How the Scheme was Developed

The Child and Family Bibliotherapy Scheme, based in Gwent Healthcare NHS Trust, was initially developed in 2006 led by the Child and Family Psychology Service.Funding was provided by the Welsh Assembly Government and the Torfaen Children and Young People`s Framework Partnership. Further funding was granted in 2007 by the Welsh Assembly Government  to develop this website and to purchase further materials for sustainability.

The development of the scheme can best be understood in terms of the five tasks described below:

1. Liaison and relationship building

In order to be meaningful to professionals working in the area, the scheme has to be locally relevant. To this end local professionals from health, education, social services and non-statutory and voluntary agencies were consulted about what issues should be covered by the scheme and how the scheme might function.

2. Consideration of challenges specific to child and family services

The Child and Family Bibliotherapy Scheme team have benefited from the experiences of the adult book prescription scheme, initiated in Cardiff by Professor Neil Frude. The provision of a similar service to children and families however required the consideration of a number of specific issues.

  • Resources need to address issues for children across a wide age range with differing needs.
  • Children are part of a family system, in which parents, siblings and other relatives play an important part.
  • There may be a number of primary care professionals involved in supporting children and families.
  • The emphasis within child and family services is on promoting emotional well being, and helping families to understand and manage difficulties, whilst avoiding labelling or categorising children where possible.

These issues, raised through discussions within the team and with local professionals, led to questions about how to categorise resources, which issues should be prioritised and whether to include books directly accessible for children and young people as well as parents.

3. Formation of the list of quality resources (survey and review)

There are a lot of self-help books available, but their quality varies. Appropriate resources for this scheme were determined initially by a survey. Chartered psychologists throughout the UK and a variety of local professionals and parents were asked to recommend resources they knew to be of good quality. Those resources recommended via the survey were then reviewed locally by professionals and parents. Final decisions on the content of the list were made by the Gwent Bibliotherapy team in consultation with members of the Gwent Child and Family Psychology Department.

4. Developing the recommendation pack for professionals and setting up the scheme

It was considered vital that the recommendation pack given out to professionals be clear and easy to use. Each pack includes:

  • A copy of the booklist.
  • A copy of a manual, which describes the scheme and includes synopses of all the books on the booklist.
  • A pad of recommendation slips. These are carbonated so that the top copy can be given to the client and a copy retained for the notes if required.
  • A poster for display in public areas.
  • A copy (or several copies) of the information leaflet for clients and a copy (or several) of the information leaflet for professionals.
  • Information about local libraries (where available).

Packs were then disseminated to Gwent professionals working with children and families (professionals working in health, social services, education and voluntary sector were, or will be, included). This process was (or will be) achieved via borough working groups. These groups include a lead representative (who also attends a county-wide working group), as well as representatives from the library service, Tier 1 (primary care), and other key agencies and services specific to each borough.

Publicity is essential so a launch was arranged and then each borough working group set about publicising the scheme to professionals and families. Local newspapers were asked to write articles on the scheme and leaflets were (or will be) placed in the community where they will be easily accessed by families. Additionally, using a money from a new grant, adverts were placed in relevant magazines, new flyers were purchased and this web site was developed.