Here at Platfform we’ve been campaigning for change in how mental health services are organised and we’re so excited to see these results launched today.

We greatly welcome the findings of the recent ODDESSI clinical trial, which shows that open dialogue has significant benefits and cost savings as an approach to mental health. This approach will strengthen the open access same day approach already being rolled out here in Wales.

The NHS clinical trial published in the Lancet today found that the Open Dialogue approach reduces hospital admissions and crisis service use while improving recovery, quality of life and satisfaction. It found that those receiving help through the open dialogue were:

• 3 x less likely to have a hospital admission
• If they we’re admitted they spent 54% less time in hospital
• And were half as likely to be referred to crisis teams.

This makes it one of the strongest pieces of evidence yet for relational, network-based adult mental health care.

Open dialogue is a relational approach that involves a person’s support network, relevant family members, friends and others that they trust. It is both a therapeutic approach and a way of organising mental health care.

The ODDESSI trial is another piece of solid evidence that we need to step away from biomedical approaches and towards a system that recognises the impact of our experiences, our circumstances, and the human interconnections around us.

Read the full outcomes of the ODESSI trial here: Open Dialogue versus treatment as usual for adults presenting in crisis to mental health services in England (the ODDESSI Trial): a multisite cluster-randomised trial

Link to media coverage Treatment involving patient’s family cuts mental health hospital admissions, study finds – BBC News