Elements Of A National Strategy For Promoting Mental Health

Ruddick, F. (2013) ‘Promoting mental health and wellbeing’, Nursing Standard, 27 (24), pp.35-39 is the article that I found most beneficial and relevant that will enable me to explain and analyse research or evaluate ]my future role and professional practice as a mental health nurse in promoting the mental health and wellbeing of Patients. It is vital that all nurses see this as imperative and an aspect that should be prioritised alongside the other as they inevitably affect each other and act as preventative measures that will avert associated health conditions.

Mental Health America (formerly known as the National Mental Health Association) is the country’s leading nonprofit dedicated to helping all people live mentally healthier lives. With more than 320 affiliate nationwide, we represent a growing movement of Americans who promote mental wellness for the health and well being of the nation, every day, and in a time of crisis (2007 Mental Health America). As an organization, Mental Health America has been around for nearly a century. We began work in 1909 when Clifford W. Beers, a young business man who struggled with a mental illness and shared his story with the world in his autobiography “A Mind

Policies have an important role in regulating and shaping the values in a society. The issues related to mental health are not only considered as personal but also affecting the relationships with significant others. The stigma and discrimination faced by people with mental health can be traced to the lack of legislation and protection of rights (Rodriguez del Barrio et al., 2014). The policy makers in mental health have a challenging task to protect the rights of individuals as well as the public (Swigger & Heinmiller, 2014). Therefore, it is essential to analyse the current mental health policies. In Canada, provinces adopt their own Mental Health Acts (MHA) to implement mental health services. As of January 15, 2016, there are 13 mental health acts in Canada (Gray, Hastings, Love, & O’Reilly, 2016). The key elements, despite the differences in laws, are “(1) involuntary admission criteria, (2) the right to refuse treatment, and (3) who has the authority to authorize treatment” (Browne, 2010). The current act in Ontario is Mental Health Act, 1990.

Having been born in Zimbabwe where mental health is not taken seriously or as an important issue and being raised in the UK were I have come to gain some understanding and realization on the matter of mental health, I am greatly affected when I notice how far this country has come within its education and grasp of mental illness as well as social inclusion to those with mental health issues, as

The issue of humanity’s mental health is something our species has dealt with since the beginning of our existence – even if it wasn’t publically acknowledged. Mental health is generally defined as a person’s condition with regard to their psychological and emotional well-being: a disorder of thought or mood which significantly impairs the judgment, behavior, capacity to recognize reality, or ability to cope with the ordinary demands of life resulting in possible harm to themselves or others. The World Health Organization, also known as WHO, has defined mental health as “a state of well-being that enables a person to cope with the normal stresses of his or her life, do productive work, contribute to the community, and otherwise realize his or her potential” (WHO, 2014). What we as humans face, is the overwhelming struggle to attain a proper state of psychological and emotional well-being – which can be more difficult than commonly thought in today’s society all around the world.

A strong case can be made for investing in mental health, whether to enhance individual and world wellbeing, improve life span, or even to enable people living with mental illnesses to have a better quality of life. Mental health problems account for a quarter of all ill health yet they receive less than 6% of all health research funding, people with these health conditions usually experience poor access to help services and lower quality care than those with physical health problems. Addressing mental and physical health needs together would be more cost effective for the NHS and would benefit the increasing numbers of people dealing with untreated mental illness.

Problem Statement: The World Health Association defines ‘good’ health as: “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” However, in the United States, access to care and funding for mental health care are grossly neglected and underfunded in comparison to other aspects of health care.

The articles address the prevalence of the issue of mental health and claims the importance of policy reform at all levels of society.

As a company or business you should ensure that all your employees are trained and have up to date knowledge of ways to promote good mental health and well being, this applies to the workers themselves and how to promote good mental health and well being for the service users they support. By educating your staff in the appropriate ways this will allow them to educate service users on how to achieve good mental health and well being for themselves.Other ways to support individuals to promote positive mental health for themselves are as follows;

The goal of this topic set by Healthy People 20/20 is to improve mental health through prevention and by ensuring access to appropriate, quality mental health services. (Healthy People 20/20) Through my experience of working in the mental health field, I have found and can attest to their goal that quality mental health services are extremely important and make a big difference on the quality of care a person can receive.

For the purpose of this essay the author sought to explore PDSA cycle and identified health promotion in mental health patients as an area for service improvement. It is evident that the life of patients suffering from psychosis, mood and behaviour disturbances is failing. Tranter et al (2012), Happell et al (2013) and Robinson and Potts (2014) suggest that these patients suffer from various physical health conditions such as coronary heart disease, respiratory problems, diabetes and cancers which consequently leads to a reduced life expectancy of 10 -20 years compared to the general population. According to Tranter et al (2012) there are three types of interventions which can be used to improve the health and wellbeing of patients suffering from mental illness. They are assessment of physical health, health education or promotion and multimodal interventions. Roberts and Bailey (2013) suggested that adherence and engaging individuals with these interventions is a major

This perspective shifts the focus of mental health promotion programmes beyond an individualistic focus to consider also the influence of broader social, economic and political forces. The implications of this model are wide-ranging, including, for example, awareness that the behaviours and attitudes of different social and cultural groups need to be understood in terms of the multiple interacting influences on their everyday circumstances. This means paying due attention to the wider structural influences on behaviour, such as the role of, for example, poverty, education, employment and how these are mediated through community and family

According to Kiernan, Ni Fhearail, and Coyne (2012), mental health promotion (MHP) is one of the major roles of nurses that includes promotion, treatment, and maintenance based approaches to address substance abuse amongst youth (Kiernan, Ni Fhearail, & Coyne, 2012). Likewise, Vic Health (2013), points out that MHP is an essential component in the Ottawa Charter that enables self-determination to control over the health and address the broad spectrum of health factors and determinants of substance abuse. Furthermore, Patestos, Patterson, and Fitzsimons (2014); Su, Sendall, Fleming, and Lidstone (2013) explained that screening and obtaining an up-to-date alcohol history is important to determine the type of alcohol use, the amount per day and the length of use to estimate health impact and to identify specific treatment for youths (VicHealth. 2013). Su, Sendall, Fleming, and Lidstone (2013) highlight that nurses should transform the youth by providing a specialised education focusing on developing a positive sense of self, optimism and to developing personal coping skills facing the difficult circumstances and developing a supportive environment focuses on the ability to make healthy choices. Kim, Gloppen, Rhew, Oesterle, and Hawkins (2014) described that primary care aims at preventing the very first use of alcohol in teens and adolescents. It also includes assessing the risk factors such as biological, social, environmental and psychological influences that increase the

The treatment and prevention of mental illness can be difficult, and as with physical illness, no case or result is the same for everyone. Treatment varies for each illness, as well as for individual client needs and level of severity. With the numerous choices of treatment available today, people around the world have a greater chance at not only preventing or decreasing mental illness, but also the opportunity to enhance their mental health through the public health model of primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention.

A Vision for Change details a comprehensive model of mental health service provision for Ireland. It describes a framework for building and fostering positive mental health across the entire community and for providing accessible, community based specialist services for people with mental illness (HSE, 2012). It focuses on a person-centred treatment approach, which looks at each element through an integrated care plan for service users, with special emphasis put on involving the service users, their families and carers at every level of treatment. Being involved in mental health services is more than the service user being diagnosed or attending consultation, they must be at the centre of the decision making. This is integral to recovery