A Pilot Social Skills Group for Socially Disorganized Children

Abstract

This article reports on the setting up and running of two social skills groups within the Bedfordshire and Luton Community NHS Trust. Groups were established in response to an increase in referrals of ‘socially disorganized’ children to the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS), and a lack of local services to meet these children’s needs. As a pilot project, outcome measures were used preand immediately post-group in an attempt to assess the short-term impact of the intervention and parents response to the initiative. Results were encouraging with children and parents expressing support for the experience, and positive changes in behaviour were reported. Some of the difficulties involved in running such groups in a busy clinical service are discussed.