The Forensic Community Team at Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is celebrating after glowing praise from service users was published in a respected medical journal.
The team carried out a study to explore the satisfaction of individuals supported by the service, and the findings, which showed high levels of satisfaction across the board, were published in The Journal of Forensic Practice.
The Forensic Community Team (FCT) supports adults who have a diagnosed learning disability and are involved in the criminal justice system or are at significant risk of becoming so. The multi-disciplinary team work in the community and use a strengths-based approach to help people achieve their goals in positive ways, reducing the risk of them taking part in offending behaviour.
The team often work on service development, but after collecting the views of their service users, they decided to share their findings more widely to share their voices.
Rebecca Coleman, assistant psychologist with the Forensic Community Team, explained: “We carried out the survey and collated the report but then thought it would be nice to share more widely as our service users are not usually represented in literature.”
Rebecca and her colleagues, clinical psychologists Melissa Logan and Amy Jordan, wrote the report, leading to their very first publication as a team.
The findings of the research were positive across the board, with 92% of those questioned reporting that they are happy with how much they are involved in their care and 95% are happy with how much their family and/or carers are involved.
Participants were asked if they were happy with what the FCT was doing to help them keep safe, with 92% of participants reporting that they were.
Service users were asked whether they thought the team were fair, friendly and whether they felt listened to. Responses to these questions were overwhelmingly positive. In total, 95% of participants thought the team were fair, 100% thought the team were friendly and 90% stated the team listened to them.
In addition, the majority of participants rated the care they receive from the team as very good and that they would recommend the service to other individuals experiencing similar difficulties.
Rebecca added: “When we shared the findings with the team it was really nice to see how our service users are accepting of support and the positive relationship between them and the team, which is the result of hard work from both sides.
“The themes that came out of the results, such as keeping safe, increasing independence and multi-agency working, reflect the core values of the team. It has also been helpful for thinking about development and giving us something to work towards.”
Participants reported that the team are dependable and approachable as well as kind and supportive.
One person said: “She gets things done for me, I can always rely on them, I can talk to them when I feel down, when things are bad [. . .] They’re the people I can always talk to.”
Participants also spoke positively about how the team have given individuals the tools to manage their mental and physical health.
One service user said: “Sessions are something to look forward to, wouldn’t be where I am today without X, it’s kept me settled. Helped with my confidence. X has helped stop me from self-destructing.”
Working in the Forensic Community Team and helping some of the most vulnerable people in the community is greatly rewarding for Rebecca and her colleagues.
Rebecca said: “The work is very varied, no two days look the same, it’s really interesting work to be part of. It’s really rewarding to see the impact has on people and I think we are a good example of multi-disciplinary team working and strong relationships within teams.”
The Forensic Community Team is made up of professionals in psychology, nursing, occupational therapy, speech and language and psychiatry. Based at Heath Lane Hospital in West Bromwich, they support people across Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton.