ACCESS

ACCESS

Advancing care through single-session therapy.

What will we do?

We want to evaluate how introducing Single Session Therapy (SST) can improve access to mental health support for young people attending Jigsaw. Jigsaw is a national service providing therapy to 12-25-year-olds. SST offers immediate high-impact intervention in one session, bypassing lengthy assessments. While research shows positive outcomes, we don’t know how well it is being implemented in youth mental health settings like Jigsaw. Our research will develop a plan (called a programme theory) to explain how SST works in Jigsaw, and create a tool to measure whether it is being delivered properly (called a fidelity assessment tool).

How will we do it?

We will develop a programme theory for how SST works in Jigsaw by reviewing literature and conducting workshops with clinicians and young people. This will clarify the core components of SST and the outcomes it aims to achieve, providing a roadmap for how SST leads to positive results, such as improvements in therapy goals. Additionally, we will create a fidelity assessment tool to ensure SST is delivered as planned. We will also examine whether young people are fully engaged with SST (i.e., do they understand the therapy and can they apply what they have learnt in their daily lives?). Using Jigsaw’s electronic health record data system, we will examine whether SST supports timely access to care.

Why is it important?

This project will help us understand how SST works in a youth mental health setting. We will determine if SST reduces waiting times and improves outcomes for young people when used as a first step in primary care. By learning more about how SST works in practice, we can refine the approach and enhance service delivery. The findings will inform SST’s future implementation, supporting its long-term succes and highlighting areas for improving clinical practice.