Stigma and Discrimination

Check out this video from YouTube. It's an ad you will probably recognise if you are from New Zealand as it is part of the 'Like Minds, Like Mine' mental health awareness programme. This particular TV advertisement focuses on stigma and discrimination. Also, if this sparks an interest, the website for this mental health programme has many great resources, check it out - http://www.likeminds.org.nz/

My next post will be about stigma and discrimination in relation to recovery.

How do you think stigma might affect recovery? How can mental health workers, in particular occupational therapists, in an acute mental health setting deal with this stigma appropriately?

I'd love to hear your ideas and feedback!

Anna

Hope - a Key Concept of Recovery

Picture retreived from: http://www.travel-destination-pictures.com/inukshuk-alaska-150-pictures.htm on 30 August, 2010.

While searching for more information I came across a reference to the Inuit inukshuk. At first I did not understand the link, how could a stone figure relate to mental health and recovery? However, upon further research the link became obvious.

An inukshuk is a monument made from pieces of stone which are used by the Inuits for communication to ensure they are on the right path. The traditional meaning of an inukshuk is "someone was here" or "you are on the right path". They are used for survival - to guide people on the right path (http://www.inukshukgallery.com/inukshuk.html). This, to me, indicates that they give people hope.

Hope is a vital aspect of the Recovery Approach, which explains that people should hold hope that they will recover (Mental Health commission, 1998). Competency 2.3 of the New Zealand Recovery Competencies for Mental Health Workers (Mental Health Commission, 2001) states that mental health workers must "demonstrate the ability to support service users to experience positive self-image, hope and motivation".

However, within acute mental health, it may not be easy for staff to encourage clients to hold hope. Clients in an inpatient acute ward will be surrounded by other clients who are also acutely unwell. Being surrounded by ill people can be disheartening as clients try to find hope and role models, especially for adolescents who are experiencing their first episode of a mental illness.

An excellent way to gain hope is by seeing other people who have ‘recovered’ from mental illness and through integration into the community, including non-health organisations (Mental Health Commission, 1998).

However, from an occupational therapists perspective, it is difficult to help clients attend community organisations while in an acute ward. Clients are generally in the acute ward because they are a risk to themselves or others, and therefore are not always safe to leave the ward until they are in a better frame of mind.

Nevertheless, some inpatients are able to attend outpatient mental health groups, as an occupational therapist is able to provide them with information about groups outside of the hospital, and is able to organise for clients to attend these groups. However, this can be difficult due to leave restrictions and the availability of staff to escort clients off the premises of the ward.

This is just one aspect of the recovery approach, and the issues that may arise when applying it to an acute ward. Have you got anymore ideas about helping client’s foster hope within this environment? How do you think, as health professionals, we can help clients hold hope that they will get better?

More soon,
Anna

Some Interesting Links

For further information about mental health in New Zealand check out the mental health foundation website. It has statistics about mental health, information about what the foundation does and even a blog of its own.

http://www.mentalhealth.org.nz/page/5-Home

New Zealand's mental health commission website also has some great resources on it. It contains information about your rights as a patient, family member or clinician, mental health services in New Zealand and also has many helpful FAQ's.

http://www.mhc.govt.nz/Content/Home/Welcome.htm

Check out this UK website about mental health. It gives in depth information about mental health, and also offers further information about recovery.

http://www.rethink.org/

So, what IS the Recovery Approach?

OK, so now that we have a better understanding about what recovery in mental health is, it's time to start thinking about how we, as health care professionals, enhance the recovery process for our clients.

In New Zealand, as has been stated previously, the government has endorsed the use of the 'Recovery Approach' through the Blueprint document of 1998. Therefore, health professionals working in the mental health sector are encouraged to use this approach to guide their practice.

The Recovery Approach emphasises an individuals potential to recover and live a full life although their illness may still be present (Anthony, 1993).

It is important to note that the Mason Report of 1996 led to the establishment of the Mental Health Commission which created the 'Blueprint for Mental Health Services in New Zealand: How things should be' (Reed, 2006).

The New Zealand recovery principles are largely based upon the literature surrounding the consumer movement and have been redefined to fit the current New Zealand culture (Reed, 2006). The approach in New Zealand has been influenced by the Treaty of Waitangi and socio-political trends.

We also have access to a document entitled 'Recovery Competencies for New Zealand Mental Health Workers, 2001'. This document describes how mental health workers can work within the recovery principles outlineds by the recovery approach.

Within this blog I will go on to explore some of these principles, particularly in relation to occupational therapy. In the mean time, here is a link to the Recovery Competencies for New Zealand Mental Health Workers, 2001.

http://www.mhc.govt.nz/Resources/Publications/Workforce

What is Recovery?

I found this image when doing a simple search on google images for 'recovery in mental health'. I love it, as it illustrates many words which, when combined, can make up part of the recovery process for many people who experience mental health.

One thing to keep in mind, however, is that recovery is NOT a game. Unlike scrabble, recovery is a deeply personal journey. The Mental Health Foundation (1998), describes recovery as living positively with or without the presence of mental illness.

As you can see, this is not the way many people would define recovery. In terms of physical health recovery is generally getting rid of an illness or ailment altogether. For example, if you get the flu, your recovery would involve resting until you get rid of it.

However, in mental health it is not always so simple to 'recover'. An individual may always feel the effects of their mental illness, and they may have good or bad days. But, over a period of time, individuals may still feel they have 'recovered' as they have sufficient coping strategies to live positively with their illness.

Recovery will be different for everyone, it is a deeply personal and unique process which may involve the changing of goals, attitudes, roles and values in order to develop new purpose and meaning in one's life (Anthony, 1993).

If anyone has any further ideas about recovery in mental health I would love to hear about these, feel free to comment!!

Welcome!

Hi to all, and welcome to the blog about recovery in mental health! My name is Anna Chapman, and I am a final year occupational therapy student. Over my three years of studying at the School of Occupational Therapy in Otago, New Zealand, I have gained experience in many areas. One of my favourite areas has been in mental health.

While on an acute inpatient mental health placement at the beginning of this year, I was introduced to the concepts of the Recovery Approach. I found that there was not always the scope to apply these concepts in this particular setting. This left me feeling a little confused, considering that, in New Zealand, the government endorses the use of the Recovery Approach in all mental health settings.

In first semester this year I also completed an assignment about the use of the Recovery Approach in acute mental health. This increased my understanding about the approach, and helped me realise I was not the only person who struggled to apply the approach in acute mental health!

Within this blog I would like to share with you what I have learnt about the approach, and increase awareness about the concepts of recovery in mental health.