The Panel will receive a presentation on the Think Family policy.

The Panel benefitted from a presentation on the Think Family policy from Chris McCree (who has a nursing background in adult mental health).  She highlighted that it is important her role is jointly funded by the mental health trust and the Council as it facilitates joint working.  Noted:

·         That one in three of the general population is likely to have experienced some form of mental health issue and that as Merton is a young borough this will include lots of parents;

·         Having a mental health issue does not preclude someone from being a good parent;

·         The risk to children of any parental mental health issue needs to be evaluated for which it is important to hear from children;

·         It can be difficult for adults experiencing mental health issues to admit this given there is often an fear for their employment;

·         Professionals that interact with parents will often find it difficult to talk to them about mental health issues.  This means that often this isn’t addressed until there is a crisis.  Therefore it is important to raise the awareness of the early warning signs amongst professionals working with children and young people;

·         55% of serious case reviews have highlighted that mental health is a contributory factor.  Having a child with a disability can be a trigger because it causes additional stress;

·         There are barriers to adults and children services working collective which need to be overcome.  For example, adult mental health workers need to know that they can make a child protection referral;

·         Work is ongoing to understand the risks of mental health impacting on families and children.  The objective is to enhance the Signs of Safety model;

·         The approach is to develop a joint adult and child safeguarding approach so that adult mental health workers think more broadly to consider who is in the family and who needs support;

·         A bid has been made for innovation funding that will allow adult mental health workers to learn alongside social workers;

·         Updated protocols are being developed for all workers to ensure early identification including work with the prenatal; and

·         There is a Think Family board that includes public health allowing good linkages between the strategic development and front line workers.

In response to member questions, it was further clarified:

·         It is hoped that savings will be achieved through partnership working and improved understanding.  For example, rather than doing separate visits to the same family, an adult mental health worker and social worker will visit together and plan support and services collectively;

·         In reality child protection referrals come from a variety of places – work needs to happen about how best to signpost.  Noted that the first action should not be to a remove a child;

·         There is undue worry about data protection when it comes to child protection referrals.  Whilst professionals can’t disclose information this doesn’t prevent a member of the public making a referral.  However, the Children Schools and Families Department advocates for a consent based referral approach;

·         There is flexibility in the approaches taken to dealing with adult mental health needs such as home treatments and treatment cafes.  As knowledge of an individual develops and patterns are understood, crisis plans can be developed;

·         Work is ongoing with schools to support children, families and staff where needed.  This is proactive.  For example, helping pupils know how to deal with anxiety around exams; and

·         Training for the children’s workforce on how to talk to adults is going well based on the feedback being received.