DISCOVER Workshop Programme for Care Experienced Young People

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

Status: Completed

Conditions: Emotional Stress; Mental Health Issue; Emotional Regulation

Treatments: Other: DISCOVER workshop programme

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05220436

303093

Details and patient eligibility

About

The NHS DISCOVER team has secured 2-year funding from the Maudsley Charity to tailor the workshop programme the investigators deliver in school Sixth Forms to meet the specific needs of Care Experienced young people. The investigators are planning to complete a pilot of this adapted workshop programme within Medway Children's Social Services to explore its feasibility, accessibility, acceptability and early-stage efficacy within this population of adolescents.

Investigators from the DISCOVER team will recruit young people aged 16-19yrs who are currently known to the Medway Care Leavers 16+ teams. The study will be conducted at Medway Local Authority sites, with the option of some stages being completed remotely via Microsoft Teams if needed in the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Enrollment: 10 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 16 to 19 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Participants who are eligible to take part in this DISCOVER research project will be:

• Young people aged 16-19 years who have experience of being in Care and are currently under one of the Medway Children's Social Care, Care Leavers 16+ teams. This means that they are either currently a Looked After young person or a Care Leaver (i.e. they are no longer Looked After but they remain under the care of a Medway Care Leavers team).
• Able to work within a group setting over the course of a day workshop.
• Able to communicate and read in English.

Exclusion criteria

The investigators will not be able to recruit young people to the project if they are:

• Acutely psychotic or actively suicidal.
• Currently taking part in other research project(s).
• Under the influence of alcohol or any other substances during DISCOVER programme meetings - this is essential as a safety consideration for all participants and staff. Struggles with alcohol/substance use in themselves are not necessarily grounds for exclusion; the investigators will discuss with the allocated member of the young person's Care Leavers 16+ team on a case-by-case basis where relevant.
• Unable to communicate and read in English - as the investigators are at an early stage in developing this DISCOVER workshop programme for Care Experienced young people, these young people must be excluded at this time. However, the investigators are eager to review this criterion in future to enhance the accessibility of the intervention, once the initial feasibility and acceptability of the workshop programme has been established.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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10 participants in 1 patient group

DISCOVER workshop programme

Experimental group

Description:

As this is a case series study, all participants will receive the intervention (i.e. no other arms to the study design). The DISCOVER workshop programme includes: 1:1 mental health and emotional well-being assessment session with a Clinical Psychologist, a group workshop day, follow-up supportive phone calls and a closing follow-up 1:1 mental health and emotional well-being session with a Clinical Psychologist.

Treatment:

Other: DISCOVER workshop programme