Write a summary of the work you have done - including:

• Your initial formulation
• The salient past history
• What interventions have been applied
• Which have been helpful
• Which unhelpful (and why, if possible)
• Your understanding of ongoing needs (and wants)
• Your recommendations for future input by services.

Style

This is a document that needs to be experienced as useful by future carers - so pay attention to the use of sub-headings to help the reader locate key material.

it does not need to be long (in fact shortness is often a strength.)

It should also, ideally, act as a form of advocacy for your client - bringing their story, and your accurate mentalization of what has lain behind the ways that they have acted and reacted, to the next generation of workers or non-professional carers that will support them. Reports and written notes are often the only concrete things that remain of the many workers in this field.

Finally (no pressure, here) of course a report also represents the work of your team, so do take pride in producing a piece of work that summarises what has been done, and ideally why, and with what results.

Forms and Proformas

If you are referring to another team, do check to see if they have their own form or proforma for receiving information - this can save a lot of time and is likely to help you to mentalize the team

Information sharing

In general it is good practice to share these accounts with the young person before sending them out. This can be framed as your "best efforts to get it right", but in keeping with the not-knowing or "The Inquisitive Stance", you may want to emphasise your enthusiasm for the young person to help you get the facts straight. Make it clear that if the two of you disagree, you will represent their different opinions, even if you can't come to a total agreement.

In some cases there may be sensitive information (for instance supplied by a third party who has not agreed to this information being shared with the young person) that, if shared, could damage future relationships in ways that could be to the detriment of the young person. In general these are rare cases, but if there are questions about confidentiality this should be discussed with your SupervisoryStructures before a decision is made on how to proceed.