Fishbowl Exercise

QPRT Training

Fishbowl Exercise

1.  During the morning training session, observe the trainees in your audience to identify two individuals who would be willing and able to participate in a role play in front of the group. The best individuals are those who are outspoken during the training and seem to demonstrate good clinical skills by their questions and comments.

2.  At the lunch break, ask the two individuals who you have selected if they would be willing to participate in the role play. Make sure that they are aware that it will be in front of the entire group.

3.  One individual will play the clinician; the other the client.

4.  Instruct the individual role playing the client to think of someone with whom he/she has worked and to create a mental profile while the other individual role playing the clinician asks him/her questions. Do not provide any historical or background information to the participants except the following to set the stage (you will need to provide this information to everyone before the role play begins): the name, gender and age of the client; the setting of care; the assumption that the clinician has been working with the client for at least several months (so there is rapport). Instruct the participants to make the rest of the scenario up as they go along.

5.  Instruct the individual role playing the clinician to use the QPRT to assess the “client’s” risk for suicide.

6.  While the two participants are completing the assessment, instruct the remainder of the class to concurrently complete their QPRT form as the information is provided.

7.  Once the “clinician” has exhausted his/her list of questions, ask the class if they have any additional questions that they would like the client to answer. Allow them to ask their questions one at a time.

8.  Once all questions have been asked, instruct the class to select their level of risk, level of monitoring and to write their justification for their response.

9.  After everyone has completed those sections of the QPRT, complete a separate QPRT together as a class with the information the trainees provide. Review each item’s information and the process used to gather the information as indicated.

10.  Ask the class what level of monitoring they would recommend. Get a show of hands from the class to determine the number of participants who selected the different levels. Discuss the justification.