Participant, Family Involvement Clinical Practice Standards Development

Studies conclude that family-based interventions in the area of Mental Health and Substance Use care, result in reduced relapse and re-hospitalisation rates as well as numerous positive clinical outcomes for both families and patients. You are invited to support this practice by reviewing and providing recommendations on developing Family Involvement Clinical Practice Standards in Interior Health.

Open to: Patient partners across Interior Region

Lead Organization or Department

Interior Health, Mental Health and Substance Use Integration and Strategic Services

Aim

The aim of this project is to expand and standardise the MHSU practice of involving client family members in care planning and service provision through: - Developing clinical practice guidelines to standardise the process of family involvement. - Developing education for MHSU staff on how to include families in client care, and how to share information with families. - Increasing employee knowledge and confidence in working collaboratively with families. - Patient Partners are invited to review a draft of the Clinical Practice Standards and provide recommendations for improvement. Patient partners may also be asked to take part in follow-up engagement sessions as this work moves forward.

Level of Engagement

This opportunity is at the level of involve on the spectrum of engagement. The promise to you is that the health care partner will involve patients in planning and design phases to ensure ideas or concerns are considered and reflected in alternatives and recommendations.  

Eligibility

- Experience as a patient, family member or carer in accessing clinical services for Mental Health and Substance Use. - Comfort with document review - Comfort with sharing recommendations for change If you have a strong interest in this work but have not yet completed a PVN orientation and volunteer agreement, are unsure if your experience is a good fit or feel another format of engagement would work better with your availability, please contact Jacquelyne Foidart directly.

Logistics

Vacancies: 20 Format: Review of the document and sharing of recommendations can be conducted in a number of formats. A formats will be selected in partnership with interested patient partners. Date and Time: This engagement is expected to take place in Oct or November of 2018 Frequency: The project team would like to involve patient partner feedback on the first draft of the document and again before it is finalised. Location: Determined with patient partners (email, interview, focus group are all options) Commitment: One week to six months

Reimbursement

For in-person sessions, pre-approved expenses will be reimbursed according to Interior Health Policy.

Background

Many Canadians are caring for an adult who is diagnosed with a mental illness. A significant proportion of family members providing care are aging parents, particularly mothers. Often these care givers experience multiple mental, social, and financial hardships. Numerous studies have concluded that family-based interventions, when compared to standard care, result in reduced relapse and re-hospitalization rates as well as numerous positive clinical outcomes for both families and patients. Interior Health’s (IH) Mental Health and Substance Use (MHSU) program has sought to increase family involvement in client care with projects in its 2017-2020 Program Plan, such as the State Action on Avoidable Readmissions (STAAR) framework and transitions through the MHSU care continuum. As such, an MHSU specific Family Involvement Policy aligns with the Program Plan and gives Clinicians and Administrators clear practice standards and expectations about family and support network inclusion in care planning. Developing and implementing client/family centered policies that direct clinical practice to involve family members exists in other Health Authorities in BC. In May 2015, a Coroner’s Inquest recommended Fraser Health Authority (FHA) adopt Vancouver Coastal Health’s (VCH) Family Involvement Policy following the suicide deaths of three patients with mental illness. IH’s MHSU Senior Leadership Team decided to follow this recommendation as well and introduce a Family Involvement Policy similar to VCH’s Policy. IH’s new Family Involvement policy references the MHSU Patient Partner Engagement Standard Process of involving family members in: • The development of policies and programs • The development of individual client treatment/care plans • Case Reviews • Delivery of care It also dovetails with the revised MHF0500 Suicide Risk Management policy, where Family Involvement is referenced. This project has been created to: • Support the implementation of the Mental Health and Substance Use (MHSU) Family Involvement Policy • Develop and implement MHSU Clinical Practice Standard to enact the MSHU Family Involvement Policy Key Stakeholders on the Project Team: 2 PVN Patient Partners MHSU Client Family Members MHSU Clients MHSU Staff MHSU Leaders

Health Care Partner Contact Information

Jacquelyne Foidart
Engagement Leader, Patient and Public Engagement | Thompson Cariboo
250.879.1077
jfoidart@bcpsqc.ca