Effective partnership has often been shown to provide both the best outcome for clients, and the most efficient method of delivering modern support services. Effective partnerships are positive and focused, but achieving this level of cohesiveness and productivity is not simple, particularly when a team’s capacity to manage change conflicts with the need to continue delivering quality services to service users. Sometimes there are difficult issues in communities or between stakeholders that require independent facilitation. When capacity is stretched, or there are difficulties in developing or harmonising partnership thinking and working, the support of an independent, objective facilitator can remove barriers and encourage success.

SDC has experience of working with a variety of strategic and operational partnerships to assist them in resolving these kinds of difficulties. Our experienced staff and associate consultants design interventions to suit different needs, drawing on the evidence to bring together the components for effective partnerships. Each piece of work is individually tailored to meet the specific needs of a partnership, multi-disciplinary team or network. We can offer a full development and delivery approach, or provide short term independent support for particular stages of development; from one-off option interventions or consultations to long term planning.

To date we have facilitated partnerships’ in primary and secondary mental health services and between mental health and other sectors such as employabilityto establish and achieve shared objectives. We have worked extensively with both adult and children and young people’s services across Scotland, to support the implementation of national policy.

Over the last two years, SDC has been increasingly involved in the support and development of networks. Examples include the Children and Young Adults Network and the emerging Mental Health Improvement Network and the Mental Health and Employment Network. With the SUPPORT project, thin 2007 of a virtual community of practice promoting and facilitating online discussion relating to the EU Mental Health Strategy.

As an organisation, we promote reflective practice, and continuously seek to improve our approach to working in partnership by learning from and modelling systems and approaches from all areas of our work.

Contact details

Pippa Coutts
pippa@sdcmh.org.uk

0131 555 5959

examples of SDC projects

Netgains: Collaborative Networks – providing national support for the implementation of the Framework for Promotion, Prevention and Care – phase 2

The purpose of the Collaborative Network is to bring together people working in Integrated Children’s Services Planning who are actively involved in implementing the Framework for Promotion, Prevention and Care (the Framework) in different localities and support them to deliver better mental health outcomes for children and young people. A full report on this will be available soon.