A feasibility trial of a skills enhancing programme for carers of people with complex emotional needs and chronic emotion dysregulation.

New video presentation from Prof Martin Webber, Professor of Social Work, and Karen Bulsara, Lived-Experience Research Fellow, both at the University of York.

“Mental health carers often experience significant stress and trauma in trying to support their loved ones, which often goes unrecognised and unsupported.”

At the second MHSC Incubator webinar on 17th March, Martin and Karen, from the University of York, presented their current study. They gave an overview of their NIHR-funded feasibility trial, to consider how to support overlooked mental health carers and the challenges of working with this largely “invisible” population group.

Martin detailed the rationale for the feasibility study to assess whether it is possible to provide a social care intervention for carers in the NHS; to recruit and randomise dyads of carers and their respective service user to the study; and to ascertain if there are significant benefits of a carer intervention to both the carer AND their respective service user.

“There are still too many unknowns, when considering mental health carers”.

Karen collated the learning to date, for their study, which is halfway through its 2-year duration. She highlighted the difficulties encountered in introducing the concept of carer support to NHS mental health services, traditionally focused on the individual service user, rather than recognising the wider social systems of support; and the R&D departments, which do not routinely identify or collect data on carers.

“Evidence-based social care is possible in NHS settings”

And yet, despite the challenges, Martin and Karen’s work has been able to show that not only is it possible to meet their initial objectives, but also to utilise Karen’s lived experience in a leadership role, as co-chief investigator, to achieve these valuable insights into an under-researched and under-served population group.

Watch Martin and Karen’s 15-min talk in full:

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