Mental health consultation: Stages in the consultation process

This is the second of two articles that present theoretical issues concerning mental health consultation. The first article looked at the question of what consultation is and how it differs from related processes such as supervision, therapy and staff development (Luntz 1999). This paper uses Kadushin’s six stage framework for social work consultation to look at some common issues which confront consultants in the process of mental health consultation as they establish, maintain and terminate consultative relationships with agencies and workers, giving an account of some of the complex issues which bedevil each of the stages.