A qualitative investigation into care-leavers’ experiences of accessing mental health support

Alice R. Phillips; Rachel M. Hiller; Sarah L. Halligan; Iris Lavi; John A. A. MacLeod; David Wilkins

doi:10.1111/papt.12525

A qualitative investigation into care-leavers’ experiences of accessing mental health support

Alice R. Phillips, Rachel M. Hiller, Sarah L. Halligan, Iris Lavi, John A. A. MacLeod, David Wilkins

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Introduction: People who grew up under the care of children's social services are a highly vulnerable group, with 50% of this population meeting the criteria for a mental health problem at any one time. Emerging evidence suggests that there is a disparity between the number of people who require support, and those that receive it, and that they face several barriers to accessing timely and effective mental health support. We have a limited understanding of how to support the mental health of this group as they ‘age out’ of children's social services, and the transition to independence, which occurs around the age of 18. We aimed to explore how care-leavers understand their experiences of help-seeking from formal mental health services.

Methods: We used qualitative interviews, and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis with 9 care-experienced young people aged between 18 and 25 years old. This work was co-produced by a team of care-experienced adults, from the conception of the study to write-up.

Results: Qualitative analysis revealed several themes which centred around: (1) taking reluctant steps towards recovery, (2) challenges with being understood and the importance of gaining an understanding of yourself, (3) navigating trust and (4) the legacy of not having your mental health needs met.

Conclusions: We identified several important implications for health and social care practice, across primary and secondary health care settings. This work highlights ways to better support this highly vulnerable group in accessing evidence-based mental health support, and how to maintain engagement.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	439-455
Number of pages	17
Journal	Psychology and Psychotherapy Theory, Research and Practice
Volume	97
Issue number	3
Early online date	8 Mar 2024
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/papt.12525
Publication status	Published - 30 Sept 2024

Funding

This work was supported by a team of care‐experienced research advisors. Following analysis, we held an online workshop with members of the advisory team, whereby we presented findings and discussed potential implications for social care and health care practice. Several suggestions were made and are summarised in table three. In short, they felt that care‐experienced people and social care professionals would benefit from psychoeducation or training around the benefits of psychological support (i.e. how to address avoidant coping). Social care and mental health professionals needed a better understanding of how to manage care‐leavers’ apprehensions by engaging with support. Fast‐track access to therapeutic support (or financial support to access private therapy) was seen as key to improving engagement, as was the capacity to re‐engage easily and flexibly with support after non‐attendance.

Funders	Funder number
Great Western 4 BioMed Medical Research Council
Medical Research Council
National Institute for Health and Care Research
National Institute for Health Research Applied Research Collaboration West

Keywords

adolescence
mental health
social care
therapy
trauma
young adults

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Psychiatry and Mental health
Clinical Psychology
Developmental and Educational Psychology
Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1111/papt.12525Licence: CC BY

Cite this

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A qualitative investigation into care-leavers’ experiences of accessing mental health support

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Funding

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

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