Jane Lawrence

Fellow’s Profile

Jane Lawrence

Fellow’s Profile

Jane Lawrence

Support for carers in mental health services

Fellowship

Themes

Focus

Supporting families and individuals caring for someone with a psychotic condition

Countries

Fellowship year

2009

Locality

South West

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Biography

I worked for many years with people experiencing severe mental health issues. I'm not sure how that happened, but it did. Almost by accident, I moved to carer support, working with the families and partners of people who were supporting someone experiencing these conditions. I stayed there for 15 years. These carers were trying to help with, amongst other things, psychotic or mania episodes, extreme distress, self-harm, suicide attempts, drug use and often frequent enforced admissions into hospital. I was amazed by how these families coped, often with little helpful information or emotional support themselves. Professionals were often busy, focused on the wellbeing of their 'patient' – carers often had minimal contact. It was hard to know how best to cope, what was the 'right' thing to do.

My Fellowship looked at how New Zealand and The Netherlands approached this issue – did they do carer support better than the UK? I discovered several useful ideas that I introduced to the service I managed. I have also written a book since retiring, pulling together all the ideas, inspirations and advice I learnt from the Fellowship and my experience, but mostly all the family carers that I met.

Activity

Disclaimer

All Reports are copyright © the author. The moral right of the author has been asserted. The views and opinions expressed by any Fellow are those of the Fellow and not of the Churchill Fellowship or its partners, which have no responsibility or liability for any part of them.

Activity

Disclaimer

All Reports are copyright © the author. The moral right of the author has been asserted. The views and opinions expressed by any Fellow are those of the Fellow and not of the Churchill Fellowship or its partners, which have no responsibility or liability for any part of them.

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