Ana Carolina Florence

(2022)

Jordan G, Grazioplene R, Florence A C, Funaro M, Davidson L, Bellamy C, Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 45(2), 123–135 (2022)

Abstract:

Objective: People with lived experience of mental illness or distress can help others recover through peer or mutual support. One way they may help others recover is by fostering generativity, which refers to one’s concern for and contributions toward the betterment of others, including future generations (e.g., through caregiving, engaging in civics). Generativity may add purpose to one’s life, benefit society, and improve areas which persons with lived experience feel are important for their recovery. Despite its importance, the state of knowledge on experiences and facilitators of generativity, as well as the impact that engaging in generativity has on the lives of persons engaged in peer or mutual support, is unclear. Read more …

(16 December 2021)

Jones N, Gius B, Shields M, Florence A C, Collings S, Green K, Watson A, Munson M, Psychiatric Services, Vol 73, Issue 8, August 01, 2022, pages 910-917

Abstract:

Over the past decade, police involvement in behavioural health crisis response has generated concern and controversy. Despite the salience and timeliness of this topic, the literature on service user experiences of interactions with officers is small and studies of youths and young adults are non-existent. The authors aimed to investigate youths’ and young adults’ experiences of police involvement in involuntary psychiatric hold initiation and transport. Read more …

(27 August 2021)

Florence AC, Jordan G, Yasui S, Cabrini DR, Davidson L, Psychiatric Quarterly, 92, 1771-1783 (2021).

The Open Dialogue approach was developed in Finland as a form of psychotherapy and a way to organize mental health systems. Open Dialogue has drawn global interest leading to adaptations worldwide, including in Vermont-US where it is called Collaborative Network Approach. Our study aimed to investigate the experiences of families who received Collaborative Network Approach in two agencies in Vermont. Read more …

(10 September 2020)

Florence AC, Miller R, Bellamy C, Bernard P, Bien C, Atterbury K, Bragg C, Diaz A, Gardien E, Guy K, Hansen C, Maclean K, Milton B, Nelson L, Samoskevich J, Smith S, Stanojlovic M, Wexler T, Zorzanelli R, Davidson L, Psychosis 2020; 12(4):363-367

Abstract:

The emergence of Covid-19 disrupted most aspects of life, creating a high degree of uncertainty and unpredictability about the future. Knowledge from a place of lived experience offers insights and strategies to better understand how to live, grow and thrive through the difficulties that people who experience mental health challenges, other disabling health conditions, people of colour, and people from lower socio-economic backgrounds have overcome. We report on a programmatic effort to investigate how lessons learned through lived experience could be useful to persons who are dealing with a destabilizing situation like this pandemic for the first time, especially mental health providers. Read more …

(September 2020)

Florence AC, Jordan G, Yasui S, Davidson L, Psychiatric Quarterly, 2020; 91(3):681–693.

Abstract:

The Open Dialogue approach was developed in Finland in the 1980s as a form of psychotherapy and a way to organize mental health systems. It has been adapted and implemented in several countries in recent years. This qualitative study sought to explore staff and developers’ experiences with one adaptation of the Open Dialogue approach in the state of Vermont called the Collaborative Network Approach. Read more …

(June 2020)

Costa M, Plant RW, Feyerharm R, Ringer L, Florence AC, Davidson L. Psychiatric Quarterly, 2020; 91(2):533-545

Abstract:

The purpose of the study is to 1) better understand patterns of utilization of Intensive Outpatient Treatment (IOP) Programs and Services in the State of Connecticut by adult Medicaid recipients experiencing a serious mental illness, substance use disorder, or co-occurring disorders; and 2) to determine the relationship between the duration of an IOP episode and connection to care rates for higher (i.e., rehospitalization) or lower levels of care following discharge. We hypothesized that the duration of an IOP episode would impact positively in reducing the use of higher levels of care while increasing the use of lower levels of care. Read more …

(2018)

Florence A, Polis e Psique. 2018; 8(1):191-211

Abstract:

The Open Dialogue approach was developed in Finland in the 1980’s as a set of practices and principles that changed the model of mental health care delivery in the Western Lapland region. Through family meetings conducted in accordance with a dialogical perspective involving the person in crisis and their social network, the Open Dialogue approach reduced the number of hospitalisations in psychiatric hospitals, diminished the duration of untreated illness, incorporated the selective use of neuroleptics and promoted recovery in 84% of persons treated. This paper presents a literature review of the Open Dialogue approach outlining its history and development, as well as the seven principles that guide clinical practice and effectiveness studies. Read more …

(August 2018)

Florence AC; Yasui S, Interface (Botucatu). 2019; 23:1-13.

Jaakko Seikkula, PhD, is a member of the Institute for Dialogic Practice and Professor of Psychotherapy at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. From 1981 to 1998 he was Chief Psychologist at Keropoudas Hospital in Tornio, Finland. During this period, he developed the Open Dialogue approach, a strategy for treating serious mental health problems with a network approach and dialogic nature. This approach has shown surprising results in the recovery of people with serious mental health problems, extensively documented in the international literature. Read more …

The Neoliberal Logic in Public Health and its Repercussions for the Mental Health of CAPS Workers
(2017)
Florence A C, Bernardo MH, Revista de Psicologia da UNESP. 2017; 16: 60-74

Abstract:
This article is the result of research in which we sought to investigate how the current neoliberal logic has been absorbed in public health and its repercussions for the mental health of workers. To this end, we opted for the use of a qualitative methodology and in-depth reflective interviews were carried out with professionals from different health services in a city in the interior of São Paulo. Here, we discuss the results referring specifically to the Psychosocial Care Centers (CAPS) – which are substitute devices for the asylum, intended for mental health care in the SUS network – based on two in-depth reflective interviews. The interviewees revealed that the precariousness of work in the CAPS can be identified in several aspects: forms of hiring, number of hours worked, insufficient equipment in relation to the territory’s demand, number of workers less than necessary. The combination of these elements produces wear and tear that adds to that resulting from the care of mental health users. The interviewees’ speeches also indicate that such a precarious situation at work is seen by them in a fatalistic way, as an inevitable situation, even though they demonstrate an understanding of the possible changes in the current scenario. Read more …