What makes a helpful grown up? Children's views of professionals in the mental health services

Children’s mental health has risen to the top of the social agenda in recent years but surprisingly little has been done systematically to collect and analyse their views of professional help. In this study the NUD•IST qualitative data analysis software was used to analyse 35 interviews with children and young adults aged between 7 and 20 and build a model of what makes a helpful grown up. It was also possible to discern what makes grown ups unhelpful and list some of the complaints the children had about their treatment. On coding the qualities of the helpful adult four major themes appeared: general qualities; counselling skills; ethical stance; and the ability to make things happen (helpful outcomes). The unhelpful adult was categorized in terms of: physical behaviour; verbal behaviour; social behaviour and attitudes. In terms of adult roles the three types of unhelpful behaviour are associated with parents, foster parents, residential workers in children’s homes and teachers. Unhelpful attitudes are associated with all adults whether carers or professionals. The children complained about foster and residential placements, the difficulty of actually telling adults they had a problem, the unfairness of the way some adults treated them and the help they should have had but either never received or which took too long to arrive. While making no claims for profundity this model of the helpful grown up is presented with considerable confidence. A finding was that the profession of the adult matters far less than whether or not they possess the qualities of the helpful grown up, and there is a clear need for all healthcare professionals working with children to possess these core skills if they are to be effective.