3.1 Key principles of interdisciplinary and multi-agency working
Earlier in this session, you learned about some of the professionals who can be involved in providing treatment and support to children with mental health conditions. When several different professionals work together, this is described as interdisciplinary (or sometimes multidisciplinary) working, meaning that the professionals come from different disciplines to form a team of people who support the child and their family.
It is common for a team who work together to refer cases to other agencies; for instance, it may be appropriate to refer a child to a voluntary organisation for further support, as will be discussed in Activity 4. Other agencies may include education settings. Therefore, the combination of different disciplines of health professionals and representatives from other agencies, such as education settings, can be described as multi-agency working.