Developing groups in a paediatric psychology service: Centring the voices of children and young people

Clin Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2023 Jan;28(1):24-34. doi: 10.1177/13591045221111215. Epub 2022 Jun 23.

Abstract

There is growing evidence for the benefits of therapeutic groups for children and young people living with chronic health conditions. As a paediatric health service, we regularly run 12 different groups, most of which are informed by a Narrative Therapy approach, with new groups routinely created to respond to the changing needs of children and young people. In this paper, we describe how we have stayed connected to our vision and values in developing and delivering group interventions, sharing our process which integrates different methods of participation and involvement to ensure young people's voices are centred. We use three of our recently introduced groups to illustrate these ideas.

Keywords: Participation; groups; health; paediatric; service-user involvement; young people.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Child
  • Chronic Disease
  • Health Services*
  • Humans
  • Psychology, Child*