Trials and triumphs, stories and solutions: using systemic therapy techniques to facilitate paediatric and community...

Staff groups for nurses are seen as useful for stress reduction and team building, with a widely-held belief that they should be made available and used by staff. However, while usually requested by service managers, staff have varying views regarding their need and varying levels of comfort with participation. This article considers the challenges that are faced in setting up staff support groups for two different groups of nurses. The first group, for paediatric nurses working on an adolescent medical in-patient unit, is now a settled and established entity. The second group, for a community paediatric nursing team, continues to evolve in response to changing needs. Ways to adapt the group model to increase attendance rates and ensure the groups are helpful are presented. This article is intended as a resource for professionals who are already running groups or are considering establishing one.