients. This paper addresses the main factors for sustaining or improving ties with users as well as the prospects for individualized working relationships by liaison librarians. It examines the validity of and rationale for adopting a more personal type of engagement to improve and extend client connections in the long term. This article also looks at how such an approach by liaisons is reflected in best practices, guidelines, and articles in the library literature. In addition, it traces literature that helps establish grounds for personal or individualized engagement in the workplace. The paper concludes with some important practical considerations and calls for more in-depth research into the liaison librarian's personal approach as an essential step for understanding and assessing the quality of liaison librarianship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are growing numbers of young children with complex life-limiting conditions as well as varying degrees of physical, sensory and cognitive limitations currently surviving birth. As a trainee art therapist, I needed to clarify exactly what art therapy actually was and how to implement it with this clientele, which initially looked the least likely of the creative therapies to be practical. This article offers an account of my journey providing art therapy to a ten year-old girl during my final year trainee placement within a children's hospice and what she contributed in terms of my development and understanding. Neurobiological studies of sufferers of trauma (who can display similar restricted sensory, emotional and cognitive processing capacity) suggest that art can function in a direct manner on the brain, enabling expression and communication. Art therapy becomes feasible with these children if their anger and frustration is seen as embodied very much like trauma as generally understood. Initial sessions concentrated on creating routines and structures without expectation of an art product even though these could be mistaken for sensory or messy play. Finally, my client engaged with art materials and was able to employ controlled gestures resulting in making marks on paper. A noticeable positive change over my client's attitude occurred. By not focussing on expectations around the marks produced in terms of art, a therapeutic relationship developed. Neurobiological studies involving these children as a specific group and art therapy are recommended. This article offers an account of providing art therapy to a ten year-old girl who has the cognitive facility of someone much younger, is registered blind, has limited fine-motor skills, and has a life-limiting degenerative neurological condition. That she could engage in any form of making art (an often assumed prerequisite of art therapy) may seem improbable. As a result, children with similar abilities are more likely to be offered sensory or messy play, as these might appear immediately more directly accessible. Nevertheless, art materials do feature in messy/sensory play, and though the end result may, indeed, present as a mess, drawing on neurological theory I reason this could still result in therapeutic value as a mode of expression/communication. Part of the initial difficulty for me involved issues around what art therapy was. Consequently, I struggled with the idea of whether what I was doing with my client was art therapy. Although, at times, I felt I was offering sensory or messy play, I was finally able to accept that I had done so in the service of art therapy. A key factor was to do with the role of the art therapist as 'container' for the client's emotions. The art therapist's role is therefore upheld as essential to defining whether it was art therapy or not. Much of the time, what took place did not necessarily emulate what I thought of as 'normative' art therapy practice. However, these sessions were necessary to build up trust, and eventually, my client constructively engaged with art materials. The results were not pictorial, but they were controlled rather than random and were accompanied by a marked change of behaviour. I concluded that art therapy specifically was possible in this situation, and affirm that this client group should not be denied the opportunity because of potentially preconceived expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accessible summary: What is known on the subject?: Engagement is regarded as important and beneficial for service users and mental health servicesA universal definition of engagement is not yet fully agreed upon. What this paper adds to existing knowledge?: Based upon their experience, mental health staff use varied engagement approaches to fit with the changeable and unique needs of people who use services (service users).Mental health staff demonstrate qualities such as persistence and adaptability to successfully engage with service users. What are the implications for practice?: Irrespective of professional background, the role of community mental health staff is not restricted to any single approach. Practical help and social support are as seen as important as clinical treatment to establish successful engagement.Little is known about the engagement experiences of mental health staff working in early intervention settings as most studies in this review focused on the perspectives of staff based in assertive outreach or community mental health teams. There is a need to further understand staff experiences of engagement with service users in early intervention settings.Role descriptions and expectations of community mental health workers should account for the wide‐ranging flexible approach required in order to deliver appropriate interventions. This may involve a focus on engagement in training programmes. Introduction: Effective mental health care is dependent on engaging service users, but some individuals do not actively attend appointments, and may stop engaging with mental health services. Quantitative studies reveal some salient factors that seem to predict engagement, but these studies miss the nuances of good clinical practice in this area. A number of qualitative studies of health professionals' experiences and understanding of effective engagement have been published. Aim: This review aimed to systematically identify, evaluate and synthesize results from these studies with a view to informing effective practice in this area. Methods: Electronic databases MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsychINFO and AMED were searched (PROSPERO systematic review protocol registry (www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/; ID CRD42017083976). Of 799 records, ten papers met the inclusion criteria. All papers were subjected to quality appraisal based on the CASP checklist and data systematically extracted. A thematic synthesis of included studies examining mental health practitioners' experiences of engagement in community mental health settings was conducted. Results: Mental health practitioners see engaging service users as depending upon complex, multi‐dimensional phenomena which should include individualized person‐centred approaches as well as practical, social and clinical support. Mental health practitioners demonstrate qualities such as determination and adaptability to establish and maintain engagement with service users. Implications for practice: As a core aspect of nurse education, registered mental health nurses and other professionals would benefit from systematic guidance regarding engagement strategies. Most studies in this review focused on assertive outreach or community mental health teams, more clarification is needed of practitioner's engagement experiences in early intervention settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study aimed to conduct a learning and development needs analysis of quality improvement partnership capabilities of staff and consumers on partnership committees at an Australian metropolitan hospital and health service. Objectives were to compare consumer and staff self-rated capability importance, performance, and learning needs; to investigate if years of partnership experience influenced ratings; and to ascertain staff and consumer preferred learning strategies. Methods: An online cross-sectional survey was adapted from the Hennessy–Hicks Training Needs Analysis questionnaire. Participants self-rated the importance of, and their performance on, 10 capabilities, across four domains, of an internationally validated co-produced capability development framework. They also rated preferences regarding learning approaches and media. Results: A total of 199 members from 41 committees (174 staff; 25 consumers; response rate 35.38%) participated. There was a statistically significant learning and development need across all capabilities (P < 0.01). The highest learning need was for influencing organisational systems and policy (mean = −0.96; s.d. = 1.23), followed by equalising power and leadership (mean = −0.91; s.d. = 1.22), and then implementing partnership best practices (mean = −0.89; s.d. = 1.22). There were no statistically significant differences between consumers and staff on ratings, or correlations between years of partnership experience and ratings (P < 0.01). A combination of learning approaches was preferred, followed by learning through experience. Self-reflection was least preferred, which is concerning given it may promote equalising power and leadership. Face-to-face then videoconferencing were the preferred learning media. Conclusions: Continuous co-learning for staff and consumers about QI partnerships is essential. Committee members needed more feedback regarding their influence and to be engaged in innovative co-design practices. What is known about the topic? Staff and consumer capabilities are essential for effective collaboration on quality improvement (QI) committees, however, research is lacking. What does this paper add? This learning and development needs analysis provides direction for effective design of education and support programs. What are the implications for practitioners? Staff and consumers should continuously develop QI partnership capabilities together, and through multiple learning approaches. Increased exposure to innovative co-design strategies is needed to enhance capabilities and influence on organisational systems and policies. Sharing power and leadership was also a high learning need with self-reflection being vital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trauma- and violence-informed care (TVIC) has become an important lens to guide health and social services. TVIC emphasizes service providers' understanding of trauma and its impact, including structural aspects of victimization. Emotionally and physically safe environments, service user opportunities for choice, collaboration and connection, and the use of strengths-based and capacity-building approaches are prioritized. The majority of writing on TVIC has focused on its application to services for survivors of trauma and abuse. In this paper, we argue that a modified trauma-and violence-informed lens has the potential to improve our work with men who perpetrate violence in interpersonal relationships, and even more importantly, that without such a lens, we are likely to miss very important opportunities to act in ways that enhance the safety of potential victims of abuse. Using examples drawn from practice, we explore specific examples of how applying TVIC principles may increase service providers' ability to recognize and respond to potentially dangerous situations, thereby improving services to perpetrators and enhancing safety for potential victims of abuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In Canada, Ontario midwives provide care to sexual and gender minority (SGM) people. Published literature shows how midwives' attitudes shape the experiences of lesbians, but research examining midwives' attitudes toward SGM people is lacking. Our study measured the attitudes of Ontario midwives toward SGM clients, hypothesizing that attitudes would be positive overall and that there would be no difference in attitudes across practice settings. Methods: Paper surveys (n = 926) with an option to respond online were sent to Ontario midwifery practices. We measured midwives' attitudes toward sexual minorities (11 questions, scores ranged from 11 to 55) and gender minorities (9 questions, scores ranged from 9 to 45), with higher scores indicating more positive attitudes. Overall and subgroup analyses were performed. Results: The 268 completed surveys indicated that midwives' attitudes were positive toward both sexual (mean score 49.2, maximum possible score of 55, ie, 89.4%) and gender minorities (mean score 38.9, maximum possible score of 45, ie, 86.4%). Analyses showed that attitudes toward SGM were associated with midwives' sexual identity and route of entry into the profession (ie, university‐based vs bridging programs), but not practice setting. Conclusions: Although attitudes of this subset of midwives toward SGM clients were positive, volunteer bias could account for this finding since 32.6% of respondents identified as sexual minorities. Since the attitudes of midwives who entered the profession through the university‐based education program were significantly more positive than those who entered through international bridging programs, future research should examine how SGM‐related content is integrated into midwifery education and training curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To systematically review international evidence on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of interventions targeting the mental health, wellbeing, and retention of child and family social workers and their impact on child and family outcomes. Method: Systematic review and narrative synthesis of quantitative comparative studies. Published or unpublished research was sought via 12 bibliographic databases, websites, contact with experts, and citation tracking. Studies in any language were eligible for inclusion. Quality was assessed using Cochrane appraisal tools. Results: Fifteen studies were identified from 24 papers. Three studies considered individual-level interventions, with mixed and inconclusive findings. Eleven considered organisational interventions, with mixed but more promising findings. One study considered community-level interventions, with positive findings but a serious risk of bias. Only one study considered costs. Conclusion: The quality of evidence overall does not warrant clear recommendations for services. Organisation-level interventions show some promise. Robust, high-quality interventional studies are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on findings from a psycho-social qualitative doctoral study, this paper considers the intimate and extraordinary emotional intensity, ambivalence and pain associated with the experience of mother social workers engaging with mothers and their infants in the context of child protection work. In this yearlong study undertaken with a group of female Irish child protection social workers, their role as mothers was an unanticipated emergent theme and was found to be inextricably linked to their work and their capacity for realistic decision-making. We consider the wider contexts of societal ambivalence about motherhood, mothering and social work itself, as a way of locating these experiences as fully psycho-social. The work discussion seminars offered as part of the research study afforded a rare opportunity for workers to talk about predicaments, failures and worries, in conditions of containment for anxiety, support for their learning, and a confidential reflective setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to stimulate discussion. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is a personal reflection and is not a research paper; there is not therefore a design or methodology that was used in its writing. Findings: While it may initially appear that a strength-based approach is incompatible with safeguarding adults, it can be a valuable long-term tool in supporting adults who have been abused or self-neglected. Research limitations/implications: The piece is a personal reflection and therefore not based on research but it does highlight the need for further research to develop tools to facilitate the interface between safeguarding and a strengths-based approach. Practical implications: The need to recognise when a strengths-based approach is and is not appropriate in safeguarding adults. Originality/value: The author is not aware of a similar consideration of the interface between safeguarding adults practice and a strengths-based approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the motivation for the 1999 paper “The impact of communication effectiveness and service quality on relationship commitment in consumer, professional services”. In doing so, it is argued that today, the importance and relevance of effective interpersonal communications to managing client relationship have never been greater. Further, this paper updates developments in this area, and importantly, offers directions for future research.Design/methodology/approach This paper reflects on the motivation and rationale of the original paper and brings to bear relevant developments in the services marketing literature in the past 15-20 years.Findings As the professional services sector continues to grow in all economies, the credence properties and asymmetrical nature of information flow between provider and client means that the pivotal role of effective interpersonal communications in developing and nurturing client relations continues to grow in importance. Subsequent research has examined communications style; the impact of communications in a business-to-business professional services context and linked it to client psychological comfort, co-production and value co-creation, client engagement, client experience management and empowerment.Practical implications For professional service practitioners, the findings serve as a reminder that clients, especially first-time clients, have difficulty in evaluating the outcome quality and value-for-fee paid even after purchase and consumption of the service. Hence, it serves as a reminder that interpersonal communication has a pivotal role to play in influencing client perceptions of both outcome (“what” was produced) and process quality (“how” it was produced), that is their total experience.Originality/value The original paper was cited numerous times and generated broader thinking on the role of effective interpersonal communications in a number of areas of services marketing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For relational therapists who are acutely aware of male privilege, working with male clients may be challenging, including in (but not limited to) couple and family therapy. This challenge may be particularly true for beginning therapists. This paper outlines a guide to working in relational therapy with male clients from a gender-critical and socio-culturally attuned perspective. To this aim, the paper first summarizes a framework for gender-critical therapists to work with male clients. It then outlines recommendations based on the clients' level of endorsement or relationship to gender-normative masculinity (i.e., stereotypical, challenged, and disempowered relationship to masculinity). In the final sections, clinical vignettes show the application of some of these recommendations. This guide will benefit relational therapists who are questioning their ability to work with male clients in an inclusive fashion while remaining truthful to their gender-critical views. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of reflective practice in psychotherapy has long been acknowledged. However, there is a paucity of work that elucidates the process of reflection in the context of therapist development. The current study employs reflexive action research for a supervised group-work in a tertiary mental health hospital carried out by two trainee therapists. Group-work intervention was chosen because it was viewed as a cost-effective method given the client-clinician ratio. It also provided a richer context to boost reflective practices in various interactions- with the participants, the supervisor and the co-facilitator. Reflective notes and discussions among trainees, supervisor, as well as verbatim feedback from clients were the sources of information. The paper describes this process of reflection as well as the critical events in the process that posed a challenge for the therapists and opportunities for reflection in these interactions during the course of therapy. The paper, with its reflective stance, has implications for promoting and documenting reflective practice in psychotherapy training using different methods and modalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many music therapists propose that chaos, such as destructiveness and disintegration, could thwart music therapy group processes and should be minimised or resolved. From a paradoxical approach, however, chaos is understood as a transformative complement to ordered, formative music therapy experiences. The research in this paper explored how music therapists and adolescents could engage with chaos as a resource in music therapy groups. From a paradoxical approach, the music therapist--researcher facilitated two short-term group music therapy processes with nine young South Africans from under-resourced and often violent communities, referred for committing offences. The researcher utilised crystallisation, including constructivist grounded theory, participatory action research, and abduction, to analyse how group members could engage with chaotic group experiences. Findings, constructed through a cyclical process of data collection, analysis, and inclusion of group feedback, are presented in a matrix. The matrix shows how groups could utilise chaos to explore multiple possibilities for responding to challenges. They expressed themselves courageously and played unconventional group roles through their musicking and participation. They juggled paradoxical tensions between observational and active, integrative and disintegrative, engagement styles. This supported their transformation in the group, and potentially within the chaotic South African context. Music therapists can use the matrix to support adolescents in music therapy groups to engage with chaos as a transformative resource. They can accompany young people through offering holding, resources and collaborative support. When it is safe, music therapists may allow or encourage chaos that empowers adolescents to cope with challenges independently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the more creative aspects of the Workforce Innovation Opportunities Act (WIOA, 2014) is the pre-employment transition services program (Pre-ETS). In WIOA, for the first time a federal rehabilitation law has been reauthorized to include a requirement that 15% of the state case management service funding must be devoted to Pre-ETS activities. However, a significant number of state vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies have been unable to spend this required 15% and therefore millions and millions of dollars nationally have been returned to the Rehabilitation Services Administration. In this paper, we describe how Pre-ETS can be used to get youth with disabilities into competitive and integrated employment, while also outlining many of the systems challenges related to these efforts— specifically for VR and schools. We also provide recommendations for the future to improve outcomes by making Pre-ETS work more effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present our development of a previously articulated approach to counselling education of transformational learning through a relational dynamic approach (Macaskie et al., 2013). We replace the idea of integration with a values-based approach and supplement the notion of transformational relational learning with a not-knowing attitude. This perspective on education and learning in counselling parallels the attitude within psychotherapy that we teach our students. We argue that this unites relational approaches to learning and psychotherapy across modalities and offers a trans-theoretical approach that could explain the common factors research in psychotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents an attempt to analyze the specifics of ethical norms in the work of psychologists in Ukraine, with an analysis of historical preconditions, current challenges and cultural characteristics. Ukraine, as a modern developing country striving for integration into the European space, is intensively developing psychology and trying to overcome the problems that it has today. Having well-trained psychologists, psychology in Ukraine has many vulnerabilities, such as the lack of legislation in this field and licensing. Professional communities, by virtue of their competencies, strengthen psychology in Ukraine through an attempt to implement ethical standards and highlight problematic topics. The article contains a review of Ukrainian psychologists' understandings of confidentiality, informed consent and multiple relationships. This paper is an analysis and attempt to explain to the reader potential areas of growth and the unique cultural formations that we have in our practical work today. This exploration includes factors such as the features of importance in the relationship between a psychologist and a client in the Ukrainian context, and the historical, social, economic, cultural, and political factors that influence the perception of ethical standards among Ukrainian psychologists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Story completion (SC) – where respondents are presented with the start of a story (the story ‘stem’ or ‘cue’) and asked to complete it – originally developed as a projective technique for clinical and research assessment. While SC continues to be used in this way, it has also evolved into a qualitative data generation technique, providing qualitative researchers with a creative and novel alternative to the self-report data typical of qualitative research. In this paper, we outline the growing interest in the method within psychotherapy and counselling psychology research and explain what we think the method offers to this field of research. To support psychotherapists and counselling psychologists in adding SC to their methodological toolkit, we also provide practical guidance on the design and implementation of SC, drawing on an example study exploring perceptions of ethnic/racial differences between a therapist and client. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a growing public health concern. Continued NSSI is often associated with negative outcomes, yet the behaviour usually serves a purpose for individuals who self-injure (e.g. emotional relief). As such, individuals who self-injure often experience ambivalence about the behaviour. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of recognising ambivalence as a natural and expected part of the recovery process. Design/methodology/approach: This paper draws on literature regarding NSSI recovery, ambivalence towards stopping the behaviour and challenges for both clients and health professionals. Findings: This paper argues that ambivalence towards self-injury can be challenging for both clients and health professionals. Clients may feel shame and sense of failure if they experience a setback; health professionals may experience frustration towards clients who continue to self-injure despite treatment. Originality/value: Validation of the clients' experience can have significant positive outcomes in treatment and help-seeking behaviours. Acknowledgement of client ambivalence during the recovery process will serve to validate clients' experience and facilitate rapport. Health professionals who accept ambivalence as a natural part of the recovery process may experience less frustration with clients who continue to self-injure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Treating anorexia nervosa is one of the greatest challenges faced by current health policies. This paper reflects on the social and cultural aspects of this type of eating disorder and proposes an intervention approach based on narrative therapy as a complement to existing treatments. This type of therapy requires a holistic and coordinated vision of the socio‐cultural and community aspects that surround both the person dealing with anorexia and their closest social circle of friends and family. The effects of anorexia, when it becomes the dominant voice in a person's narrative, need to be understood within a broader and more inclusive social context without putting all the responsibility on the person who is being bullied by anorexia. Based on the qualitative results of the Archive of Resistance presented by the Anti‐Anorexia League, narrative therapy is shown to have great potential for transforming the current approach to treating anorexia in English. This paper recommends use of the poststructuralist approach of narrative therapy to collaborate with the person affected by anorexia in Spanish‐speaking cultures. At the same time, it opens a discussion on the need to establish a document database, an Archive of Resistance, in Spanish, to help mitigate the effects of anorexia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The aim of this review was to propose and describe the design and delivery of an attachment-informed general mental health service. Method We systematically searched the Psyc INFO, MEDLINE, Web of Knowledge, COPAC, CINAHL, and Science Direct databases from 1960 to 2013. We also searched reference lists of relevant papers and directly contacted authors in the field. Literature describing attachment theory and its applicability in designing and delivering general mental health services was synthesized using thematic analysis. Papers published in English, books or chapters in edited books that described applying attachment theory in designing and delivering mental health services for adults and adolescents were included in the review. Of the 1,105 articles identified, 14 met inclusion criteria for the review. Eight key themes, and four subthemes, were extracted and organized to reflect the experience of a service user moving through the mental health system. Results Key themes extracted were as follows: service policy and evaluation; referrals; assessment and formulation; intervention; support for staff; support for carers; moving on; and potential service benefits. Papers reviewed suggested that service users with severe mental health problems have attachment needs that should be met in general mental health services. Conclusions Attachment theory provides a useful framework to inform the design and delivery of general mental health services. The resource implications for services are discussed, as are limitations of the review and recommendations for future research. Practitioner points Attachment theory should be used to inform the design and delivery of general mental health services., Mental health services should evaluate the extent to which they meet service users' attachment needs., Attachment-informed mental health services should assess outcomes, including cost-effectiveness over time., Papers included in this review focus on long-stay residential care or secure services and there is a limited experimental evidence base to show that providing an attachment-informed service improves patient outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The aim of the paper is to assess whether participation in a two-session workshop led by self-advocates with mild intellectual disability (ID), supported by professional staff, affects high school students' impression of people with ID, measured by a self-report questionnaire based on a semantic differential. Design/methodology/approach: The study was paper-pencil questionnaire-based and anonymous, conducted in Warsaw, Poland. Three measurements were performed using two semantic differentials – two weeks before the workshop, one day and three months afterward. In total, 50 high school students in the workshop group and 43 students in the control group took part in the study. Findings: After the workshop, people with ID were perceived as more calm, compliant and adult and this change was not observed in the control group. Research limitations/implications: The picture of people with ID after the workshop may probably have been even more complex than before. However, the study focuses on a specific intervention and does not include data about other, similar meetings led in another school and by other self-advocates. Practical implications: It is worthy to design anti-discriminatory workshops led by the self-advocates to impact the perceptions of people with ID. The particular intervention would benefit from alterations. Social implications: Workshops performed by self-advocates with ID may be promising in terms of limiting stereotype formation in target groups of workshops. Originality/value: This research fills the gap in the longitudinal studies on the changes in the impressions about people with ID following an intervention based on personal contact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the academic research discourse on strengths-based practice in child welfare. A gap in the literature exists concerning systematic research studies addressing strengths-based practices with families in the child welfare system. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to examine how a strengths-based approach facilitates working relationships between child welfare services and families. A systematic review was performed following the principles of the PRISMA statement and included 11 peer-reviewed articles, published in English, in academic journals from multiple scientific databases, reporting primary research. Strengths-based skills were found to be essential to fostering a stronger rapport with families and to building relationships with them. Furthermore, strengths-based approaches facilitate personal engagement, which can increase the sense of empowerment and encourage families to find solutions and to make decisions about their own lives. One of the study's findings suggests that in the process of empowering families, workers themselves learned to empower themselves. Workers shifting towards strengths-based thinking enhanced their sense of self-empowerment, which increased their knowledge and skills to help empower families. The findings of this review indicate that the strengths-based perspective reported from the studies facilitates positive interaction between workers and families, including collaboration and the building of relationships. Highlights: The strengths-based approach fosters stronger relationships and enhances self-empowerment. Workers learned to help empower families by learning to empower themselves. A strengths-based perspective promotes the client-as-the-expert view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers what concept of accommodation is necessary to identify and address discrimination, disadvantages and disparities in such a way that the plurality of religious people with their beliefs, values and practices may be justly accommodated in healthcare. It evaluates threats to the possibility of such accommodation pertaining by considering what beliefs and practices might increase the risk of unjust discrimination against and disadvantage for religious people, whether as individuals or as groups; and the risk of disparities between the care provided to religious people. The claim is that there is an important cluster of risks that are political in kind and emergent within philosophical bioethics. While not amounting (yet) to a trend, they are sufficiently threatening to a just civic life for patients and healthcare staff as to warrant scrutiny. After an Introductory Section 1, Section 2 evaluates a criticism of 'accommodation' and the apparently additional health‐related requirements that those of religious faith demand, when compared with other people. It does so by comparing Lori Beaman's idea of agonism with that of a distinct and somewhat complementary approach in Jonathan Chaplin's political philosophy, before examining the role of established religion in setting the conditions for the accommodation of religion and belief in healthcare. Section 3 examines risks to such accommodation by engaging critically with three health‐related instantiations of political philosophy that differ radically from both Beaman and Chaplin. A concluding Section 4 focusses on appropriate modes of communicating about religious and other beliefs in healthcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Belonging is a human need, one that is particularly difficult for children of immigrants to achieve. The Second-generation youth hangs in a balance between the culture of their parents and that of their friends and peers. Often these youth feel that they are not heard or seen by those around them, enhancing the feeling of not belonging in their communities, or even in their country. Therapeutic interventions could potentially create a "third space" in which they feel a sense of belonging. This paper explores the complexity in the experience of belonging in second-generation Latinx youth through a review of the literature, psychodynamic theories, a composite clinical case example and the reflections and implications to and from Second-generation Latina therapist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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