Jargon Buster

Care coordinator	A care coordinator is the name for the person responsible for coordinating the care you receive when you are in the community. This is your main contact person and tends to be a community psychiatric nurse, or CPN, social worker or occupational therapist.
Care Plan	This care plan is developed with you and takes into account your health needs and your social needs. For instance, it may contain information about medication and about support needed with housing, activities, claiming benefits etc. It should contain details of the services that are going to support you and identify which service will work with you on each area. This care plan will be reviewed regularly, so that as your needs change, the care plan can be adjusted accordingly.
Carer	A Carer is someone who looks after a person who is ill, frail, disabled or mentally ill, including parents of children with learning or physical disabilities.
Carer’s assessment	A Carer’s assessment means social services will look at your situation and see if you are entitled to any services that could make caring easier for you.
Clinical Psychologist	A clinical Psychologist is a mental health professional who has a degree in psychology and additional clinical, practice based training. They specialise in studying, diagnosing and treating people who experience emotional related disorders.
Co – occurring disorders	Clients said to have co-occurring disorders have one or more disorders relating to the use of alcohol and/or other drugs of abuse as well as one or more mental disorders. A diagnosis of co-occurring disorders occurs when at least one disorder of each type can be established independent of the other and is not simply a cluster of symptoms resulting from the one disorder.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy	Cognitive behavioural therapy or CBT involves working with people to help them change their emotions, thoughts, and behaviours.
Community Care Assessment	Under the NHS and Community Care Act 1990, local authority social services departments are responsible for assessing the needs of people who may need care services to enable them to carry on living at home. Services can also include care in a care home if that seems to be the best option. The community care assessment enables social services to find out what the person’s care needs are and to decide which services could help to meet these needs.
Community Mental Health Teams (CMHTs)	Community Mental Health Teams (CMHT) employs a number of people with different skills who can help people with mental health needs. The teams are made up of nurses, social workers, psychologists, doctors and occupational therapists. They can provide assessments of need, advice on treatment, outpatient clinics and home visits.
Community Psychiatric Nurses (CPN)	CPN's are part of a team of mental health professionals; they have specialist knowledge about mental illness and are able to administer medication. They act as Care Co-coordinators/ key workers to those who need ongoing support, particularly in relation to the management of a mental illness. If they are your Care Co-ordinator, they will co-ordinate the services that you receive and be involved in reviewing your 'care' through the Care Programme Approach (CPA). This ensures that you receive the support that is most helpful to you. CPN's are usually based at the Community Mental Health Centre.
Community Services	Services which are provided in a community setting; refers to all services not provided in an inpatient setting.
Community Support Worker	These are workers who support individuals in the community, who are experiencing mental health difficulties. They are based with Community Support Teams, who work in conjunction with Community Mental Health Teams. They provide support in a variety of areas and this is offered on a one to one basis. They will assist with issues such as attending appointments, finding activities to get involved in, help with benefit entitlements, emotional support, shopping etc. To receive this help, you would need to be referred to the Community Support Team by your Care Co-ordinator.
Complementary therapies	Complementary therapies are therapeutic practices or techniques which are not currently considered an integral part of conventional medicine. Therapies are termed ‘complementary’ when used in addition to conventional treatments or as alternatives to them.
Consent to treatment	If you are an informal patient, in most cases you have the right to refuse any treatment you do not wish. When deciding, you are entitled to get full information about the treatment, its purpose and possible side-effects. Care may be given to people who are informal patients without their consent if health workers assess that it is an emergency.
Counselling	Counselling is a talking therapy that usually deals with a recent distressing event. It can last several weeks, or longer, depending on the individual’s needs and response to therapy.
CPA Review	Reviews are where you and the professionals who are supporting with you will discuss your care plan and make any necessary changes to its content. This meeting is to ensure that you and those who are working with you are happy with the care plan and feel that it is relevant to you. These review meetings form part of the Care Programme Approach. Your Care Co-ordinator will be responsible for co-coordinating services and making any necessary referrals to other agencies, if new needs are identified.
Crisis resolution team	A crisis resolution team or CRT aims to respond to people in crisis.

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