Details of Abstracts:
Title 1: The 11th
commandment: ‘Thou shalt not have any clinical role with this client’.
Aims/Objectives
This paper examines
the functions of professional autonomy and multi-disciplinary teams, as they
relate to clinical decisions around client-centred practice. Through the illustration
of a vignette, the author demonstrates how she responds to a directive to discontinue
clinical work with a client. Using her core roles of Clinician
(Psychodramatist; Systems Thinker), Sociometrist, and auxiliary role of Double,
she orchestrates a meeting with the organization’s executive management. A
discussion paper is presented to them to generate discussion around the core systemic
issues implicit in such a directive, and in this, broader ethical implications
for access, quality and humane care – both clients’ and clinicians’ (a parallel
process). This paper aims to illuminate the importance of prizing humanistic
principles, particularly in mental health; not as some ideal held in isolation,
but as an ethic to continually strive for and be committed to as a living tenet.
It is in this spirit that this paper is presented.
Method
Psychodramatic
Framework
Results
A strong mandate for clear and informed clinical
decision-making processes within the context of multi-disciplinary teams.
Conclusion
This paper celebrates
human-centred values in our work and relationships with people.
Educational Objectives:
At the end of this presentation, participants
will have an increased understanding of:
1.
a systems perspective to
effecting change;
2. the issues of access, quality and
humane care as ethical dimensions in clinical practice.
References:
1.
Chopra, D. (2010). The soul of
leadership: Unlocking your potential for greatness. USA: Harmony Books.
2.
Jones, D. (2001). Sociometry in
team and organisational development. The British Journal of Psychodrama and
Sociodrama, 16, 69-78.
3.
Moreno, J. L. (1959). Psychodrama
and group psychotherapy, Vol. 2. USA: Beacon House Inc.
Title 2: ‘Providing access to quality clinical service
within an acute public psychiatric setting: a fundamental principle of humane
care’.
Aims/Objectives
Psychotherapy, at the best of times, is seen as a luxury for the ‘elite
few’, the ‘worried well’. In acute psychiatry,
such an area of speciality is deemed a futile endeavour given clients’
‘manic’or ‘psychotic’ states. This paper argues that if we are to promote a
humanising element within the field, the core function of attending to fundamental
concerns of humane care needs to be prioritised and mirrored in the provision
of treatment options like psychotherapy – particularly, as people with acute
mental health issues are often unlikely to afford such a service elsewhere
within the system. The author describes how in one acute public psychiatric
setting in Victoria (the only to date), Psychodrama and clinical formulations
from a Psychodramatic perspective reaffirm our ‘warm-up’ to the person that is
in the forefront of the work together, not some ‘case’.
Method: Psychodrama
Results: The intervention and formulations emphasize a person’s humanity not their illness; ‘understanding explaining’ not ‘explaining understanding’; learning
how a person copes, survives, and that we all have an innate capacity to thrive.
Conclusion
This paper celebrates the importance of relating
mutually as people in the ‘here-and-now’ –it is this that is deeply healing and promotes
change.
Educational Objectives:
At the end of this presentation, participants
will have an increased understanding of:
1. How psychodramatic formulations can offer a unique epistemological
dimension to the care and treatment of acutely unwell people;
2. The importance of the ‘human
element’ in acute psychiatry.
References:
1. Breggin, P. R., & Stern, M.E.
(Eds.). (1996). Psychosocial approaches to deeply disturbed persons. The
Hawthorn Press, Inc.
2. Deikman, A., & Whitake, L.
(1979). Humanizing a psychiatric ward: changing from drugs to psychotherapy. Psychotherapy
theory, research and practice, 16(2), 204-214.
3. Moreno, J. L. (1959). Psychodrama
and group psychotherapy, Vol. 2. USA: Beacon House Inc.
