Isabel Clarke — Clinical Home Page
The Woodhaven therapeutic approach relies on identifying areas to work on change through formulation, followed by a menu of psychological groups to assist people to make the necessary changes. See recent book chapter on coping mechanisms, Clarke, I. (2009) “Coping with Crisis and Overwhelming Affect: Employing Coping Mechanisms in the Acute Inpatient Context”. In A.M. Columbus Ed. Coping Mechanisms: Strategies and Outcomes. Advances in Psychology Research Vol.63. Huntington NY State:Nova Science Publishers Inc.
We have developed manuals for these groups so that other staff can be trained in their delivery.
Arousal Management is key to the approach.
Emotion Management is also central.
The Emotional Coping Skills Group manual is based on Linehan's Dialectical Behavior Therapy manul (Linehan, M. (1993) Skills Training Manual for Treating Borderline Personality Disorder, New York: The Guildford Press, and so not reproduced here. The programme is run by a dedicated group of staff have been trained in DBT approaches by the Trust, meet regularly in a consult group for supervision, and deliver the transdiagnostic Emotional Coping Skills (ECS) programme, that has recently been relaunched to include service user input from CAST. DBT trained staff also provide ongoing skills coaching, chain analysis etc. on the ward.
‘The What is Real and What is not’ group – a psychosis programme, including mindfulness, with particular emphasis on normalising anomalous experience and so counteracting the stigma of diagnosis which can impede engagement and progress for people with these difficulties.
‘The Making Friends with Yourself’ group. A compassionate-mind based self esteem programme that utilizes the natural support systems between service users on a ward to counteract the self criticism that can undermine peoples’ recovery.