Maeve O’Halloran and Owen Doody reflect on the role of nurses in maintaining links between people with intellectual disabilities, their families and service providers

Fostering mutual relationships, where the expertise of all parties is valued and promoted, is central to providing a supportive environment in a family-centred service. In this article, the nurse manager of a home support and respite service reflects on her working relationship with families to illustrate an example of the complexity of family-centred care and its application in practice.