Both telephone-based and f-to-f CBT showed improvements in depression, subjective burden, and assistance support in dementia AA CGs. Replication with a larger sample size (N = 106) is currently in progress. Study limitations and future directions for research are also addressed.

There is increasing focus on the need for schools to work more effectively with specialist mental health providers, but there have been historic challenges in embedding closer interagency working. This article reports the results of a service evaluation of a 2-day workshop designed to facilitate improved working between schools and children and young people’s mental health services (CYPMHS). Mental health leads from 255 schools, mental health professionals and other key stakeholders all took part in one of 26 two-day workshops across the United Kingdom. The impact on interagency working was examined using changes in pre- and post-survey results, changes in self-reported aspects of interagency working and 10 local reviews of practice. The pre–post questionnaires showed improvements in interagency working (e.g. 55% of school leads reported being in ‘monthly’ or ‘continuous’ contact with the National Health Service (NHS) CYPMHS1at follow-up, compared with 24% at baseline). The group-completed CASCADE framework showed an overall increase in collaborative working, although some areas continued to report significant challenges such as in relation to common outcome measures. The local reviews found positive changes in interagency working, in terms of building relationships, improved communication and sharing good practice. This service evaluation of the workshops found some evidence of improved interagency working between schools and CYPMHS, but more controlled research is needed to consider generalisability and scalability.

BackgroundThe practice of reading and discussing literature in groups is long established, stretching back into classical antiquity (Fischer, 2004). While benefits of therapeutic reading groups have been highlighted, research into participants' perceptions of these groups has been limited (Walwyn & Rowley, 2011). AimsTo explore the experiences of those attending therapeutic reading groups, considering the role of both the group, and the literature itself, in participants' ongoing experiences of distress. MethodEleven participants were recruited from two reading groups in the South East of England.One focus group was run, and eight individuals self selected for individual interviews. The data were analysed together using a thematic analysis drawing on dialogical theories. ResultsParticipants described the group as an anchor, which enabled them to use fiction to facilitate the discussion of difficult emotional topics, without referring directly to personal experience.Two aspects of this process are explored in detail: the use of narratives as transportation, helping to mitigate the intensity of distress; and using fiction to explore possibilities, alternative selves and lives. ConclusionsFor those who are interested and able, reading groups offer a relatively de-stigmatised route 3 to exploring and mediating experiences of distress. Implications in the present UK funding environment are discussed. Declaration of interest :No financial support was received for this work.Transportations of space, time and self: The role of therapeutic reading groups in managing mental distress in the community. 4 1.