The aim of this session is to agree and articulate a shared set of challenges in supporting people with co-occurring conditions. It is also to agree opportunities and the way forward. The attendees are statutory service staff.

Planning your session

Prepare an introduction that includes the findings from any staff engagement already undertaken. This will help set the context for the discussions within the session.

Agree any specific areas you would like to focus on based on what you are trying to achieve and the above.

Who should be involved

• Staff from both mental health and substance use services, including:
• Nursing staff
• Social work staff
• Psychiatrists
• Team leads
• If appropriate, include staff from other statutory services. This might include liaison or outreach teams, or acute services.

Activities

It might be useful to start with an activity to get to know each other’s services. You can find this discussion tool here.

The core activity within this workshop is open discussions. In groups of up to 6, discuss:

• What are the main challenges in getting people the right support at the right time?
• What obstacles or challenges do you face in linking with other services?
• How might we build capacity within services? What do you need to better support mental health or substance use?
• Where would you like to see improvements made?

Slides from the staff conversation workshop

Outputs

When we have done this before, key themes include:

You can find the outputs from Statutory Service Staff discussion sessions here.

Supporting resources for this tool

• Agendas and slides:

  • Agenda for staff conversation workshop
  • Slides from the staff conversation workshop

The aim of this session is to articulate how the third sector as a whole can support people in different ways. How can this enhance the impact of statutory services and support sustainable recovery?

Planning your session

Prepare an introduction that includes the findings from any engagement already undertaken. This will help set the context for the discussion.

Who should be involved

Staff from a range of third sector organisations. Any organisations that support people with mental health and substance use support needs. This should include:

• Case holding services (such as Penumbra)
• Peer led services (such as recovery communities)
• Advocacy

Activities

Discussion One – getting to know each other and surfacing issues

Invite participants to form small groups. They will discuss experiences supporting people with co-occurring conditions. Encourage them to think about:

• What support they provide, including details of any specific interventions
• The range of needs they support. This can include those outside of mental health and substance use
• How they respond when people present with needs/issues outside of their expertise

Feedback key messages to the group and highlight any shared experiences.

You can enhance this activity using the ‘Creating an Offering Map.' individual services can complete this either before or after the session.

Discussion Two – understanding relationships with statutory services

Invite participants to discuss their experiences working with statutory services, noting:

• The services they work with
• The nature of the relationship
• How they communicate
• Where can they improve the relationship

Note taking tool for this activity

Agendas and slides:

• Agenda for non-statutory staff conversations
• Slides from the non-statutory conversation workshop

Outputs:

• Output from the non-statutory conversations workshop

The aim of this session is to have a constructive dialogue. How can you use the skills and expertise across all staff to better support people? The sessions should identify what processes and infrastructure you need.

Planning your session

• Bring together the insights from the individual sessions. Highlight any commonalities and commend good practice.
• Set the discussion within the local strategic context.
• Develop ‘Personas’ for each of the Four Quadrants to use as part of the discussion.

Who should be involved

• Participants from previous sessions.
• The Senior Responsible Officer to set the scene.

Activity

• Matchmaking care

The outputs from these sessions can help identify

• Where are service level changes needed; and what these changes should be.
• Articulate roles and responsibilities across all services. Break this down in relation to different dynamics of co-occurring conditions.
• How leaders at different levels can support collaboration.
• How you can involve peer networks and champions in designing and driving change.

Examples of analysis and insights

Having conversations as a ‘tool’ can be quite intangible and daunting. Below are some of the types of insights that you might get from using this structured approach:

Where collaboration can work

• Examples of emergent collaboration that you could formalise between services.
• Identification of the types of cases where further collaboration would improve care. A starting point for setting out the roles and responsibilities in that.

Where staff need support

• Identification of training and support needs across specialisms
• Examples of how to support staff networks.
• Where better connections between services would support staff. What strengths services can share with each other. And how this can provide better holistic care to individuals needing support.

How flexible approaches can work

• Highlight the challenges of supporting co-occurring conditions within service silos. Identify where joined up approaches can enhance care.
• Identify where input from other services/professionals would enhance support staff can provide.
• Sense check any proposals for high level pathways.