Sunday 2 August 2015

Understanding Occupational Therapy In Mental Health


By Edna Booker


For a successful treatment of any mental health case, there must be collaboration between several health professionals each with distinctive roles to play. In addition to the medical professionals like the doctors, the nurses, the counselors, the social workers, and the therapists, the patient's caregivers, teachers, support providers, and aides also have a role to play. The occupational therapy in mental health is part of the collaborative process that brings other players in a collaborative approach with the purpose of reaching a specific goal of improving the client's quality of life.

The occupational therapy is a profession that is concerned with the promotion of an individual well-being through the meaningful activities (occupations) that people engage in. The main goal is identifying the strengths and barriers to the individual functioning so as to help them participate in the necessary and the desired activities that can help them live a fulfilling life. As such, the therapists in this category are fully registered medical professionals and play the role of improving the client's functional activities through the engagement in occupation.

Through this approach, the client is able to identify the most appropriate occupations and engage in them at home or at work. This in turn is important as it helps the client to regain a sense of self-esteem, achievement, and the general well-being that had been affected by injury.

The professionals in this occupation have a big role in the general medical service provision. They work together with other professionals in the medical sector to help in service delivery in a number of ways. First, they assess the client's ability to function properly. This means that the work management abilities and the ability to actively participate in the pursuit of the home roles are assessed.

The therapists deliver their services in three main ways. First, they assess the functional ability of the client. This involves determining the ability of the patient to manage work, the home roles, and participate in the activities of these pursuits.

The second process involves the identification of the barriers to the functioning of the client in their normal environment. This is followed by developing collaborative strategies that are designed to overcome the barriers. Lastly, the intervention stage is where the patient is assisted in overcoming the practical challenges such as the home maintenance, self-care, the independent life skills, leisure, and fitness programs among others.

When dealing with an individual that has any form of a mental condition, the occupational therapist can employ a variety of the assessment techniques to help get the necessary information. The information is then used to create a personalized occupational profile that can be used for the purpose of goal-setting, and for treatment planning. The common areas of intervention include the life skills training, the cognitive rehabilitation, supported education, social and interpersonal skills training, life balance intervention, supported education and the modalities like the mindfulness and biofeedback.

The practice has been beneficial in several areas of interventions including the life skill training, supported employment, supported education, cognitive rehabilitation, social and interpersonal skills training, life balance intervention and even different modalities like mindfulness and biofeedback.




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