Cultural Consultation Service (CCS)

Please watch a sample clinical cultural formulation conducted on an acute psychiatric ward. Prof. Jadhav pioneered the Bloomsbury Cultural Formulation details of which are at available here.

The aim of the Cultural Consultation Service is to provide clinical cultural consultations and capacity building for Trust staff. Referrals are welcome from any clinical service in the Trust, from across the United Kingdom and from clinicians in Europe. This includes inpatient, out patient including Community Mental Health Trust services, and planned Mental Health Assessments. A major focus of the cultural consultation is to aim for a cultural dialogue on mutually constructed identities and how this may shape clinical encounters, as well as capacity building withint the clinical team of the referrer.

Consultant consent must be sought by the referrer. A completed referral form should be sent to the sushrut.jadhav1@nhs.net Upon receipt of the referral, we will make telephone contact with the referrer within seven working days and allocate a time slot based on mutual convenience. For inpatient referrals, the pending outcome of the cultural consultation should not delay discharge.

Download the Cultural Consultation Service Referral form [docx] 76KB. 

The first consultation with the service is held online with the clinician(s) where they will conduct a cultural assessment and unpack the cultural psychodynamics of the 'problem'.

In some situations, consultants will meet with the patients and care co-ordinator and/or the referring clinician to conduct a Bloomsbury Cultural Formulation Interview.

In other situations, clinical issues or information needed could also be discussed over the telephone or on a video platform.

In all instances, mandatory bespoke readings will also be provided and discussed in follow-up meetings.

The service does not offer cultural fixes, instruments and scales to solve the problem of 'culture'. The emphasis is on appreciating the processes through which wider cultural conflicts, alliances and strengths in society are embodied in patient suffering; and how the clinicians' and their institutions’ cultural identity mutually shape the eliciting, engagement, diagnosis and management in their clinical encounters.

The service is available on 16 October, 13 November, and 10 December 2025, 11am -1pm (when in person, travel time may need to be allowed for).

Emergency referrals can be accommodated at any time during the week and is likely to be over telephone and/or video platform.

From January 2025, the service will be available online, on the second Friday of each month, 11am to 1pm.

The service will aim to empower clinicians to address cultural dimensions of engagement, diagnosis, and management. It aims to enhance their clinical cultural sensitivity and team capacity building rather than offering a cultural fix to the referrer including meeting with the subject/s of concern.

The service will be monitored through an evaluation and feedback form, Trust Audit officer, and senior clinical line managers.