Agency in youth mental health

As psychiatrists, it is important to consider how a young person’s interactions with healthcare professionals can be a key moment in their life, where their agency is either reaffirmed or threatened and undermined.

In this podcast episode, we explore the role of agency in youth mental health, and how upholding this within the therapeutic relationship can have a direct impact on future health outcomes. With the help of our expert panel, we review the impact of optimising young people's agency in conversations about mental health and treatment.

Learning objectives

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to:

• recognise why the young people’s sense of agency is important for the quality of the therapeutic relationship and future health outcomes
• identify communication strategies that help the young person feel listened to and understood
• recognise how different ways of offering support and discussing coping strategies may affect the young person’s engagement in the clinical interaction
• recognise impact of implying that the young person is responsible for potentially harmful behaviour
• identify strategies for involving the young person in decisions about their treatment.

Availability

This podcast is available as part of a CPD eLearning subscription.