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This paper looks at the outcomes of a mental health education group for patients in a high secure setting. The effects measured included assessments of knowledge about schizophrenia and its treatments, insight into the illness, drug compliance and attitude, and self esteem. The results from the measures were broadly consistent with findings from previous studies in non‐forensic settings: notably, that patients were able to acquire knowledge about their illness and its treatment and also that psycho‐education could have a positive impact on their attitudes towards taking medication and their levels of insight.The study outlines the structure and content of the group sessions and the teaching methods used. It offers discussion on the findings and concludes with recommendations about high secure service issues that may have relevance for wider service settings.

Many people within secure forensic settings are expected to take part in psycho‐educational programmes as part of their treatment and rehabilitation. Many are hampered in their progress due to cognitive difficulties. This paper aims to outline the scale of the problem and to offer potential solutions.

The numbers of people who are placed in secure settings with known neuropsychological difficulties and the range of their cognitive problems are explored. It is proposed that individual education plans based on neuropsychological profiles together with guidance on the preparation and delivery of educational materials could improve the efficacy of psycho‐educational programmes.

Many people within the secure forensic estate have neuropsychological deficits. Many have suffered traumatic or other acquired brain injury or have deficits associated with substance misuse or even childhood emotional trauma. Others have cognitive difficulties specific to their mental health and occasionally their prescribed medication. A significant number will have intellectual disability (IQ<70) or be within the borderline range (IQ between 70 and 79).

Understanding neuropsychological difficulties would mean that best use is made of the psycho‐educational materials presented, thus speeding up and improving the efficacy of the rehabilitation process and potentially reducing the risk that the person poses to themselves and others. There are resources, which offer guidance to teachers of children with neuropsychological difficulties but not for the adolescent and adult forensic population. This paper addresses this gap.

Group‐based psycho‐educational interventions offer a cost‐effective solution to meeting the very high level of demand for psychological services in primary care. This qualitative study investigated reasons for dropout from an established psychoeducational course programme in Swindon and Wiltshire. Ninety people were followed up by telephone who had attended at least one session of a course over a three‐month period. Reasons stated for dropout were more often related to personal circumstances such as other commitments and ill health (75%), than to dissatisfaction with the courses (25%). It is concluded that providing group‐based interventions for common mental health problems is acceptable to patients in primary care and that service development should focus on making such interventions flexible and accessible to patients.

Insomnia is highly prevalent and has severe negative consequences, yet help‐seeking remains low. Cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT‐I) is an evidence‐based treatment, which targets factors that perpetuate insomnia over time. Using a format developed by Brown and colleagues (1999) of offering self‐referral psycho‐educational workshops for the community, one‐day CBT‐I workshops were run on a routine basis, throughout 2007, for the general public. These intensive workshop days were led by two clinical/counselling psychologists, and attracted a large number of self‐referrals. Participants completed a battery of measures at the introductory and follow up phases of the workshop programme including measures of insomnia, anxiety and depression. Of the 60 people who self‐referred, the large majority were women, 58% had clinical insomnia as indicated by the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) and 75% had clinical levels of depression as measured by the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI; scores over 10). At the follow‐up stage, there were significant improvements on all measures, and there was a high degree of participant satisfaction with the workshops. Such large‐scale interventions offer an important, potentially cost‐effective means of disseminating evidence‐based psychological interventions to large numbers of people.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the addition of a “resilience-focused” Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)-based psycho-educational course for asylum seekers within a primary care Increasing Access to Psychological Therapy (IAPT) service.

Eight asylum seekers who attended the “Healthy Minds” psycho-educational course took part in semi-structured interviews. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis to gain insight into participants’ experiences of attending the course.

Five main themes emerged: factors promoting engagement; acquiring coping skills; connecting with personal strengths; connecting with others; and future support. Overall, positive feedback from the course participants suggests that the intervention was effective and well received.

The sample’s heterogeneity and size, as well as potential biases, limit the generalisability of the findings. Future research is therefore needed to confirm these findings and additional areas for further enquiry are considered.

The group-based intervention provided a cost-effective and culturally relevant means of promoting social inclusion, whilst disseminating psycho-educational material.

Good practice in this area is important and timely. The success of this intervention indicates that future collaborations between IAPT services and community organisations which support people seeking asylum, should be explored.

This study is valuable as it demonstrates that a non-specialist IAPT service has the ability to provide an effective low intensity psycho-educational intervention for people seeking asylum.

Promoting mental health and meeting the needs of the large numbers of the general public with problems of anxiety and depression is a big challenge. Particular difficulties are the low capacity of the therapy services and the reluctance of the general public to seek help. The aim of this study was to compare the attendance, effectiveness and characteristics of participants self‐referring to six different psycho‐educational workshops, each using non‐diagnostic titles: self‐confidence; stress; sleep; relationships; happiness; and anger. The series of day‐long workshops ran for one year and were offered to members of the general public in south east London. Over a quarter had not previously sought help from their GP. The take‐up rates for the self‐confidence, sleep and anger workshops were highest and one month after attending these workshops, participants reported significantly lower depression and distress. It was concluded that a self‐referral route to some day‐long workshops can attract quite large numbers of the general public and provide access to effective psychological treatment. These workshops can be used as an effective way of promoting mental health and improving the provision of evidence‐based mental health treatment in the community, possibly within the Improving Access to Psychological Treatments (IAPT) programme in the UK.

What hope is there for a young, unemployed man with learning disabilities and a lifetime of drug and alcohol problems? For many like this, services can prove reluctant or unhelpful due to a lack of motivation and complex needs. In this unique case study we explore the potential of a psycho‐educational approach to help Mr A increase knowledge and motivation in order to begin to regain control and confidence in his life.

Many pupils who experience distress and emotional difficulties are left untreated because of the shortage of mental health professionals at schools. This study aims to explore a brief psycho-educational intervention based on school psychologist–teacher cooperation aimed at closing this treatment gap.

With a randomized controlled methodology, 79 preschools to 12th grade teachers were asked to lead a brief psycho-educational intervention with one of their pupils. A second pupil was assigned to a waiting list (control group). Each teacher and one of her/his colleagues filled a Pupil Adjustment questionnaire, being developed for this study, before and after the intervention.

The findings show that the intervention significantly improved the adjustment of the participating pupils, compared to the control group. That improvement related to all the dimensions of adjustment (i.e. social, protection and learning).

Teacher–school psychologist cooperation, as described here, is hardly practiced. It emerges as an effective model to assist many pupils who are currently left with no treatment. The discussion traces the next stages for outreaching that would apply to pupils in many countries and cultures.

The aim of the study is to explore the experience of eating disorder support group participants. The research question is “What is the experience of adults recovering from an eating disorder in a professionally-led monthly support group?”

This qualitative study explored the experience of adults recovering from an eating disorder in a professionally-led monthly support group. Participants were 18 adults recovering from an eating disorder who attended a monthly support group. The data were collected using an online anonymous survey and then analysed using a thematic analysis.

The main themes that emerged were: (1) sharing the pain and promise, (2) cautions and concerns and (3) facilitators have influence. The findings indicate that the support group provided a safe space to share their lived experience, that it reduced stigma and isolation, and improved participants' motivation and engagement. Moreover, the results revealed some challenges to the functioning of the group. These included management of discussions and dominant members, need for psycho-educational information and managing intense feelings, relating to body-related comparison and other mental disorder comorbidities.

This is the first study highlighting the valuable role of the facilitator in balancing content with compassion, in ensuring safety in the group, and potentially fulfilling a valuable education function in supporting participants in their eating disorder recovery journey.

This study aims to systematically evaluate the impact and effectiveness of two early intervention services in NW Kent.

Data were gathered via evaluation questionnaires for both projects; these included quantitative post-intervention data and qualitative comments. Data on referrals to secondary care and a specialist third sector organisation were also collected for the primary care project.

Findings from the primary care project indicate that targeting a specific age cohort of patients can be effective in terms of: early identification of dementia-related concerns, the provision of support, appropriate referrals to secondary care, and increased referrals to a third sector dementia service. At the end of the project most practitioners felt they were better informed about dementia, more committed to facilitating early diagnosis, and had gained confidence in using a screening tool (the General Practitioner Assessment of Cognition Test). Evidence from evaluating the Carers Group suggests that attendance helped members manage emotional difficulties, increased understanding of dementia, and enhanced coping skills. They also felt less isolated and knew how to access support services.

The projects offer two models of intervention: how a proactive third sector agency can work with primary care professionals to enhance commitment to dementia case finding and the provision of group support to relatives of those in receipt of a recent dementia diagnosis.

The study provides insights into early intervention in dementia care how to evaluate impact of effectiveness.