15 Apr 2022

Answers from Webinar on Network Psychiatry from 12th April 2022

It’s been some days since our webinar on Network Psychiatry ended, but the journey never ends while we all work together for the good of our community.
Our friends from Netherlands and Japan had great presentations on the main topics of the webinar: Resource Group and Seikatsu Rinsho.

The webinar had 2 interpreters that made our communication smooth for the Japanese and English speakers. The Youtube live-streamed webinar, unfortunately, couldn’t record the interpretation channels as we had in the Zoom room, so we only have the presentations as they are in the native languages.


Please find at the end of the article the presentations of our Speakers in PDF format.
During the webinar, we had some attendees that asked some questions which we weren’t able to reply to because of the time limit, so we gathered the whole group again to answer your questions from the Q&A section:

Q: Do you think that Resource Group also fits other groups like adolescents and people with substance use disorders (FACT Youth/FACT SUD)?

A: Resource groups (RG) can certainly be used for and by people with SUD, as has been shown in several cases during our study and we are currently implementing RG in dual diagnosis teams. RG in Youth FACT can also be useful, depending on the age: in young children (<14 y) it might be better to use an intervention involving the complete family (parents/siblings), whereas we think that in adolescents (>15) RG can be helpful. We are currently implementing RG in Youth FACT teams, and trying to set up a study on its effects, and do not yet have a great deal of experience with this.

Q: In the seikatsu rinsho, we emphasize the importance of unconscious values that service users have difficulty expressing in their own words.
In the RG group, how do you advise those who may not be able to identify their goals well on their own?

A: The service user receives help from a case manager to identify goals. They can be very small goals. Usually this is not a big problem. 

Q: Also, is there anything you are conscious of in supporting those who cannot set goals well on their own?

A: In the RG, to talk about the current situation, can be enough to start with. 

Q: Nishida-san and others gave comprehensive long-term support to the family who thanks to the help lead a satisfying life.   It is wonderful, but how does the clinic make ends meet?

A: The management is maintained by adjusting the allocation of resources between periods of intensive support and periods of stability, which is one of the advantages of FACT. However, we believe that more medical fees will be needed to promote the program.

Q: For Japan’s case,  a social worker seems to be fully dedicated to a case, but then, understanding not so many social workers in the country, how (carefully) do they choose the case to spend social workers’ time?

A: Limited human resources are deployed according to the time of need, and support is continued by covering each other as a team with multiple professions.

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