Despite the importance of consultation in early intervention of mental health difficulties, there has been little consideration of the specific competencies needed nor a model underpinning this intervention. Eleven schools- and children's centre-based child and adolescent mental health services clinicians were interviewed with semi-structured interviews before and after a systemic consultation training. Four main themes emerged; participants gained: (1) a better understanding of organisational and multi-agency contexts, (2) a clear theoretical basis for practice, consistent with a destigmatising understanding of mental wellbeing, (3) clarity on the role, remit, and process of consultation, and (4) confidence and skills to carry out the role. The skills gained were in line with systems-level competencies. These findings suggest that the systemic consultation training increased the confidence of clinicians to work with complex networked systems in schools and communities. Future research can further understand the impact of this approach on other stakeholders, such as schools and families.
Keywords: Systemic consultation; child and adolescent mental health services; early intervention; relational; schools.