David - STORM Training
David Cameron is a nurse based in Inverness and has used STORM regularly. He first became involved with STORM three years ago – initially attending the training being rolled out in his area, then six months later he became a STORM trainer.
I bumped into an ex-patient as I was returning from a training session. Within a few minutes I had established that he had strong suicidal thoughts. In the short term, I used techniques advocated in STORM to establish the level of risk, seriousness of intent and factors more or less likely to cause the person to go on to complete suicide.I then used knowledge gained to stabilise the situation and keep the person safe. Later, I used the Crisis Prevention and Problem Solving modules from STORM, to help prevent the person going into crisis again.
On a personal level I find it immensely comforting and reassuring to know my practice has a solid foundation. I remember returning from a meeting with a social worker who was diverted to a client’s house. As I was there at the time, I went with her for collegial support. On entry we found the client threatening to take his life. When we discussed the incident afterwards the social worker expressed the relief she had felt when she realised she was accompanied by someone who, like her, was trained in STORM and was reaching the same conclusions and advocating the same actions as she was. I knew exactly how she felt because I felt the same.
The feedback we have received from the people we have trained (GPs, nurses, psychologists) has been very positive. So successful has the introduction of STORM been in this area that it has now been introduced into our local psychiatric hospital, where a rolling programme has enabled the training of most in-patient staff. The STORM assessment has also been introduced as a component of our Integrated Care Pathway.”
To find out more about STORM and other training, visit our Training and Learning section.
Next story: Katrina - Promoting Mental Health Improvement Training
