First, let’s think about risk…
In Lesson 2, we looked at how to assess the seriousness of a mental health problem.
Can you remember what the key areas were?
- How much distress or suffering it causes the person
- Is it impacting on their ability to do their job?
- Is it impacting on their ability to do normal everyday things?
- Is it leading to high risk behaviour?
If you believe there is any serious risk when considering any of these areas, do not hesitate to involve mental health professionals.
Call 111 or 999 for an ambulance if you believe there is an immediate risk of serious harm to the person or others. Stay with the individual until help arrives.
This lesson looks at supporting people with mild mental health problems.
You have had the first conversation with a person you know who is experiencing mental health problems. What else can you do to support them?
Here is our next very important point…
It is not all down to you.
Let’s expand on a couple of these points…
Our Stress and Resilience course has some fabulous information and guidance that you might find useful.
Not recognising when you are stressed and not taking action to manage stress, can have a serious impact on you, the people around you and the people you work with. It might even mean you are not able to work.
More recent thinking suggests that stress is only harmful to our health if we believe it is.
In our stress and resilience course, we explain stress and how to notice it. We support you to understand resilience and take positive action to build your resilience. We share resources, including recent research suggesting a different approach to how we view and respond to stress.
Here is our next very important point…
Help and support needs to be holistic.
Let’s meet Darren.
Darren lives in substandard housing. He does not have a job. He does not have a network of friends or family. He often does not have enough money to meet his basic needs.
His mood is very low. He worries constantly about the future and feels hopeless. He does not enjoy any of the things he used to. He has a poor appetite and feels drained of energy.
Darren goes to see his GP.
He is diagnosed with moderate depression and is prescribed antidepressants. These may help with some of his problems but not all of them.
Medication can help Darren with his thoughts and feelings but not his social problems.
See what treatments for any mental health problem must address…
Medication should improve Darren’s mood and energy levels so that he can tackle his social problems.
Medication may help how people think and feel, however, counselling and medication together will be much more effective.
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