THE SOCIAL-LEGAL COUNSELLING BOARD : AN EXPERIMENT IN THE INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH INVOLVING LAW, PSYCHIATRY, AND SOCIAL WORK
Authors: JOHN DONNELLY, C. GORDON EDGREN, ROBERT SATTER, MARY P. RYAN
Journal: American Journal of Psychiatry (1959)

Several points should be made with regard to the effectiveness of the agency. 1. It has been our experience that a number of problems which appear initially in the guise of legal problems can be resolved by such an approach. Further, this technique has laid a solid groundwork for the solution of many other situations. 2. It is of great advantage to have members of the different professions available at the same time, each with their specialized knowledge. In this way issues can be discussed, defined, and even settled, which in the normal procedure would necessitate several interviews with the lawyer, the psychiatrist, or the social worker individually. Many superficial problems are quickly placed in focus or even resolved and the underlying psychological difficulties become more apparent to the client. 3. The speed at which complicated marital problems can be investigated and exposed to the persons involved is greatly increased. Maneuvers of the individuals to displace and rationalize responsibility in the marital situation are less successful in the panel setting and the clients become more receptive to guidance from a group of experts than from an individual. 4. Many of the clients referred by social agencies have been sent back to these agencies with better motivation, more understanding and with greater incentive to work out their difficulties. This is particularly true of those clients who have had previous contact with social agencies but who have broken that relationship. It has also been the impression of some social workers that clients referred to them after passing through the Social-Legal Counselling Board process make more rapid movement than comparable cases not referred by the Board. Some of the local agencies, as a result of the work of the Social-Legal Counselling Board, have been seriously discussing the development of a comparable type of interdisciplinary approach within their own agencies. 5. A number of clients who previously were resistive to individual psychotherapy have, as a result of their experience with the panel, placed themselves under psychiatric treatment. 6. Prominent has been the effectiveness of the agency as an interprofessional educational medium–one of the primary aims in its establishment. Those participating have expressed a greater understanding of the areas of activity and effectiveness as well as the limitations of the other professions. The attorneys, for example, become much more aware of the importance of the extra-legal aspects of cases coming to them. They also become aware of how the legal aspects of a problem may arise as the result of unconscious manipulations by a client. With this recognition the number of cases referred by attorneys to the agency is increasing. The agency is now receiving recognition by some of the courts particularly in cases involving the custody of children and in criminal cases involving substantial psychological problems. This is a preliminary report on approximately the first two years of operation. From the beginning a number of questions have arisen such as the collection of pertinent data, the application of the principle on a community level, and problems in group dynamics. A part-time sociologist has now been brought into the picture to help in the evaluation of these points. It is recognized by the authors that adequate follow-up studies are not yet available, though these are being made as part of the continuing program.