Community mental health interventions

Introduction

As a psychology and counselling expert, I am working with a community mental health charity whose objective is to minimize the levels of depression in the local area where unemployment and poverty are the major challenges. Therefore, the health providers and local authority are reviewing their ‘health and wellbeing strategy’ due to the depression level among adults of working age. Therefore, the local authority has created an initiative to promote innovative organizations that seek to address these problems. My organization is among those taking a service user-led, collaborative approach to offer mental health services. Within the organization, both professionals and service users are represented in the leadership of the service. Also, services are provided offers interventions at individual psychotherapy where clients can self-refer or are referred from their GP surgery and activism and campaigning at community levels promoting mental health, including working with the local community on issues that have been identified as significant, such as social cohesion, inequality and racism. Therefore as an expert, I will respond to a call by the local authority to participate in the review of the work of innovative mental health organizations in the locality and help address mental health challenges. Therefore, I will create a report that presents an outline of the interventions and justify their provision.

A Service User-Led Approach

My organization uses a user-based approach to improve information and accessibility of services. Also, the organization aims to promote [coordination of care and in the relationships between service user and clinicians, especially in the local area where care is to some level neglected. Moreover, the organization understand the impact of mental health on the general population and family. According to the Open University (2021a), mental health stigma and discrimination, which almost all mental health individual have devastating consequences to an individual than the mental health conditions themselves thus being a ‘global public health challenge. Also the study also suggest that, 9 % of individual are being abused in work due to mental health challenges. Therefore, our organization seek to promote independent living, enlighten people of their rights and enable service users to exercise choice and control in their lives. Also the organization is aware that service can be improved by individual who use them and can have vital role in delivering, monitoring and evaluating services. Also we are aware of the carer challenges with mental health patients like patients denial of mental disorders, exposure to unpredictable patient behaviour, violence and aggression, patient’s refusal of drugs and emotional exhaustion. Unfortunately, mental facilities like hospital do not address these issue, thus leaving carers to deal with great challenge. Therefore, our company aims to play a key role in providing consultation due to their increased knowledge in the area and involving more marginalized groups in consultation. Also, the organization acknowledge the impact of discriminations in mental health and the role of diversity, thus aiming to provide non-discriminatory services and recognize diversity in terms of religion, race, gender, disability and sexual orientation. Also, we recognize the need for a family of mental health victims that are not being met; thus, we aim to acknowledge the role of carers and their many needs that need to be addressed. Therefore, we are committed to working with an individual with mental health and collaborate with a related organization to contribute and transform mental health perception in the community.

More importantly, we are aware of the ethical need in mental health. According to the Open University (2021b), the Mental Health Act (1983) is among the important legislation that determines people's assessment, treatment, and rights with a mental health disorder. An individual under this legislation requires urgent treatment for a mental health disorder and prevention of harm from themselves and others. Similarly, Carl Rogers, who is the ‘founding father’ of person-centred approaches, suggests that the services are driven by the analyst's expertise and their interpretations of their clients’ experiences (The Open University, 2021c). Therefore, as an expert organization, we aim to promote the highest ethical value, including informed consent and confidentiality. Also, we know that Patients have the right to demand and obtain release from involuntary admission, especially when an individual is a danger to self or others. Similarly, we are aware of the Mental Health Act 2007, which ensures that individuals with severe mental illness that threaten their safety or health can be treated regardless of their consent to reduce possibility of harming themselves or others.

Therefore, service user involvement is critical to providing positive clinical outcomes, including confidence, therapeutic benefits and self-esteem resulting from optimized social interaction.

Individual Therapy

The objective of this intervention is to reduce the levels of depression in the locality. Most of the depression is created by an increased level of unemployment and poverty. Therefore, as per the local authority, there is a need to promote and address these problems. Therefore, to solve this challenge, there is a need to use cognitive approaches to mental distress- Cognitive behavioural therapy.

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a treatment strategy whose objective is to assist individual to learn how to identify disturbing thought patterns that may negatively impact their emotions and behaviour and change them. It aims at changing the automatic negative thoughts, which creates emotional difficulties, anxiety and depression. Therefore the application of this strategy is critical to meeting the objective of the local authority. According to the Open University (2021d), CBT is based on the notion that unhelpful ways of thinking create distress; thus, the intervention focuses on highlighting and challenging how clients think concerning their experiences. It is an effective way of restructuring thoughts and enabling individual to rediscover themselves.

Life presents series of challenges and makes many people feel depressed from time to time. Feeling depressed due to unemployment and poverty is common in society, though with effective interventions, it can be prevented. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is critical in modifying individual thought patterns (The Open University, 2021d). It helps change the moods and behaviour of an individual. CBT treatment is thought to blend behavioural and cognitive therapy whereby the therapist help individual to identify particular negative thought patterns and challenging situations. After identifying these needs and challenges, the therapist guides the individual to be more constructive and cope with the challenges. Therefore, the application of this strategy can help people cope with unemployment rather than taking it as a great challenge to their lives.

According to the Cognitive-behavioral models of depression, negative life events and individual perception to those occurrence often impact their maintenance and development of depressive symptoms (Liu et al., 2018). Therefore, helping unemployed and poor people to think diversely can help change the perception of unemployment, thus helping reduce depression. Similarly, it can change the development of depressive symptoms. Therefore, cognitive behaviour therapy can be very helpful in addressing the need of community and local authority. Through the application of this therapy, it is also possible to eliminate or minimize upsetting disorders or emphasise how to improve the state of mind in the right direction. Through the application of this strategy, community members can be helped on the ways of controlling and modifying distorted reactions and thoughts to accurately determine external situations, practice self-talk that is balanced and more importantly, utilizes self-evaluation to respond and reflect appropriately (The Open University, 2021d).

There are various strategies that the therapy uses for various individuals. Among the diverse strategies is Guided discovery. This is a mode of therapy where the therapist questions the client to explore core believes and specific cognitions (The Open University, 2021d). In this technique, there is a sub-technique known as ‘downward arrow’, where the therapist continues to ask clients questions to arrive at core beliefs concerning themselves and others or the future. According to the Open University (2021d), most of these negative beliefs were observed by Beck (1976) were responsible for the negative biases that impact individual interpretation, perception, and thinking (week 13).

Another strategy is that can be effective in handling depression in the community is the courtroom technique. This process involves using ‘court’ - the use of evidence to challenge the negative belief that a client poses. It includes asking for evidence that supports such a belief and comparing this with the evidence that is not supporting belief. However, it is critical to remember that in CBT, great focus is placed on client to enable them to practice what they have learned in their daily lives. At the end of the therapy, the therapist co-construct a blueprint or relapse management plan to help the client reflect on all that they have learned.

This strategy is preferred since it works to change thought patterns and on modifying behaviours. Since unemployment cannot be solved in one day, this strategy is critical to enabling people to cope with challenges and be creative. Also, unlike other therapies, it addresses a specific problem, thinking and undesirable behaviours, thus being a critical intervention (The Open University, 2021d). Likewise, it is goal-oriented and has clear set goals for each session, thus helping the residents recover quickly and adapt to new lives. Furthermore, other than changing thoughts, it is educational and enables people to monitor their feelings and thoughts, thus being a lifetime approach to poverty among the residents and other life challenges.

Community activism/campaigning

Mass Guidance and Counselling/Advice

The local authority cite concerns aiming at the working class, including high levels of unemployment and poverty. Unfortunately, unemployment is a global issue, and the global labour force does not generate enough new jobs to absorb new entrants to the labour market (Laanani et al., 2015). Therefore, addressing the impact caused by this aspect need more sophisticated strategies which would promote long term reduction in depression and innovation to cope with the issue since solving it is challenging even to developed economies

Group guidance and counselling are effective strategies to help individuals be fully aware of their thoughts. It is effective in alleviating mental health issues on a large scale. Ristianti et al. (2019) state that group guidance and counselling comprise six to eight individuals who have a similar condition and meet face-to-face with therapists and talk about what most concerns them. Therefore, since the people in the community have similar challenges concerning employment, mostly causing depression, group advice as a campaign strategy can help in reaching many people and helping them change their thoughts and behaviour. Also, it is essential since it gives individual an opportunity to interact with others facing issues similar to their own (Ristianti et al., 2019).

Therefore, to apply this theory, a person-centred group counselling strategy will be applied. This strategy was influenced by Carl Roger's belief in nondirective counselling. According to the theorist, when an effective environment is created, and acceptance and warmth are promoted, individuals grow (Sa'ad et al., 2014). The application of this strategy enables people to develop their inner resources while the group help members develop their potential. Also, the theorist bellied that some conditions such as active listening, communication, and confrontation can be created to promote how people develop (p.927). In this group counselling, the therapist is directed by the members and serve as role models of openness, warmth, acceptance and congruence.

This method of activism is the best since everyone needs to meet their financial need in the community. Therefore being unable to meet these need might be challenging to an individual. Therefore, reaching these people and helping them understand their condition through a "service user involvement- like strategy" can be very helpful. According to the Systemic counselling theories, individuals' behaviour, feeling, and thinking are largely shaped by pressures exerted on an individual by the social systems in the community their life in (McMahon & Patton, 2018). Since the community expect any working-class individual to be working and earning money, using groups counselling can help understand what others are feeling and thinking and help reduce pressure on an individual. Also, it can help individuals realize that they are not alone in the unemployment line, thus enabling people to appreciate their condition and reduce depression. Also, since unemployment is not a challenge that will end anytime soon, humanistic counselling theories can be very effective in helping the group. According to this theory, people have all the resources they need to live functional and healthy lives (McMahon & Patton, 2018). Therefore, group counselling can be very effective in generating idea for the group to be innovative and utilize their critical thinking to create employment or look for other survival techniques other than employment. Furthermore, to promote lifelong stress reduction, cognitive counselling theories application is critical; this theory suggests that individual experience emotional and psychological challenges when their thinking is out of sync with reality (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2016). This theory can help individuals realize that they have to think based on realities and solve the current problem and other future challenges. The group intervention is thus critical to providing effective thinking, creativity and conveying acceptance through understanding the situation of others and changing the current behaviour and perception. More importantly, it is evident that there is a lack of understanding of the global employment state; thus, combined with community expectations, individuals have depression. Therefore, group awareness is critical to developing self-awareness and awareness of others and the reality in the world. Also, it helps make people feel less alienated, change one's behaviour, and have a solution to their future challenges.

Therefore, providing people with awareness through the experience of others, making them feel less alienated and equipping them with rational thinking on a situation can help reduce stress and anxiety and, more important, cater for their future needs when in stressful condition.

Conclusion

As a psychology and counselling expert working with a community mental health charity, my objective was to create a report of the interventions for mental health issues and justify the provision. The local authority needs to reduce depression level among adults of working age facing poverty and unemployment. The first intervention is the provision of a service user-led approach; my organization aims to understand the impact of mental health on the general population and family and promote independent living, enlighten people of their rights, and enable service users to exercise choice control in their lives. The service user involvement promotes positive clinical outcomes, including confidence, self-esteem and therapeutic. Another intervention is cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) which is used to address depression using change in thinking pattern and behaviour. Since unemployment challenges are worsened due to individual thinking, creating self-awareness and changing this thinking pattern is crucial. CBT will be helpful to the community since it addresses a specific problem, thinking and undesirable behaviours. Also, to reach many people and help them, mass guidance and counselling/advice are helpful. This method provides people with awareness through the experience of others, making them feel less alienated and equipping them with rational thinking on the situation.

Continue your journey with our comprehensive guide to Community Health Promotion Initiative.

References

Capuzzi, D. and Stauffer, M.D., 2016. Counseling and psychotherapy: Theories and interventions. John Wiley & Sons

Laanani, M., Ghosn, W., Jougla, E. and Rey, G., 2015. Impact of unemployment variations on suicide mortality in Western European countries (2000–2010). J Epidemiol Community Health, 69(2), pp.103-109.

Liu, L., Zhou, X., Zhang, Y., Pu, J., Yang, L., Yuan, S., Zhao, L., Zhou, C., Zhang, H. and Xie, P., 2018. Hippocampal metabolic differences implicate distinctions between physical and psychological stress in four rat models of depression. Translational psychiatry, 8(1), pp.1-11.

McMahon, M. and Patton, W., 2018. Systemic thinking in career development theory: Contributions of the systems theory framework. British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 46(2), pp.229-240.

Ristianti, D.H., Danim, S., Winarto, H. and Dharmayana, I.W., 2019. The Development Of Group Counselling Assessment Instruments. International Journal of Scientific & Technology Research, 8(10).

Sa’ad, F.M., Yusooff, F., Nen, S. and Subhi, N., 2014. The effectiveness of person-centered therapy and cognitive psychology ad-din group counseling on self-concept, depression and resilience of pregnant out-of-wedlock teenagers. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 114, pp.927-932.

The Open University, 2021a. Week 1: Introduction to the module

The Open University, 2021b. Week 2: The contested field of mental distress

The Open University, 2021c. Week 4: the history of the talking cure

The Open University, 2021d. Week 13: Cognitive behavioural therapy

Willson, R. and Branch, R., 2019. Cognitive behavioural therapy for dummies. John Wiley & Sons.