Innovations in Practice: Group work with children who are in care or who are adopted: Lessons learnt

摘要

Background: There is limited evidence on effective group interventions for looked-after and adopted children. A specialist Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) developed and evaluated a group intervention based on Mentalisation-based therapy (MBT). Method: Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with all young people before and after the programme. Additional information was collected from the facilitators' reflective diaries. The study aimed to evaluate the impact and applicability of a Mentalisation-based group programme on looked-after and adopted children. Results: Feedback from the young people indicated that the intervention had a positive impact on the young people. Conclusions: Having a chance to meet other young people in similar circumstances, sharing experiences and making connections were the greatest benefits gained from the group.