‘Sharing the experience of working with Borderline Personality Disorder’

Dr A. Gopala Consultant PsychiatristMorag Wiseman Senior Social Worker/Mental Health

Officer . Alison Lynch Adult Protection Coordinator Police

Scotland

Content

• What's your experience? • Background – working group.• Social Work perspective • Alison Lynch- Police perspective• Dr Gopala- NHS view

What's your experience?

• How do services fit together?

Creating Order out of Chaos

Who we represent Multi Agency Borderline Personality

Disorder Work stream• NHS

• Local Authority • Voluntary organisations

• Police

Aim of working group:

• Ground breaking work to bring a Multi Agency approach to support clients with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)

• to promote and improve quality of life

Key Themes

• Key Themes from Workshop:• Awareness & Training, Multi-Agency training • Partnership Working• Support for Clients and Families/Lack of appropriate

services• Practices need changing – • Guidelines• Manage and tolerate risk• Sharing knowledge with Clients• Cohesive working needed

Sound familiar?

• Varying experiences re: diagnosis, availability of services

• Varying amount of knowledge• Resulting in lack of consistency in treatment

and services• Sense of frustration and isolation shared by

both service users and professionals

About me!

• Qualified as a Social Worker 2007 • Worked in Adult Mental Health 2007-2012 • Mental Health Officer ( MHO) 2011. • Currently Senior Social Worker in a community

team.

Social work

• Social Workers are trained in personality development however:

• No specific training in BPD. • Social Workers esp. newly qualified workers

reliant on advice from health colleagues regarding the management and impact of BPD.

Social work perspective

• Time spent trying to resolve crisis• Limited health professionals involved • Anxiety regarding risk management• Feeling isolated • Condition does not appear to fit neatly within

spectrum of protective legislation.

Case example

• Colleague provided case example

• Female, with a current diagnosis of BPD • Difficulties with self harming e.g. cutting,

refusing to eat, taking serious overdoses

What works?

• Client should have an awareness of who they are being referred to and why they are being referred.

• Having an understanding of the Clients needs. • Client centred approach/holistic assessment

Suggested ways of working

• → Focus on the person and help them to learn to see their own positives.

• →Help them develop multiple strategies. A strategy will eventually sink in and work, when she/he is ready for that change.

• →Focus on one behaviour to be addressed first, hopefully the behaviour that is the most damaging to them.

Summary

• There is room for improvement• A more consistent approach • Joined up working • More training