Case Study
‘Martin Jones’
Martin Jones is a community psychiatric nurse who specialises in
working with pubescent teenagers. He is employed by the NHS
Trust but he works in the community with a young offenders’ team.
He works alongside a youth worker, social workers and education
experts as a member of a specialist team.
Martin and his fellow workers work with young people between 13
and 19 years old who have been referred to them by the police,
the court or the local authority’s education department. All the
young people who have been referred have either committed a
crime, been excluded from school as a result of their behaviour or
have been given an ASBO (Anti-social behaviour order) by the
court. Martin and his fellow workers aim to build an effective
relationship with the young people in order to help them deal with
personal problems, develop coping skills, self-respect and change
their behaviour so that they can avoid more trouble with the police
and the courts.
Martin leads the team which deals with any problems concerning
substance misuse or mental problems. He provides direct care for
young people in these fields as well as offering information, advice
and support for his fellow workers, if required. He believes that
this multi-disciplinary method is the best way of dealing with the
complex problems of young offenders. He believes that this
method will develop to be the ‘norm’ in the case of health and
social care in the future.
Questions
1. Who employs Martin?
2. Who are the clients in this case study?
3. How can the clients be referred to Martin?
4. List the various groups of care professionals in the study and
state which skills each one has.
5. What is the main aim of Martin and his co-workers?
6. List how Martin supports
i)
ii)
7.
the clients
his fellow workers
Discuss the advantages of working in a multi-disciplinary
team.
Practitioner’s roles in multi disciplinary teams
Research Task
a) Select a job:
in health,
in social care,
or in child care.
b) Research the role and responsibilities of the job
(useful website: www.nliah.wales.nhs.uk - ‘careers’ section)
c) Present your information to the class and create a pamphlet
about the job.