We are proud to announce an award-winning interactive website to help mental health professionals manage issues of confidentiality and negotiate information sharing dilemmas with carers who support people with mental health problems.

We have built the site with colleagues at Rethink and Seefood.tv and were delighted to hear that it was awarded the 2010 IVCA Clarion Award for best interactive website.

Research shows that mental health professionals find it difficult to share information appropriately with the family and friend carers of people with mental health problems. Carers often feel excluded and patient care and outcomes frequently suffer when professionals don’t engage well with the family and friends.

It’s a tough job for professionals who have to juggle their primary responsibility to the patient alongside a careful assessment of the patient/carer relationship.  Many complex issues arise around patient confidentiality, informed consent, acting in the best interests of patients, the assessment of mental capacity and risk assessment.

Help is now at hand with a groundbreaking new resource that we have created with mental health charity Rethink.  The Carers and Confidentiality website features an interactive online course that mental health professionals can work through at their own pace, to learn how to improve their skills and knowledge in this area.  The course features a wealth of audio and video material to illustrate the various scenarios that typically arise in daily practice.  Participants work through 9 lessons and then take a quiz to pass the course.

The Rethink team has been working in this field for many years and the site brings together their extensive research and knowledge base into one easy to use resource.

Visit the new site at: www.carersandconfidentiality.org.uk