Reaching out : the psychology of assertive outreach

PART I: Taking a psychological approach. Psychological processes in engagement / Morna Gillespie and Alan Meaden -- The whole team approach: containment or chaos? / Caroline Cupitt, Alf Gillham and Andrew Law -- Making assessment and outcomes meaningful / Alan Meaden -- Team case formulation / Stuart Whomsley -- Staff stress and burnout / Abi Gray and Alison Mulligan -- -- PART II: Applying models of psychological therapy. A psychodynamic perspective / Alf Gillham, Andrew Law and Lucy Hickey -- Family and systemic work / Sara Meddings, Inger Gordon and Debbie Owen -- Cognitive behaviour therapy / Caroline Cupitt -- Community psychology / Sara Meddings, Becky Shaw and Bob Diamond -- Ethics and professional issues: the universal and the particular / Abi Gray and Paul Johanson.

Assertive outreach is a means of helping people with serious and persistent mental health difficulties who have not engaged with conventional mental health services. Reaching Out examines the application of psychological approaches in assertive outreach – a process which involves forming new relationships and offering hope to people who have been alienated from traditional methods.

Reaching Out begins with a discussion of topics including:

engagement;
the team approach;
assessments;
team case formulation;
managing stress and burnout for staff.

The second half of the book focuses on the task of delivering psychological therapies and considers a range of models including psychodynamic therapy, family therapy, cognitive behaviour therapy and community approaches.

Reaching Out: The Psychology of Assertive Outreach demonstrates that the relationship between staff and service users is essential to the process of recovery and personal growth. The approach will apply not only to assertive outreach teams, but also to clinical psychologists, counsellors and other mental health professionals who are interested in psychological approaches to outreach work.