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Peer # 1 Joe

Explain prevention strategies you use to maintain or improve your emotional and mental well-being. Identify any factors in your life that have had a negative impact on your mental and emotional health. Why is it important for a mental health worker to identify these factors?

Conduct some scholarly, peer-reviewed research on some self-care strategies that can be used for mental health workers and clients. What are the strategies and how can they benefit both mental health workers and clients?

Explain prevention strategies you use to maintain or improve your emotional and mental well-being.

As a mental health provider, I must be able to explain prevention strategies that I use to maintain or improve emotional and mental well-being. This is very necessary in the mental health field. According to F.  Lau, J. A. Bartle-Clar, and G. Bliss (Eds.). (2019) “Prevention strategies are methods that are used to help with the reduction of mental disorders or shift them in less outcomes that may cause harm to the patient” (p.26).
 

Identify any factors in your life that have had a negative impact on your mental and emotional health.

Any life changing event such as marriage, loss of a loved one, and changing careers may have a negative impact on mental and emotional health. Lots of this can be caused by stress or onsets of depression or anxiety that has not been resolved.

Why is it important for a mental health worker to identify these factors?

It is important for mental health care workers to identify these factors because a mental health care worker can assess the problem and help a patient possibly before a mental illness can become really severe. Otherwise, the patient may have to goo under extensive treatment that could have been stopped ahead of time.

Self-care prevention strategies can be very useful for a client. Mental health providers can make suggestions, however it is up to the client to use them. According to K. K. Kelly and S. D. Davis (2016) “Self-care prevention strategies are necessary when it comes to helping patients. The strategies are physical self-care. This may include exercising and changing your diet. Emotional self-care by coping with anger and depression. Mental self-care by using methods to keeping the mind sharp or other techniques. Social self-care by engaging i healthy relationships. Spiritual self-care by keeping th spirit filed with nurturing things that can benefit a person.” (p.32).  These can be used by the mental health care worker as well.
 

Reference

Kelly, K. K., & Davis, S. D. (2016).

    Supervising the school psychology practicum : A guide for field and university

    supervisors. ProQuest Ebook Central

    http://ebookcentral.proquest.com.lopes.idm.oclc.org

Lau, F., Bartle-Clar, J. A., & Bliss, G. (Eds.). (2019).

    Improving usability, safety and patient outcomes with health information technology :

    From research to practice. ProQuest Ebook Central

    http://ebookcentral.proquest.com.lopes.idm.oclc.org

Peer #2 Laura

It’s important for a mental health worker to identify factors that have had a negative impact on mental and emotional health. Primarily, it can help mental health workers authentically identify individual experiences and situational issues that can cause personal conflict and challenges in providing client-centered care. Regularly performing transparent self-evaluations to recognize individual issues and difficulties is essential for deep, personal reflection, effective self-care, implementing value-driven practices, and objectively assessing the client’s interventional therapeutic needs (Posluns & Gall, 2020). Likewise, understanding personal experiences and stressors can help mental health providers identify negative, individual triggers, recognize personal bias, and better manage the heavy, emotional demands that clients present with. Identifying these factors can also counteract burnout, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and diminished self-efficacy (Posluns & Gall, 2020). An example of the importance of identifying impactful emotional and mental challenges can be described in the following way. If a mental health worker was raised in an abusive home, he/she might have a greater potential to experience vicarious, or secondary traumatization while working with an abusive client. As such, recognizing factors that have negatively impacted mental and emotional health can protect the mental and emotional health of providers, foster constructive care, and appropriately identify best-practice interventions for the client (Posluns & Gall, 2020).

Presently, my career centers around Adult ICU Critical Care and protocol education for a Level III trauma hospital. As someone who has a biological predisposition for depression and anxiety, I have had to create space to constructively manage high stress levels in an extremely negative, trauma-based environment. As such, throughout this devastating, global pandemic, there are several prevention strategies that I regularly use to maintain and improve emotional and mental well-being. These are strategies that can also benefit clients as well. One prevention strategy involves cognitive reappraisal. This prevention strategy teaches cognitive and somatic coping techniques to constructively shape thoughts and physiological stress responses in difficult environments. This helps a person approach mental and physical stressors in a positive, systematic manner (Cutuli, 2014). A beneficial method to incorporate cognitive reappraisal is through practicing positive self-talk. This is more than the power of positive thinking. It incorporates reality-based methods of reevaluating and mentally reframing difficult or stressful situations to lessen the impact of stress (Cutuli, 2014). Additionally, integrating exercise is a cost-effective health strategy to help with mental health challenges. Regular exercise can stimulate counter-regulatory, stress responses to mental and physical stressors, and improve autonomic and emotional balance. It can be physically relaxing, and declutter the mind of negative symptomology (Glowacki & Faulkner, 2019). Mindfulness-based strategies are another important prevention strategy. Some examples of mindfulness-based strategies are yoga, focused breathing techniques, and meditation. This can be done in-person or through mobile downloads. Mindfulness-based strategies can lower stress levels, and develop non-discriminatory awareness of thoughts and emotions (Wielgosz et al., 2019). Mindfulness-based strategies are versatile methods to manage responses to stressful stimuli, build resilience, and improve well-being. One app that I use is called Smiling Mind. It integrates evidence-based practices into the meditation strategy. It offers guided, mindfulness-based techniques to improve cognition, deconstruct stressful thoughts and emotions, and release bodily tension. Likewise, this free, solution tool offers Bible-focused meditation and prayer in a variety of programs for stress management, improving relationships, and building on a mindfulness-centered foundation (Smiling Mind, 2021). Additionally, complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) strategies that employ massage therapy, yoga, and acupuncture are emerging prevention strategies to improve mental health and well-being in diverse populations. Similarly, numerous CAM strategies can be accessed through multimedia platforms for diverse socioeconomic populations (Esch et al., 2013). Lastly, early mood disorder screening and detection in public health settings and educational organizations is an effective, evidence-based strategy to provide prompt health care pathways. This fosters preventive care prior to offset mental health crises (University of California San Francisco [UCSF], 2021). These are value-based, self-care strategies that can benefit mental health workers and clients alike.

References:

Cutuli, D. (2014, September 19). Cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression strategies role in the emotion regulation: An overview on their modulatory effects and neural correlates. Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnsys.2014.00175/full

Esch, T., Fricchione, G. L., Joos, S., & Teut, M. (2013). Self-care, stress management, and primary care: From salutogenesis and health promotion to mind-body medicine. Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine : eCAM, 2013, 327415. https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/327415

Glowacki, K., & Faulkner, G. (2019). Integrating exercise into mental health care: Development of the Exercise and Depression Toolkit. WellSpring, 30(9), 1–5. https://web-a-ebscohost-com.lopes.idm.oclc.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=a9ae88bf-61d9-442b-ab7c-e86d25a4170f%40sessionmgr4006

Posluns, K. & Gall, T. L. (2020). Dear mental health practitioners, take care of yourselves: A literature review on self-care. International Journal for the Advancement of Counseling, 42(1), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10447-019-09382-w

Smiling Mind. (2021). https://www.smilingmind.com.au/

University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. (2021). Emotional well-being and coping during COVID-19. https://psychiatry.ucsf.edu/copingresources/covid19

Wielgosz, J., Goldberg, S. B., Kral, T., Dunne, J. D., & Davidson, R. J. (2019). Mindfulness meditation and psychopathology. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 15, 285–316. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6597263/

Peer #3 Jen

The primary prevention strategy I use to improve my mental well-being is physical exercise. Incorporating physical activity into my life has been a priority since I was a teenager. I recently joined Orange Theory and have enjoyed the classes and love to go hiking when my schedule allows time in nature. Physical activity is associated with reducing chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer, obesity, hypertension, and depression. A linear relationship exists between “physical activity and health status, such that a further increase in physical activity and fitness will lead to additional improvements in health status” (Warburton et al., 2010). Routine physical activity is also associated with improved psychological well-being, greater self-esteem, and decreased stress. Eating nutrient-dense food is also a vital strategy I use in in maintaining physical and emotional health. The more junk food and sugar I eat, the more feelings of negativity and depression I experience. Planning proper meals is a form of self-care for me. Effective stress management starts with identifying what is genuinely causing stress and then developing strategies to manage stressors. Mental health professionals must understand the signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, burn-out, and compassion fatigue. Especially now with the pandemic, mental health professionals need to recognize stress, take action steps to cope, and know where to access help.

The primary stress I have experienced over the last ten years has been primarily from teaching high school. The Covid pandemic gave me the downtime to explore where my job stress came from. I love working with students and have a great passion for teaching P.E. and Health; therefore, I discovered my colleagues and administration were the primary causes of my stress. I recognize one of my colleagues who shared an office with me is toxic, and the P.E./Health department members do not function as a team. I also have not felt supported by our administrative team for quite some time. They often side with parents, and it ends up undermining teachers’ efforts. As a result, I  just took a new position at another local high school, and it is the first time in years I look forward to the start of a new school year!

Research states that effective self-care practices involve self-awareness, self-compassion, and applying strategies that fall across the physical, social, and inner self-care realm. Suggested self-care techniques include spiritual and relaxation practices along with e-mental health services and increasing relational skills. Some other evidence-based strategies focus on close relationships, getting sufficient sleep, regular exercise, allowing time for vacation and hobbies, and practicing meditation. Mental health care professionals and clients can regularly complete self-checks of emotional and stress levels, take breaks, and structure daily healthy routines. It is also essential to express emotions rather than repressing them. When individuals implement self-care practices, they can have greater compassion, empathy and manage stress levels in a productive way (Søvold, 2021).

Søvold, L. E. (2021). Prioritizing the Mental Health and Well-Being of Healthcare Workers: An Urgent Global Public Health Priority. Frontiers in Public Health, 9

Warburton, D. E., Nicol, C. W., & Bredin, S. S. (2006). Health benefits of physical activity: the evidence. CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal, 174(6), 801–809. https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.051351