Confidentiality matters: Working well with family carers of people experiencing acute mental health crises

Confidentiality is frequently seen as a key barrier to clinicians working effectively with the family and friends of people experiencing a mental health crisis. This half day interactive course examines misconceptions about confidentiality and information sharing and offers suggestions for ways to develop your practice to offer more support and information to family and friends carers so that they are more confident about what they can reasonably do to keep their family member safe.

We use the term family carers to mean anyone who is significant to the patient, including biological and non biological family and friends who may or may not live in the same household or even the same country.

Who should attend?

This course is suitable for anyone working in Health and Social Care whose work brings them into direct contact with someone experiencing a mental health crisis. This includes psychiatrists, nurses, ED service leads, social workers, occupational therapists who have all benefitted from this training.

Participants will:

• Reflect on how concerns about patient confidentiality impact on their relationships with patients and with family carers
• Consider ways and processes to negotiate confidentiality concerns with patients
• Reflect on the differences between information sharing, information gathering and confidentiality
• Reflect on a variety of case studies and scenarios that explore the complex issues around confidentiality
• Explore the complexity of family relationships and how these impact on who may and may not be safe to share information with
• Consider the balance of risks between sharing confidential information and keeping patients, families, staff and the public safe
• Learn about the legal framework for patient confidentiality and safety

Register