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Friday 16th November 2001 Looking through a feminist lens at work with girl users of an inter-agency CAMHS service

Julia Waldman

Senior Research Fellow

Department of Social Work Studies

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Presentation Outline Evaluation study context About the Behaviour Resource Service Why a feminist perspective? Individual level - profile information on young people using the service Systems level primary carers Systems level service providers Concluding questions

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The Evaluation Study

BRS is one of 24 CAMHS Innovations Projects funded by Department of Health for 3 years with matching local funding Expectation of external evaluation Department of Social Work Studies commissioned at the development stage in 1999 final report due March 2002 Study looking at developmental processes and outcomes mixed method, participatory approach

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What is the Behaviour Resource Service? An innovative Multi Agency approach to meeting the Health, Education and Social care needs of children and young people with complex needs The service is shared between : Education Health Social Services An integrated service comprising two teams: 4 bedded residential unit for 13 - 16 year olds Community Team for children 5 - 18 years: clinical psychology, educational psychology, teaching, social work, occupational therapy, psychiatry, community support and nursing. Managed together in one service to work caseload of 50 children

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Who receives the service? Children and young people ages 5 - 18 years Extreme behaviour related to mental health /severe emotional difficulties Difficulties with education placement related to mental health/severe emotional problems Risk of self harm or harm to others Home circumstances vulnerable to breakdown exhausted other mainstream and specialist support services

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Why a feminist perspective

Research is not a value free arena of activity- privileging of positivism over soft methodological approaches involving participants in, rather than objects of, research (eg. Liz Stanley) Welfare as womens work Some messages remain the same many young womens lives continue to be informed by interface of disadvantage, power and powerlessness, yet there has been an Undermining of the pivotal significance of gender politics and the patriarchal family in child sex abuse (Annie Hudson, 1992)

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Individual level - Core sample profile 86 young people have used the service in 21 months 51 in core sample (due to consent issues). Data collated to date on 36 shows: Girls - (12) 66% aged 14-16 Boys (24) 76% aged 11-13 Ethnicity 97% white British living circumstances

11 girls in residential/foster care and 8 boys 0 girls with both parents or just mother compared to 12 boys 1 girl with mother and partner, 3 boys 0 girls with father, 1 boy

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Distress expressed in internalising and externalising behaviours - boys as trouble, girls in trouble (Griffin, 1997) Out of 27 closure reports for 10 girls and 17 boys, needs identified included:
7 girls self-harming and 3 boys 3 girls with conduct disorder and 10 boys 0 girls with ADHD 4 boys suspected or disclosed abuse figures similar

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Systems perspective mothers

Psychological welfare of children is inseparable from that of their mothers (Marilyn Lawrence, 1992) 18 mothers out of 37 reported by practitioners as having experienced mental illness (10 =no, 9 =not known) - more boys than girls (12:6) Domestic violence, inter-generational familial abuse, variety of reconstituted families also common For parent read mother (eg. case studies, Echo article) All research interviews conducted with mothers except one

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Systems perspective service providers

In community team only 1 full time male member of staff psychiatrist In residential team more evenly balanced but still more female than male staff Similar pattern with allied professionals

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Concluding Questions

Does this presentation feel like a feminist perspective? What are the research & practice implications?

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Contact details
Julia Waldman Department of Social Work Studies, University of Southampton Southampton SO17 1BJ tel 023 8059 2523 Fax 023 89294800 email jw@socsci.soton.ac.uk,
research study website http://sws.soton.ac.uk/brs