Posted 30.04.2025

Review of our Family Intervention for Psychosis & Bipolar Course

Charley Wheatley recently completed our Family Intervention for Psychosis and Bipolar course. This is a 12 month course funded through NHS England. Charley has very kindly written this review of her experiences on the course.

“I recently completed the BFT training and wanted to reflect on my time with Meriden.

The taught days provided lots of information, structure and role play practice, that whilst uncomfortable to begin with, is invaluable when it comes to starting family work.

If I could go back to the beginning of the course, the advice I would give myself would be to not sweat the small stuff. I was so caught up trouble shooting potential problems that I delayed picking up and starting with any families. I recognised some anxiety at not having completed the teaching whilst being expected to hold a caseload, but the supervision groups provided by Meriden were phenomenal at managing those anxieties as well as any difficulties that arose during clinical work.

The clinical supervisors are experienced family workers and support you to work through problems, bringing it back to the model of BFT, pushing you to apply your knowledge and the model to the problem to aid personal development rather than just giving you the answers to the problem you raise. This method was important as it allowed me to think more on my feet when in the rooms with family by drawing on my knowledge and the model. The group supervision was also helpful to draw on the experience, expertise and knowledge of the other training family workers so we could troubleshoot issues together.

I have really enjoyed working with families to socialise them to the model of BFT and help guide them through the topics. I have received some really good feedback from families I have supported about how useful they have found the intervention, not only to improve their conversations but also to get a sense of independence back when focusing on themselves and working towards their goals. The intervention allows close work with families over a number of weeks and allows the family workers to build a genuine and supportive relationship with them. That has been my favourite part of this training.”

Charley Wheatley (she/her)

Trainee CBTp Therapist

Coventry & Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust

For more information on the course please go to our courses page: https://meridenfamilyprogramme.com/healthcare-professionals/courses/family-intervention-training-for-bipolar-and-psychosis/