Establishing respectful relationship with people with mental health issues

Establishing respectful relationship with people with mental health issues is very

important. There are a few ways of doing so. One of them is communication. Communication

must be done in such way that it develops and maintains respect, trust, hope and self-direction.

People with mental health problem are often defamed. People fear them as they are thought to be

dangerous. This is because the lack of communication and understanding with them. In order to

do so, interpersonal skills are needed. It helps to communicate more effectively with people with

mental issues. The interpersonal skills include: listening, questioning, summerising, and

paraphrasing. It also includes non-verbal communication. Among all these skills, listening is

considered one of the most effective skills. Although, it might be difficult to get right. Simply

listening to a person has lots of positive outcome. It helps people to feel respected, cared about

and connected with other people. Non-verbal communication is sometimes effective also. As not

everyone is okay to be reassured with touch or rubbing in the back. Paraphrasing is referred to

describing a person’s main message and putting it into own words to check understanding.

Summarising is quite similar to paraphrasing. And questioning indicates that the person is

listening carefully to that individual.

Determining the needs of people with mental health issues

Gathering information is considered one of the effective ways of determining the needs

of people with mental issues. The process is started by gathering information from them

personally and then moving forward to different reliable sources such as: family, friends and

doctor. By gathering all the information, picturing the overall needs of people with mental health

issues can be done easily. Information includes: names and addresses, contact details, financial
information, medication needs, behavioral patterns, preferences, other personal information such

as health records. In the meantime, it has to be made sure that all the information will be kept

confidential. Next thing that can be done to determine the needs of people with mental health

issue is client service delivery plan. It’s a plan of action that is likely to help addressing a

person’s needs. This method is used to describe all the information to create a plan specific to an

individual. This plan may include: a brief description, aims and objectives of the plan,

description the need of a person, different service activities and necessary steps, all useful

resources, evaluation of all sorts of strategies and contingency plans and staff who are

responsible for various activities.

Working to meet aspirations and needs

It can be done by providing support that aids progress towards a person’s goals and

needs. To do so collaboration with care network is necessary. By knowing that there are still lots

of choices, a person might change certain behavior or thinking pattern. Encouraging self-

determination is nothing but helping a person to choose their own actions and make their own

decisions. But there are some issue that needs resolving before starting the process. After

identifying the areas of concern, an action plan must be developed in order to help the individual

with their goals. There are a few things that need to be ensured to make a proper goal. The goal

has to be specific, achievable and measurable. It also has to be realistic. Goals need to be set in

order to measure the patient’s progress more effectively. Setting smaller goals and achieving

them might boost the confidence of a person with mental issues to achieve his/her larger goals.

Providing support and guidance will help the person to gain knowledge, confidence and

reassurance to their ultimate goals. Adapting different service delivery is helpful to meet the
person’s specific needs and requirements. But it has to be flexible, and different types of groups

need different approaches.

Personal values and attitudes

Values and attitudes apprise the by which mental health services are being received as

well as delivered. Values and attitudes vary person to person. Every single person has their own

values and attitudes. It is a declaration of the important principles and what needs to be practiced

every day. A few values and attitudes are essential to take into account whenever any plans are

being implemented regarding mental health and illness. Respect is one of the main values among

these. All people irrespective of their race, class, status, sex, religious belief, sexual orientation,

mental illness, physical inability deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. Their privacy has

to be protected too. Advocacy is another major value. It is an assurance of support for the people

with mental illness at any cost. Maintaining a positive authentic and professional relationship

with people is considered one of the best values that should be taken into consideration. Mental

health carers work hard to solve any tensions that might arise between people or group. Positive

attitudes are also necessary to implement all work activities. It involves the interaction of

feelings, beliefs and values. Being compassionate, empathic, open-minded, self-aware,

collaborative are some of the best positive attitudes.

Recovery model and restoring people to optimal potential

The recovery model is something that is designed to help people with mental illness and

distress. This model encourages them to set higher new goals and also gives them inspiration to

move forward. Moreover, it also supports the people getting on with their own life, doing things

the like and developing relationship with the people that give their lives a different meaning. The
recovery model is comprehensive, person centered attempt to mental health care. This model has

managed to gain a huge momentum and definitely an effective outcome for the past few decades.

Now this recovery model is considered the standard model for mental health care. On the other

hand principle of restoring people to optimal potential is important as it recognizes that recovery

is not just about cure but also it is about living a satisfying, meaningful and life being a respected

and valued member of any community. It empowers people with mental issues so that they

recognise that they are surely at the center where they are receiving the care. Besides this, it

allows the individuals to make their own choices and decisions about how they want to live their

lives and where they want to lead their lives.

Cultural and spiritual differences

Everyone has right accessing to education, spiritual, cultural assets of a community.

Besides this, irrespective of their age, sex, disability, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnic

background they should be treated with respect. Care and delivery plans require a person’s

lifestyle, social and cultural context, and religious needs. Cultural issues should be taken under

consideration. In health care facilities there are people from different community with a variety

of cultures. It is very important to recognize them. And by no means do anything that might

cause discrimination against them. Culture is all about values, beliefs of a certain group.

Different factors like location, age, interests, upbringing, and religion determine the group.

Communicating with someone from a different culture might cause some misunderstanding.

Cultural differences may include lifestyle, different values, hierarchy, conversational preferences

and different views about personal space. To avoid cultural misunderstanding using jargon

should be avoided, practice to listen to different accents, ask the person whether they understand

what you are saying or not and listen carefully to what anyone has to say. Like culture,
spirituality may also differ in terms of church, temple, synagogue where they worship a god(s) or

deities. Understanding spiritual difference is also important like culture as it bears great

importance to a specific individual.