What is the Reflective Consultation Service?
The Reflective Consultation Service provides a space for concerns and issues to be explored. It is rooted in the “nested mentalizing” approach, coined by the Yale Child Study Centre “Minding the Baby” program.
This program recognises that to hold in mind their patients, their families, and the broader systems, the clinicians themselves need to also be held in mind by an attuned, thoughtful, and reflective other. Without this, clinicians may be at risk of becoming misattuned with their patients and feeling unsupported in their work, leading to the potential for moral injury, fatigue, and burnout.
The Reflective Consultation Service aims to hold clinicians undertaking complex and difficult work, and provide a space to reflect on patients, processes, and themselves.
Goals
Each clinician will have individual reasons and expectations around what they wish to attain from the Reflective Consultation Service, and these are explored together before commencing.
Some overarching goals can be:
To enhance systemic thinking about complex patients and clinical scenarios;
To explore and enhance communication;
To explore issues of trust, alliance, and engagement within clinical relationships;
To explore how clinicians’ own experiences impact their clinical work;
To explore the emotional impact of complex clinical work.
Who is this for?
The Reflective Consultation Service was conceived for medical practitioners, working across a range of clinical settings, including Private Practice, Public Health Services, and non-governmental organisations. The value of this approach is relevant to doctors across multiple specialties. Other allied health professionals may find this approach equally as helpful and supportive to them and their clinical work.
What are the expected outcomes of undertaking this? Who benefits?
The benefits of engaging in Reflective Consultation has the potential to be wide ranging. Clinicians have the opportunity to explore complex cases and scenarios, and think about them from different perspectives. Patients, including those who are the subject of each consultation, may benefit from the new perspectives that can be applied by their treating practitioners. Ultimately, the clinician’s broader practice, hospital, or organisation will also benefit.