Commitment to partnership: interdisciplinary initiatives in developing expert practice in the care of survivors of violence

Abstract

The debate surrounding The Human Rights Act (The Human Rights Act 1998. Home Office, London) and its impact on survivors of violence, has coincided with current political emphasis and UK Government policy on promoting partnership in the development and d elivery of statutory and voluntary health and social services (Crime and Disorder Act 1998, Home Office, London, Making a difference. Department of Health, London, 1999a, Modernising health and social services national priorities guidance 2000/01–2002/03 . Department of Health, London, 1999b, MacPherson 1999 The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry. Vol. 1 & 2. The Home Office, London. NHS Executive 1998 The New NHS, modern and dependable: a national framework for assessing performance. Consultation document. NHS Executive, London, 1999. Working Together. Securing a quality work force for the NHS. Department of Health, London). Within this social and political arena, staff at City University, London, UK have developed an Interprofessional MSc – Society Violence and Practice. The focus is on the d elivery of expert practice in caring for survivors of violence of all sorts, e.g. rape, child abuse, domestic and road traffic violence. The curriculum has developed in the international arena and is based on the work of Dr Lee Ann Hoff and colleagues fr om the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, USA.This is a reflective account of the macro and micro group processes which evolved during the establishment of this programme, the first two modules of which have already been offered at BSc Honours level. The enthusiasm and creativity from practitioners and educationalists across disciplines, who supported the development and implementation of this programme, prompted this reflection based on Bion's (1968 Experiences in groups: and other papers. Tavistock, London) theories of effective working groups.The parallel processes evident in practice the human services (Obholzer 1994 The unconscious at work. Individual and organizational stress in the human services. Routledge, London) were also evident the programme's development and implementation. These reflected sound practice, i.e. in the shared interprofessional responsibility when working with survivors of violence, as well as in meeting the needs of a variety of stakeholders. The Course Advisory Board and the Curriculum Management Team at City University, have interprofessional membership and include practitioners and educationalists. Challenges occurred in group processes where boundaries needed to be kept and language needed to be carefully clarified. As this was a new and different programme, School systems did not always match the needs of the course. Changes needed to be negotiated and new systems established.However, despite the challenges, everyone involved worked collaboratively across disciplines, reflecting current British policy emphasising partnership in dealing with the consequences of violent crime (Home Office 1998a) and the Department of Health's (1999a) strategies for care delivery in the National Health Service.