Systemic Approaches to Mental Health Care: A Practical Introduction

This one-day course introduces systemic approaches to therapy and explores their practical use within mental health care settings. It will be of interest to mental health practitioners working in all care settings.

Systemic approaches explore the wider family and social systems and transactions that contribute to mental health problems.

Each person is seen within the context of a unique set of relationships and rules for living, some of which may be part of attempted solutions to problems, some of which may have been appropriate at earlier stages of life but have become unhelpful now, some of which may inhibit the persons development and growth or not fit the new "system" they are functioning in. These 'rules' may relate to rules from a family of origin and may shed light on why people create the same kind of relationships or react to individuals in the same kind of way over again even when the context is different.

Therapeutic intervention takes the form of cooperative, non-judgemental conversations, exploring the role of mental health symptoms within this particular system and constructing alternatives and possible changes to the 'viewing or doing' of a problem. The focus is on using systemic questions and includes the care givers, family and the mental health services in the process.

The topics you will cover include:

• using genograms in assessment and therapeutic intervention.
• positive connotation and maintaining a non-judgemental, flexible approach.
• hypothesising and developing multiple hypothesise
• Circular questions and how to use and develop them.
• neutrality and how to stay neutral.
• developing interventions that fit and the use of 'tasks'.
• supervision and working as a team.