SASW Community of Practice: Mental Health Officers

Join us for our dedicated Community of Practice (CoP) for Mental Health Officers (MHOs) in Scotland on 9th May 2024 from 2.30pm until 4.30pm.  

The CoP is designed to allow a reflective space for MHOs to consider a dedicated theme and the potential impacts on practice.  

The next SASW MHO community of practice will focus on the new adolescent forensic service provided at Foxgrove.  We are delighted to welcome Dr Allan Thomson and Dr Helen Smith and look forward to their presentation. 

The session hopes to cover the following:

1.       An overview of Foxgrove

2.       Pathways in and out of Foxgrove

3.       The Foxgrove clinical model

4.       Transitions

5.       Links with Social Work and MHO’s

Dr Helen Smith came to Scotland in 1992 to go to medical school in Dundee and has never left. She is dual trained in Forensic and Child and Adolescent psychiatry.  She has worked as a consultant psychiatrist in adolescent inpatient care and Forensic CAMHS services previously. She has worked at all levels of security in the adult forensic estate.  She is developing Foxgrove (National secure adolescent inpatient Unit).  This will be for young people aged 12- 18 years with mental health difficulties that present a significant risk to other people. She is clinical director of CAMHS in Ayrshire and Arran. She is part of the college working group preparing the college statement in BPD in young people.

Dr Allan Thomson is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist for the National Secure Adolescent Inpatient Service, Foxgrove. Following completion of the West of Scotland/University of Glasgow Clinical Psychology Training Programme, he has worked in Adult Low Secure and Community Forensic Mental Health Services in a number of health boards. Dr Thomson has experience of working with Adolescents who present a risk of harm to others and has held a role supporting the co-ordination and implementation of NHS Education for Scotland training within a local health board. His clinical interests are in team approaches to intervention and specialist risk assessment and management.

The event will be held virtually on MS Teams and a link will be sent prior to the event.