The heart of the team: The role of assistant psychologists and specialist support workers in an intensive community support team

Abstract

■Intensive community support teams work with people when there are worries that their placement might break down.■Assistant psychologists and specialist support workers can be really important in the work of these teams.In this article we will share our experience of setting up an Intensive Community Support Team (ICST), focusing in particular on the developing roles of the Assistant Psychologists (APs) and Specialist Support Worker (SSW) within the service. We consider how the roles of the Assistant Psychologists and Specialist Support Worker were crucial in enabling a responsive, supportive and person-centred approach to intensive work.