Relational care nurtures trusting, non-hierarchical relationships between individuals, their families, communities, and care teams. This patient-centred approach achieves positive treatment outcomes while fostering freedom, autonomy, and choice.

After years of struggling to access effective healthcare for her daughter, Rachel Bannister found that ‘treatment as usual felt fragmented and disjointed’. Wanting to make a difference, she used her lived experience to advocate for systemic change, training in Peer-supported Open Dialogue (POD) and leaving her career in teaching. 

Peer-supported Open Dialogue is a therapeutic approach grounded in relational care principles. Since engaging in it as a family, Rachel has seen firsthand the impact. For the first time, her family has been able to establish the trust necessary to speak openly and honestly. Speaking with Expert Advisor in Relational Care, Kate Lorrimer, Rachel said:

‘’I had a fear of being judged, a fear of being blamed, being pathologized. That’s been my experience of treatment as usual. Within the first session, I could feel all that dissipate. It was so beautiful to see my daughter deciding what to do with her time at that meeting.’’

“My daughter looks forward to sessions now,” Rachel shared. “Her body language is completely different—she feels understood.”

‘’I visualise these giant hands holding me, my daughter and our whole family. It's the safest space we have ever experienced.’’

Rachel recalls a key moment:

“I asked my daughter, ‘What is it about Peer-supported Open Dialogue? She told me ‘It’s the first time in mental health services that I have actually felt listened to.’ That was so amazing to hear.”

Through Peer-supported Open Dialogue, Rachel’s explained how her daughter not only feels heard but also supported in a way that fosters genuine connection. Rachel continues to advocate for relational care, believing that it holds the key to creating a more compassionate and effective mental health system.

NELFT is committed to the development and implementation of a Trust wide relational approach to the care it provides for people and families, as well as establishing a relational and collaborative approach to the ways of working between directorates, teams, and individuals within the organisation.  
 
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