The Maastricht Approach – Accepting and Working with Voices and Dissociation and Empowering Young People
Tracks
Norfolk Hall
| Monday, March 20, 2023 |
| 11:25 AM - 11:45 AM |
Overview
Michael Daubney, Queensland Health & Laura Bromley, Wide Bay Hospital And Health Service
Speaker
Laura Bromley
Clinical Nurse Consultant
Wide Bay Hospital And Health Service
The Maastricht Approach – Accepting and Working with Voices and Dissociation and Empowering Young People
Abstract
The Assertive Mobile Youth Outreach Services (AMYOS) were established in 2014 in Queensland and form part of an integrated continuum of care for adolescents requiring mental health treatment. AMYOS provides service to adolescents aged 13-18years with severe and complex mental illness who have demonstrated difficulty in engaging with mental health services, exhibit high risk behaviour or risk of deterioration with significant deficits in psychosocial functioning.
The Maastricht approach emphasizes the need to place the experience of hearing voices within an interpersonal context, supporting clients to develop more positive and empowered relationships with their voices, and discover ways to cope with both the voices themselves and the underlying emotional vulnerabilities and conflicts which the voices might embody. Accepting the past, processing associated emotions and finding ways to safely contain and process distress is extremely important. Making contact with split off parts of the personality achieves therapeutic change. Voices are questioned directly or indirectly to discover their aims and original protective functions which in many cases have become suppressed and distorted when the client didn’t know how to cope. The clinician tries to help the client recognize and acknowledge the original positive, protective, function of the voice, and help create a more peaceful and constructive relationship with them.
A clinical example will demonstrate how a young person is empowered to manage negative voices, leading to a reduction in risky, self-harming behaviours whilst building a positive therapeutic alliance. It will also show how the approach normalised and validated the Young Persons experience, creating a mutual understanding between the client, clinician, and social networks.
The Maastricht approach emphasizes the need to place the experience of hearing voices within an interpersonal context, supporting clients to develop more positive and empowered relationships with their voices, and discover ways to cope with both the voices themselves and the underlying emotional vulnerabilities and conflicts which the voices might embody. Accepting the past, processing associated emotions and finding ways to safely contain and process distress is extremely important. Making contact with split off parts of the personality achieves therapeutic change. Voices are questioned directly or indirectly to discover their aims and original protective functions which in many cases have become suppressed and distorted when the client didn’t know how to cope. The clinician tries to help the client recognize and acknowledge the original positive, protective, function of the voice, and help create a more peaceful and constructive relationship with them.
A clinical example will demonstrate how a young person is empowered to manage negative voices, leading to a reduction in risky, self-harming behaviours whilst building a positive therapeutic alliance. It will also show how the approach normalised and validated the Young Persons experience, creating a mutual understanding between the client, clinician, and social networks.
Biography
Laura is a Clinical Nurse Consultant on the Assertive Mobile Youth Outreach Service (AMYOS) with clinical interest in trauma, dissociation, and borderline personality disorder. She is a certified resilience coach with over 10 years’ experience in adult and adolescent mental health nursing and is trained in Mentalisation Based Therapy, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.
Michael Daubney
Consultant Psychiatrist
Queensland Health
The Maastricht Approach – Accepting and Working with Voices and Dissociation and Empowering Young People
Abstract
The Assertive Mobile Youth Outreach Services (AMYOS) were established in 2014 in Queensland and form part of an integrated continuum of care for adolescents requiring mental health treatment. AMYOS provides service to adolescents aged 13-18years with severe and complex mental illness who have demonstrated difficulty in engaging with mental health services, exhibit high risk behaviour or risk of deterioration with significant deficits in psychosocial functioning.
The Maastricht approach emphasizes the need to place the experience of hearing voices within an interpersonal context, supporting clients to develop more positive and empowered relationships with their voices, and discover ways to cope with both the voices themselves and the underlying emotional vulnerabilities and conflicts which the voices might embody. Accepting the past, processing associated emotions and finding ways to safely contain and process distress is extremely important. Making contact with split off parts of the personality achieves therapeutic change. Voices are questioned directly or indirectly to discover their aims and original protective functions which in many cases have become suppressed and distorted when the client didn’t know how to cope. The clinician tries to help the client recognize and acknowledge the original positive, protective, function of the voice, and help create a more peaceful and constructive relationship with them.
A clinical example will demonstrate how a young person is empowered to manage negative voices, leading to a reduction in risky, self-harming behaviours whilst building a positive therapeutic alliance. It will also show how the approach normalised and validated the Young Persons experience, creating a mutual understanding between the client, clinician, and social networks.
The Maastricht approach emphasizes the need to place the experience of hearing voices within an interpersonal context, supporting clients to develop more positive and empowered relationships with their voices, and discover ways to cope with both the voices themselves and the underlying emotional vulnerabilities and conflicts which the voices might embody. Accepting the past, processing associated emotions and finding ways to safely contain and process distress is extremely important. Making contact with split off parts of the personality achieves therapeutic change. Voices are questioned directly or indirectly to discover their aims and original protective functions which in many cases have become suppressed and distorted when the client didn’t know how to cope. The clinician tries to help the client recognize and acknowledge the original positive, protective, function of the voice, and help create a more peaceful and constructive relationship with them.
A clinical example will demonstrate how a young person is empowered to manage negative voices, leading to a reduction in risky, self-harming behaviours whilst building a positive therapeutic alliance. It will also show how the approach normalised and validated the Young Persons experience, creating a mutual understanding between the client, clinician, and social networks.
Biography
Dr Michael Daubney is a Child, Adolescent and Adult Psychiatrist with clinical interest in psychotherapy, trauma, infant mental health and adolescent inpatient and outpatient treatment. His is Medical Director, Adolescent Extended Services community CHQ HHS and Statewide Medical Director of the Assertive Mobile Youth Outreach Services. He is an Accredited International Trainer for Mentalized Based Therapy, the Queensland Director of Advanced Training in Psychotherapy (RANZCP).
