Health Nursing - Identify Issue For Change - Mental Health - Assessment Answer

Health Nursing Assignment

Enlist Supporters: First, enlist two supporters to help you decide what area of your life to focus on and to help you stay on track. Your supporters can be people in your life outside of University (such as family and friends), other students, or therapeutic supporters (such as a counsellor, personal trainer, nutritionist, etc). If you would like to support/be supported by a fellow student, post a request asking for supporters in the Assessment Forum in Moodle.

Identify issue for change: Next, you will identify an area in your life where you would like to make positive change, focusing on self-care. Some people choose to work on substantial issues like anxiety, while others choose issues like weight-loss, quitting smoking or cutting down on alcohol. The important thing is to identify something that would be meaningful to you, something you would like to do but do not usually find time for it.

Develop a Plan: NB: the plan itself is not marked and does not contribute to the word count, it merely needs to be included at the beginning of your Word document to help your marker understand the points you discuss in your essay. In collaboration with your supporters develop your self-care plan. Include details of your plan in the first 1-2 pages of your assignment. You can use photos/graphics or images as well as words/tables/graphs. Remember this is a Recovery-based self-care plan so it's important to be strengths-focused and self-directed in order to best suit you! Your plan should clearly identify:

• What area of your life you want to work on
• How you propose achieving yourgoal
• What supports you have in place and the role they will play
• What challenges you may face and possible ways of addressing these

Implement your Plan and keep a journal: NB: the journal does not form part of the document you submit for marking and there is no requirement that anyone else reads your journal but you. The journal is merely to help you remember key reflections and thoughts you will need when writing your essay.

As you progress through your self-care journey it will be helpful to record in your journal:

• howyoufeltaboutthesupportyoureceivedeachtimeyouinteractwithsupporters
• how your journey is progressingand why
• what helps and/or hindersyou along the way and how you deal with any obstacles

Checklist - Part 1:

• Create a self-care plan in collaboration with your supporters
• Implement your plan
• Aim to record in your journal at least 15-20 minutes per week
• For your assessment submission include your plan only (not your journal entries) as "Part 1"In the second part of your document you will write an essay in the first-person using your own self-care experience to compare and contrast to that of mental health consumers, using relevant literature to support your discussion.

Checklist - Part 2:

• Write in a first person academic style. If you're not sure how, go to 'Assessment tips and examples' in Moodle for more information.
• Compare and contrast your experience to that of mental health consumers, using relevant literature to support your discussion.

Introduction

The journey of mental health recovery is the responsibility of both the nurse and the consumer. It is important for both the stakeholders to develop a recovery plan where the consumer communicates easily on what is meaningful. This plan will generally guide the mental health recovery process. Therefore, the essay will critically assess my recovery plan apart from discussing the obstacles that hindered me from attaining the specific objectives as well as those elements that assisted me in realizing the specific objectives. A short and precise explanation will be provided on how I felt to narrate my story while working closely with the new supporter. Moreover, my discussion will also focus on the external and internal parameters that influenced the success of my journey to recovery as anchored in reflective practice. It is worth to note that the essay focuses on critical review of mental health recovery as emphasized by the holistic model approach. This will generally facilitate comparison of my journey to recovery with the medical model approach. In summary, I will give a description of my personal perception of mental health recovery in relation to nursing practice while at the same time illustrating the significance of relationship building as a therapeutic process.

Developing a recovery plan

I do believe that there are approximately three components that are essential for mental health recoveryMental health recovery depends heavily on these components that needs to be implemented. This may pose a great challenge. However, it is worth to note that the three components are very real as well as achievable.

Self-commitment to recovery process

In my journey towards mental health recovery, self-commitment will be the first step. I believe that mental health recovery relies heavily on taking the initial steps of moving forward so as to improve the mental health and consequently life. It would be essential for the nurse and the consumer to make an agreement and act upon the covenant in a stepwise manner (Allison, Mark & Gary, 2015). This is to emphasize on the objective of the plan. Notably, in most of the cases recovery planning focuses on assessment. The implication is that assessment says a lot about the character of the consumer at that particular time, but it does not give any clue where the consumer is headed to. Therefore, I believe that alternative plans can be drawn to encompass long-term objectives rather than the simple short-term objectives. Ideally, a good recovery plan needs to focus primarily on long-term objectives and at the same time, including the intermediary goals which are less intimidating recovery steps (Mary, Scott, & Scott, 2010). This will allow the consumer to take action toward personal recovery.

Self-management and empowerment

In my plan for recovery, I realized that self-management and empowerment form an integral component in the journey to mental health recovery. Self-management implies that an individual like myself should take the necessary actions that will help him/ her live a life that is anchored on the premises of the choices they make (Sue, 2012). On the other hand, empowerment implies that one should take responsibilities and exercise rights in making important choices regarding life. It has been observed that consumers with serious mental disorders sometimes exercise some kind of choices about themselves and actually take the essential steps in their journey to attain complete recovery (Text, 2013). For instance, many consumers are able to manage and control their medication administration.

Holistic personal approach

This part of the plan entails addressing in totality the key aspects of life. These aspects contribute to consumer’s well-being. My perception is that goal-setting will assist consumers to approach the recovery process in a comprehensive manner. This approach offers a systematic way of doing things. I do believe that holistic personal approach should consider all the consumer traits (Nastaran, Ellie & Tracy, 2015).

The reason why I put myself in the consumer’s shoes is to be able to compare and contrast my own personal experience with that of any other consumer. To start with, I have been struggling with Bulimia since high school. This has seen me struggling with depression throughout my young adult life. Unlike most cases of consumers with mental disorder who seek support from rehabilitation centers, I vented out my sadness and anger onto harming myself. Seeing myself in the mirror made I despised myself even more. My own mind would tell me that am not good enough, pretty enough, thin enough, or smart enough. My nurse realized that I was off the truck in my journey to recovery and referred me to a support center called St. Monica. Unlike many consumers who generally struggled with mental health condition in support centers, I consider myself lucky since I have started treatment early enough before my condition worsen. Notably, many consumers solely rely on family and friends as additional support (Digest, 2016). However, in my case I have the additional advantage of getting support from my fellow students at the university. My recovery has been a success and I owe this to the caring nurses at St. Monica. The nurses assisted me in structuring my daily activities, planning my meals and even learning again how to love myself. Currently, when I start thinking negatively about myself, I get resistant to such thoughts since I am armed with a number of coping skills to help me fight such destructive thoughts. This is the advantage the consumers benefit from by getting support from a mental health care clinic (Van Lith, Fenner & Schofield, The lived experience of art making as a companion to the mental health recovery process, 2011). Today my belief is that anybody struggling with mental disorders can be helped through support either at family level, at school, or in a mental health clinic (Marlatt, 2011). Moreover, I can assure fellow consumers that with the right support and even treatment, one is able to recover fully. From my experience at the support center, I have come to realize that fighting destructive behavior associated with mental illness is achievable. This is because the nurses at the support centers also empathize with consumers and are always ready to help (Milbourn, McNamara & Buchanan, 2014).

The reason as to why is should plan and strategies on my mental health recovery journey is based on my experience after coming back home from the mental health clinic. As soon as I was home, I came face to face with loneliness. Like many consumers, I realized that developing a prior plan and following the schedule of the plan can significantly improve the quality of health of a mentally ill person or consumer. However, a post-crisis recovery plan still remains an option for consumers who care to develop and follow such plans (Van Lith, 2014). This I experienced to be a significant step for any consumer in the quest of quick recovery from mental conditions. When I got home from the mental health clinic, my positive steps suffered a setback. I had to be taken to the hospital twice in a span of two days after each discharge. Therefore, my recovery-oriented approach based on my personal recovery goals was to stick to my plan, no matter the crisis I was facing both at home and at work place (Silver et al 2011). This implies that consumers are likely to come to the reality in the community where healing takes some steps backwards unless the journey to recovery is carefully planned, orchestrated and implemented as it is done in a hospital set-up. Consequently, my setting of goals is informed by my experience of setback at home when I was discharged from the clinic. It is worth to note that even in the developing of a post-crisis recovery plan the input of support from counselors at the mental health clinic is vital (Javier, Marcelino, Sergio & Rosario, 2016). This is because the recovery of most of the consumers from a crisis may take long for mental illness is a disease just like any other illness. The implication is that a consumer needs support and assistance starting from the planning stage. This support may be reduced gradually as an individual consumer gets better and even better with time. My perception is that planning in advance makes much sense for dealing with mental health problems at that critical time that may not be foreseen now. This would facilitate rapid recovery and wellness. Finally, it is imperative to note that developing a plan with support from a second party is likely to achieve the needs of both the consumer and the nurse thereby fast-tracking recovery process.

The importance of self-care for me as a student is that it is likely to assist me in developing a healthier lifestyle. This can be beneficial to me since it enables me to reduce stress and improve on my physical health which can go a long way in improving my mental health (Gstad, Ekeland & Hummelvoll, 2011). As a consumer, I have come to realize that fellow students suffering from mental illness are at a very high risk of certain unhealthy behaviors. This is to say, students usually find it difficult and quite challenging in making healthy choices as well as managing stress effectively in the school environment. Self-care comes in handy in assisting fellow students on how to reduce stress levels triggered by academic demands. Self-care generally reduce stress levels by helping the student to improve on skills such as relaxation, time management as well as stress management (Sue, 2012). Notably, studies have shown that a variety of relaxation techniques may be effective in reducing both stress and stress symptoms that are associated with mental illness. In addition, the notion of feeling close and connected to other students is a significant factor during the mental health recovery journey. Research has established that over three quarters of college and university students are overwhelmed or stressed most of the times (Gammon, Strand & Eng, 2015). Therefore, supportive relationship through self-care is the only option of managing these challenging periods in students’ lives. Furthermore, self-care has always emphasized on physical exercise. Research has shown that regular physical workout lessens mental health risks and also lessens the chronic mental illness symptoms.

On the other hand, nurses are trained on how to take care of mentally ill patients, it is part and parcel of their core duty. However, based on my experience as a practicing nurse, nurses usually portray reluctance in applying self-care principles in their lives (Burmeister & Marks, 2016). They usually experience difficulty in identifying self-care activities matching their personal interests which may be easily and effectively assimilated into their individual lives. This is despite the fact that self-care can assist the nurse to cope with the inherent stress at workplace. Practicing nurse experience fatigue, tension and exhaustion. Among the practicing nurses there are occupational stresses such as staffing patterns; surrogate decision-making; challenging and unpredictable workspaces; increased paperwork; role ambiguity, protection of the patients’ rights, advanced care planning; greater patient acuity; violence; reduced managerial support as well as role conflict (O’Hare, Davidson, Campbell & Michael, 2013). To help the nurses, workplace models focusing on self-care have been designed to lower stress among the nurses. Such workplace models for nurses have been implemented as well as evaluated and found effective. My experience with the workplace models for nurses is that discussion on the effect of stress on mental health is conducted and then the program, participating nurses are given a wellness plan to address individual needs. Such self-care programs are personalized for individual nurses (Tondora, Miller & Slade, 2014).

For the consumers, self-care program may be suitable in addressing some of the negative feelings that I experienced in my journey to recovery. During this period of fighting mental health as a consumer, I felt confusion, dread, hesitation, and resentment. These feelings surprised me and made me feel awful with a lot of discomfort. I envisaged that if were to be placed into a self - care program, then my predicament as a consumer would have been sorted effectively and with ease. My responsibility as a father of two children, a part-time nurse as well as a college student overstretched me beyond limits. This made me inquire more about self-care for consumers at a mental health clinic. This is because my attempts to contact my friends and family members through phone calls and emails bore no fruit. From the inquiry I made on self-care for consumers, they were accommodating and I realized that my recovery journey was of importance to the staff at the mental health clinic (Janet, 2014). The feeling of abandonment faded and I became more optimistic. Initially as a consumer I had the feeling that my self-esteem had been negatively impacted due to the fact that my friends and family were ignoring me. I came to think of a consumer of the mental illness service experiencing disillusionment, poor contact and isolation without self-care at his or her disposal. To me the consumer would never ever recover from such predicament. Such predicament would be detrimental to the consumer’s mental health (Hall, Wren, & Kirby, 2013).

Conclusion

In my journey towards mental health recovery, self-commitment will be the first step. I believe that mental health recovery relies heavily on taking the initial steps of moving forward so as to improve the mental health and consequently life. Self-management implies that an individual like myself should take the necessary actions that will help him/ her live a life that is anchored on the premises of the choices they make. On the other hand, empowerment implies that one should take responsibilities and exercise rights in making important choices regarding life. My perception is that goal-setting will assist consumers to approach the recovery process in a comprehensive manner. The reason as to why is should plan and strategies on my mental health recovery journey is based on my experience after coming back home from the mental health clinic. As soon as I was home, I came face to face with loneliness. Like many consumers, I realized that developing a prior plan and following the schedule of the plan can significantly improve the quality of health of a mentally ill person or consumer. The importance of self-care for me as a student is that it is likely to assist me in developing a healthier lifestyle. This can be beneficial to me since it enables me to reduce stress and improve on my physical health which can go a long way in improving my mental health. On the other hand, nurses are trained on how to take care of mentally ill patients, it is part and parcel of their core duty. However, based on my experience as a practicing nurse, nurses usually portray reluctance in applying self-care principles in their lives.