Distress Brief Intervention

The need to improve the response to people presenting in distress has been strongly advocated by people who have experience of distress and by front line service providers, resulting in the launch of the Scottish Government Distress Brief Intervention (DBI) Programme in 2016.

Initially tested, developed and continuously improved in the original first pilot sites of Aberdeen, Inverness, Lanarkshire and Scottish Borders, the DBI programme is now being ‘rolled out’ across Scotland’s Health & Social Care Partnerships. In addition, national pathways from NHS24, Police Scotland and Scottish Ambulance Service to DBI are being incrementally developed. Furthermore, DBI has been extended to 16 years and over as standard, down from 18 years and over and the applicability of DBI to those aged under 16 is currently being tested.

DBI is a non-clinical intervention, consisting of two interrelated parts. Level 1 sees trained front-line staff such as health, police, ambulance and primary care staff help ease the person’s distress, provide a compassionate response and where appropriate, involves an offer of a seamless referral, with confidence and clarity to a DBI Level 2 service. Level 2 is provided by commissioned and trained third sector staff who contact the person within 24-hours of referral and provide community-based problem solving support, wellness and distress management planning, supported connections and signposting.