When caring for a mentally ill patient, professionals and families often communicate poorly, failing to convey critical information to one another. Based on interviews with both professionals and families/carers, Families, Carers and Professionals is designed to improve communication between both groups in order to provide a greater level of support for the troubled individual at the center. Here is a practical handbook full of ideas and resources that professionals can use when working with families (i.e., letter templates) and families can use to better communicate with professionals (i.e., sample diary sheets). Contents: Foreword by Janet Treasure. Preface. Acknowledgments. Introduction. 1. Families are Fascinating . 2. Families Coping . 3. Back to Basics. Communication . 4. Consequences . 5. Friends and Family. Actions and Reactions . 6. Lies, Manipulations and Control Freakery . 7. Difficult Scenes and Destructive Relationships . 8. Resources. Creating 24 hour Best Care . 9. Professionals and Carers. Pressures, Problems and Pleasures . 10. Confidentiality. A Very Thorny Issue . 11. More Assumptions, Perceptions and Interpretations . 12. Constructive Professional/Carer Conversations . 13. Challenging the Behaviour . 14. Communications in Difficult Days (Decades?) . 15. Actively Helping Carers Cope . 16. Put On Your Own Mask First . A Final Word . Appendix. |