188 Chapter 7 Collaboration paradigm The first challenge of this research was to implement the informal social network intervention in forensic psychiatric care. In the past decades there have been an increasing number of initiatives and providers working with volunteers – informal care2. Reviews have been conducted, showing the potential value of informal care (Dekker, van Straaten, & el Kaddouri, 2013; Mead et al., 2010; Siette et al., 2017; van der Tier & Potting, 2015). Recently, in response to the high workloads of professionals and the increasing shortage of professionals, the importance of a collaboration between formal and informal care has been emphasized by advisory committees of the Dutch government: “Naar een gelijkwaardig samenspel tussen naasten, vrijwilligers en beroepskrachten” [Towards equal interaction between close ones, volunteers, and professionals] (Raad voor Strafrechttoepassing en Jeugdbescherming, 2022; Raad voor Volksgezondheid en Samenleving, 2022). However, before the conception of this research, informal and professional or formal care often operated independently (van Bochove, van Dijk, Hop, & de Graaff, 2019). Forensic professionals barely discussed the option of informal care with patients, mainly because they were unfamiliar with informal care services and were unsure of their usefulness (van Bochove et al., 2019). Furthermore, psychiatric patients with complex problems and care needs, such as forensic psychiatric outpatients, are likely to have limited access to informal care and are less likely to use informal care, possibly due to poverty, negative expectations, and stigma (Biegel, Tracy, & Song, 1995; Perese, 2007; Webber et al., 2014). Against this background, the research team considered a collaborative project between a formal and an informal care institute with a longstanding experience in providing volunteer services. After several meetings with the research team, managers of formal and informal care, professional caregivers, and informal care coordinators, a collaboration agreement was established. In our experience, the collaboration between formal care and informal care was a natural and straightforward process. Therefore, we coin the term collaboration paradigm, defined as “formal and informal care work to reinforce and complement each other”. The institutes in this research had an overlapping mission and vision of caring for people with complex problems and needs, acknowledged each other’s expertise; responsibilities were clear and divided, shared the intention to complement each other, were willing to adapt processes and learn from each other, shared funding, and perhaps most importantly, were prepared to make a long-term commitment (Killaspy et al., 2022). 2 Informal care, also known as the voluntary or non-profit sector, has expanded with the adoption of neoliberal policies by governments worldwide, advocating that people should rely less on the government and the professional for care (Delsen, 2016; Ramon, 2008). Instead, people are stimulated to actively participate in the society, which includes actively caring for their personal social networks and for vulnerable people in the society – engaging in informal care.
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