Experiences of two multidisciplinary team members of systemic consultations in a community learning disability service

Abstract

Accessible Summary People with learning disabilities may have help from their families, paid carers and professionals such as nurses, psychologists etc. Professionals (like psychologists) can help people with learning disabilities and their families, carers and other professionals by meeting to talk about solutions together. This is called a systemic consultation. We asked two people who came to the systemic consultations what they thought was helpful and unhelpful about the systemic consultations. The two people we asked were two professionals who worked with people with learning disabilities. The helpful things were that the systemic consultations might have helped people to feel better about themselves and speak about their worries. People may feel that others care about them too. People with learning disabilities started to find their own answers to the difficulties they had. We found that the people who were responsible for the systemic consultations asked some helpful questions. For example, they spoke in a positive way and tried to talk about the things that people were good at. Another helpful thing was that coming to the systemic consultations helped people to get on better with each other. The unhelpful things were that people coming to the systemic consultations thought that something else would happen at the consultations. They also thought that sometimes there were too many people at the systemic consultations. They said that it was not helpful if the people who help in the systemic consultations change. After looking at the answers the people gave, we talked about the things that can be done to make sure that systemic consultations become more helpful for everyone. AbstractBackgroundSystemic approaches can be useful in working with people with learning disabilities and their network. The evidence base for these approaches within the field of learning disabilities, however, is currently limited.Materials and MethodsThis article presents part of a service evaluation of systemic consultations in a Community Learning Disability Service (CLDS). Two multidisciplinary team professionals were interviewed about what they found helpful and unhelpful in their experiences of attending systemic consultations. Interview data were analysed via applying thematic analysis principles.ResultsFive main themes were elicited: differing expectations, enabling for the client, positive techniques, uncertainty regarding “forum” (“forum” meaning the collective of all of the individuals meet, which could include the professionals, lead therapist, reflecting team, etc.) composition and strengthening the network.ConclusionsSystemic consultations provided some positive and valuable experiences along with important caveats. Considerations for clinical practice are therefore discussed. Continued evaluation of systemic consultations within CLDSs is recommended.