Collaborates with clients and caregivers in establishing and maintain a balance of pleasurable, productive, and restful occupations to promote health and prevent disease and disability
During my third Level 2 Fieldwork, I worked with numerous individuals between the ages of 18 and 24 diagnosed with a mental health disorder. I worked with several individuals who had a dual diagnosis, whether it was two different mental health disorders or a mental health diagnosis with a recently recognized diagnosis on the autism spectrum. To help these individuals establish a balance of pleasurable, productive, and restful occupations to promote health and prevent furthering the disease process, I focused on treating the client on an individual basis by providing foundational skills.
Each week, I designed a group protocol focused on developing coping skills, improving self-awareness and self-esteem, developing positive habits during stressful times, and building stronger support groups through Park Center and the community. These are foundational skills necessary for the individual to start applying for a job or returning to school to receive his/her GED or start college.
Additionally, the clients were encouraged to workout at least twice a week at the community center. This could be done simply by walking for 30 minutes straight, playing basketball, playing ping pong, or lifting weights. Often times this population has a harder time being active due to side effects from SSI medication, making them more lethargic and less inclined to be active. The facility requires all members to participate in physical exercise at least once a week. Through observed conversations and member actions, it is apparent that the members are aware that physical activity is necessary to maintain both a healthy mind and body. Having this sense of awareness increases the likelihood that members will participate in physical exercises at the community center. This small amount of activity also provides basic self-care skills to the clients that encourage them to be healthy through movement and social interactions at the community center and will hopefully become a healthy habit for a plethora of reasons. For example, the individual's depression may be abated -- thanks to the release of endorphins -- during a workout and the individual may like this feeling enough to pursue future workouts.
Another great way to develop healthy habits is through social involvement at the local community center. Community centers offer various activities that keep an individual socially active. For instance, the community center is a great place to meet people and work on social interaction skills. It's also a great place to meet someone who has the same goals, which may help the client stay on track and prevent relapse. This will also help the individual reintegrate into the community by developing appropriate social skills. During group sessions, we would discuss the importance of developing healthy social relationships for individuals with mental illness. The clients often expressed how difficult it was to fully "open up" and share personal things about themselves with others because they feared judgement and rejection from the other person. One of their biggest fears was their friends or potential lover learning of their mental illness and leaving them. My clients confirmed that these fears resulted in more behavioral problems (i.e. avoiding others, lashing out at others, deceiving others, etc.) which eventually lead to social isolation. They confirmed this made their depression and anxiety worse. When this happened, they would self-medicate (i.e. start drinking alcohol or using drugs) in attempt to reduce their depression and anxiety. Of course, this would affect their medication and their mental illness symptoms would be exacerbated and lead to self-harm or suicidal ideation and more social isolation. examples of appropriate social skills (i.e. greeting someone, introducing yourself, smiling, etc.) and when to apply those skills in certain contexts (i.e. the community center, school, work). Since many of my clients had experienced these cycles of behavior, they didn't feel confident in their ability to interact with others in the community. Many of our group sessions focused on role playing healthy and appropriate social interactions to boost my clients confidence and make them feel more comfortable when socializing with others in the community. Through collaboration and discussion, clients would determine which social interaction skills to use in which situation. They would also provide tips to other members. Additionally, we collaborated on various ways to interact with someone in the community. For example, a client who enjoys shooting hoops may feel more comfortable socializing with a stranger through a game of H.O.R.S.E. versus walking up to that same stranger and forcing an introduction and conversation with them. This intervention allows the client to participate in an enjoyable activity while also allowing him to improve his social interaction skills and build his confidence in his ability to socialize at the same time. When we went to the local community center, I encouraged the clients to practice their newly learned skills.
I have learned that collaboration with my clients is very important when establishing healthy habits and routines through occupation because, not only is every person different, but their experiences, especially for someone with mental illness, are vastly different. For individuals with mental illness, their past experiences shape their future. By this, I mean that someone with mental illness has trouble trusting people in the future if they've been repeatedly burned by others in the past. In addition, since they have not had the same social integration like typical people, which attributed to their illness, they misinterpret social cues that most people unconciously understand. Also, not everyone lives an active lifestyle when growing up, and so becoming more active can be a bit of a challenge for these individuals. Through collaboration I was able to glean this information from my clients and apply it to group sessions as well as community reintegration activities like going to the community center. I feel our collaborative sessions introduced my clients to an active lifestyle that helped give them some control over their lives plus helped them acquire and apply social skills during our community outings.
Each week, I designed a group protocol focused on developing coping skills, improving self-awareness and self-esteem, developing positive habits during stressful times, and building stronger support groups through Park Center and the community. These are foundational skills necessary for the individual to start applying for a job or returning to school to receive his/her GED or start college.
Additionally, the clients were encouraged to workout at least twice a week at the community center. This could be done simply by walking for 30 minutes straight, playing basketball, playing ping pong, or lifting weights. Often times this population has a harder time being active due to side effects from SSI medication, making them more lethargic and less inclined to be active. The facility requires all members to participate in physical exercise at least once a week. Through observed conversations and member actions, it is apparent that the members are aware that physical activity is necessary to maintain both a healthy mind and body. Having this sense of awareness increases the likelihood that members will participate in physical exercises at the community center. This small amount of activity also provides basic self-care skills to the clients that encourage them to be healthy through movement and social interactions at the community center and will hopefully become a healthy habit for a plethora of reasons. For example, the individual's depression may be abated -- thanks to the release of endorphins -- during a workout and the individual may like this feeling enough to pursue future workouts.
Another great way to develop healthy habits is through social involvement at the local community center. Community centers offer various activities that keep an individual socially active. For instance, the community center is a great place to meet people and work on social interaction skills. It's also a great place to meet someone who has the same goals, which may help the client stay on track and prevent relapse. This will also help the individual reintegrate into the community by developing appropriate social skills. During group sessions, we would discuss the importance of developing healthy social relationships for individuals with mental illness. The clients often expressed how difficult it was to fully "open up" and share personal things about themselves with others because they feared judgement and rejection from the other person. One of their biggest fears was their friends or potential lover learning of their mental illness and leaving them. My clients confirmed that these fears resulted in more behavioral problems (i.e. avoiding others, lashing out at others, deceiving others, etc.) which eventually lead to social isolation. They confirmed this made their depression and anxiety worse. When this happened, they would self-medicate (i.e. start drinking alcohol or using drugs) in attempt to reduce their depression and anxiety. Of course, this would affect their medication and their mental illness symptoms would be exacerbated and lead to self-harm or suicidal ideation and more social isolation. examples of appropriate social skills (i.e. greeting someone, introducing yourself, smiling, etc.) and when to apply those skills in certain contexts (i.e. the community center, school, work). Since many of my clients had experienced these cycles of behavior, they didn't feel confident in their ability to interact with others in the community. Many of our group sessions focused on role playing healthy and appropriate social interactions to boost my clients confidence and make them feel more comfortable when socializing with others in the community. Through collaboration and discussion, clients would determine which social interaction skills to use in which situation. They would also provide tips to other members. Additionally, we collaborated on various ways to interact with someone in the community. For example, a client who enjoys shooting hoops may feel more comfortable socializing with a stranger through a game of H.O.R.S.E. versus walking up to that same stranger and forcing an introduction and conversation with them. This intervention allows the client to participate in an enjoyable activity while also allowing him to improve his social interaction skills and build his confidence in his ability to socialize at the same time. When we went to the local community center, I encouraged the clients to practice their newly learned skills.
I have learned that collaboration with my clients is very important when establishing healthy habits and routines through occupation because, not only is every person different, but their experiences, especially for someone with mental illness, are vastly different. For individuals with mental illness, their past experiences shape their future. By this, I mean that someone with mental illness has trouble trusting people in the future if they've been repeatedly burned by others in the past. In addition, since they have not had the same social integration like typical people, which attributed to their illness, they misinterpret social cues that most people unconciously understand. Also, not everyone lives an active lifestyle when growing up, and so becoming more active can be a bit of a challenge for these individuals. Through collaboration I was able to glean this information from my clients and apply it to group sessions as well as community reintegration activities like going to the community center. I feel our collaborative sessions introduced my clients to an active lifestyle that helped give them some control over their lives plus helped them acquire and apply social skills during our community outings.