Psychiatric Bulletin (2006) 30: 194. doi: 10.1192/pb.30.5.194-a
© 2006 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
Psychiatric Bulletin (2006) 30: 194
© 2006 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
Disseminating psychological skills in old age psychiatry services
Fiona Fenton, Consultant in Old Age Psychiatry
Mater Misericordiae Hospital, 61 Eccles St, Dublin 7, e-mail:
fmfenton{at}eircom.net
It was encouraging to read about the level of interest in psychological
therapies for older people in Wales (Psychiatric Bulletin, January
2006, 30, 10–11). Older people will become more aware of
psychological therapies and will request them more in the future.
The multidisciplinary team training in cognitive–behavioural therapy
(CBT) which was devised and developed by Chris Williams is aimed at training a
community mental health team in basic CBT skills, without the jargon
associated traditionally with CBT. Hence, it is easily accessible to team
members who have no formal training in the discipline. The system is designed
to be used in part or whole by practitioners and can therefore provide a range
of sessions for varied needs. Training material can be downloaded from
http://www.calipso.co.uk
Having trained in Glasgow, I am now imparting these skills to my colleagues
from the multidisciplinary team in north Dublin and they have been well
received. It is difficult for any service to gain protected time for training.
Whitfield et al (Psychiatric Bulletin, February 2006,
30, 58–60) highlight the need for supervision, the development
and maintenance of CBT skills as well as for the training and supervision of
others. I suggest that the challenge in disseminating these skills is to
locate and establish local centres of expertise which would provide
supervision and ongoing training. This might prove particularly difficult in
areas where no such therapies have previously been available.
