Provincial Brother Donatus Forkan was among members of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers who met with Pope Francis last month. The Council gathered from 24^th– 26^thMarch in Rome to evaluate its work over the past five years and plan for the future. Each council member was presented individually to the Pope who spoke to the entire group on the nature of suffering and the fragility of human life.

The Pope’s Speech to the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers
“It is true that in suffering no-one is ever alone”…..“as God in his merciful love for mankind and for the world also embraces the most inhuman situations, in which the image of the Creator present in every person appears to be obscured or disfigured. Thus was Jesus, in his Passion. … And here, in the Passion of Jesus, there is the greatest school for whoever wishes to dedicate him to the service of his sick and suffering brethren”.
“The experience of fraternal sharing with those who suffer opens us to the true beauty of human life, which includes its fragility. In the protection and promotion of life, in whatever state and condition it may be found, we can recognise the dignity and the value of each single human being, from conception to natural death”.

The Pope concluded by encouraging those present always to keep in mind “the flesh of Christ in the poor, in those who suffer, in children, including those who are unwanted, in people with physical or mental handicaps, and in the elderly”.

The findings of a three year study exploring the transition from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) to Adult Mental Health Services (AMHS) in Ireland were released at a conference held in Lucena Clinic Services recently. They suggest that improved planning, delivery and quality of effective transition between CAMHS and AMHS are necessary to improve the process and outcomes for young people with mental health service needs.

Funded by the Health Research Board and completed in partnership with University College Dublin, the ITRACK study examined mental health service organisation, policies, processes and user and carer perspectives. Pictured are (from left) research collaborator Dr Barbara Dooley of UCD, Principal Investigator Professor Fiona McNicholas of Lucena Clinic Services and UCD, lead researcher Dr Niamh McNamara (University of Bedfordshire) and conference speaker, Dr Zoebia Islam of University of Warwick and DeMontfort University.

While the transfer of written information between services was perceived to be very good, there was clear evidence that the process of transition between CAMHS and AMHS was poorly managed, with little direct face-to-face or telephone communication between services. Data analysis is currently underway and comprehensive findings will be available in the coming months. For more information see McNamara, N. et al (2013) ‘Transition from child and adolescent to adult mental health services in the Republic of Ireland: An investigation of process and operational practice’, Early Intervention in Psychiatry (doi: 10.1111/eip.12073) PMID: 23826636 [Epub ahead of print].

Research Assistants were Mr Michael Adamson (University College Dublin) and Dr Lesley O’Hara (Lucena Clinic). Collaborators included Dr Blanaid Gavin, Dr Siobhan Barry and Dr Karen O’Connor from Saint John of God Hospitaller Ministries, along with collaborators from Trinity College Dublin (Prof Imelda Coyne), University of Limerick (Prof Walter Cullen), University College Dublin (Dr Barbara Dooley) and University of Warwick (Prof Swaran Singh, Dr Moli Paul).

The ITRACK project was carried out with an award of €198,973.80.

The conference held at Lucena Clinic Services on 11th February was called Mind the Gap: Transition from CAMHS to AMHS in Ireland. Speakers were Dr Zoebia Islam (De Montfort University / University of Warwick), Dr Niamh McNamara (University of Bedfordshire) and Ciaran Cobbe (PROTECT Wicklow).

The conference was well attended by interested parties from Saint John of God Hospitaller Ministries, Crumlin Children’s Hospital, ISPCC, Barnardos, Headstrong, HADD, the National Service Users Executive, Mental Health Ireland, the Mental Health Commission, Mental Health Reform, University of Ulster, University College Dublin, University of Limerick, University of Bedfordshire and University of Warwick.

For further information contact:

Michael Adamson

Research Assistant

Lucena Clinic

59 Orwell Road

Rathgar

Dublin 6

01-4999739 / This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Director of Nursing at Saint Josephs' Centre, Norma Sheehan, presents the Butterfly Model

“Creating a family like atmosphere and sharing closeness, matters in dementia care”.

It was with this simple concept that David Sheard founded the ’Feelings Matter Most’ –  ‘Butterfly Model of Care’ for people living with dementia in 1995.

It was started at Merevale House in Atherstone, England – a care home for 36 people living with Dementia – since then the approach has spread across the UK and Ireland.

Known as Butterfly Service Homes, there are currently 60 project homes adopting this model in England, Wales and Ireland.  There are 5 nursing homes in Ireland; St. Joseph’s Centre would be the 6th.   Beginning with Tom Kitwood’s original theory of person centredness, the model also draws on ideas from neuro linguistic programming about personal congruence in leadership (Kitwood, 2007, Goleman, 1999, Dilts, 1990).

It emphasises the need to embed dementia care training in the development of staff’s emotional connection and emotional intelligence.

The Butterfly Model is about staff ‘being’ rather than ‘doing’. The traditional way of care is focused on staff moving from task to task with a sense of ‘doing to’ rather than ‘being with’.   Relationships between staff and people are shaped by: out of bed – wash, dress, - feed - toilet, - back to bed, with over 78% interactions being task based (Ward and Vass, 2005).

In order to achieve this change of staff ‘being rather than ‘doing’ a culture change process which frees the whole staff team up to ‘be’ rather than ’do’ more has to happen.

The ‘Butterfly Model’ centres on eight key components.

Being – person centred care - involves helping staff to shift their focus from only doing ‘tasks’, to being able to reach people on the inside (Sheard, 2007).

Enabling – quality of life starts with really seeing, hearing, and feeling the lived experience of people.  This also involves measuring the minute-by-minute experiences of people, and being determined to improve the moment (Sheard, 2008).

Inspiring – leadership this means guiding people away from detached management to a new professionalism of attached leadership.  Attached leadership is where people lead from the heart-not just by the hand (Sheard, 2008).

Nurturing – staff’s emotions-in dementia care, there is a need to foster positive team relationships, whilst requiring the development of an emotion led organizational strategy (Sheard, 2009).

Growing – training that works moves away from tick-box courses and awareness level competency training.  The focus should be on the development of people’s emotional intelligence-through reflection, modelling and coaching (Sheard, 2008).

Achieving real outcomes – this is all about focusing on policies, procedures and systems as secondary.  Instead, balancing, measuring quality of service and quality of life, become the focus (Sheard, 2011).

Supporting nurses in dementia care – to modernise and to restore compassionate cultures of care – is critical.  This involves nurses being developed to merge clinical best practice with the new focus of nurses knowing how to lead and personally model person centred care and relationship focused support (Sheard, 2013).

Mattering in a dementia care home centres on the core skills in staff of Feel, Look, Connect and Occupy whilst creating culture change through developing a community based on Share, Reach, Relax and Matter (Sheard, 2012, 2013).

Norma Sheehan
Director of Nursing
Saint Joseph’s Centre