Dr. Amanda Burke:

From the very first time we meet a young person there is therapeutic engagement. We work with a multidisciplinary approach. From the first assessment we engage people and look at their care plans, not only with regard to our goals for the young person but their goals for themselves. They may be different. We agree these with them through the care plans. Talking therapy does not have to be from a formal psychologist. It is extremely important to have a psychologist on the team but the psychologist needs to be doing the high-end complex work. Every member of the team should be working to the fullness of their scope of practice. Nurses often have psychotherapeutic qualifications as usually do social workers. Many of our doctors have formal training in therapies.

The skill set within the team needs to be considered in order that, when a new member is being recruited, we know that the team needs family therapy skills or cognitive behavioural therapy skills because no current member has those. This moves away from the one-size-fits-all approach to instead considering the current team and where its skills deficits lie. This is what makes the difference. Today's discussion is about large numbers in terms of needing X hundred therapists, for example, but if I gave an individual team just one extra therapist, it could increase the team's capacity by 20%. That would allow many young people to be seen in talking therapies. Every time we add an additional WTE we make a difference.