Essay on Health Promotion Plan on Mental Health

Have you ever thought about what the phrase “prevention is better than cure” actually means? Health promotion plays a significant contribution in this phase. Health promotion refers to the process of enabling people to achieve greater control over their health and its determinants, thus improving the health of individuals and the community at large (VicHealth, 2012). For example, mass education of youth on the effects of smoking can help prevent so many from getting cardiovascular problems. Health promotion cannot be actualized by the health care worker providers only; there needs to be a collaboration between so many stakeholders involved in implementing the program.

Mental health issues are on the rise, drawing our attention to the need to curb them before they become worse and people develop long-life mental disorders such as schizophrenia. Globally, about 13 % of the world’s population has a different kind of mental illness, and we anticipate rising due to the coronavirus pandemic(Rice-Oxley, 2019). People are apprehensive about their life as they witness people very close to them dying from the disease. Secondly, technology and social media have led to a rise in the number of depression and suicide cases, as many young people want to cope with the life they see in social media, which is fake to some extent. Thirdly, we cannot deny the fact that substance abuse among our youth is very rampant, making them develop mental health disorders. Marriages have broken due to depression, and there is a rise in the number of school dropouts and people killing each other due to mental health issues. Lastly, there is a huge amount of funds that we spend to manage mental health conditions, whereas these funds could be used in other sectors to better the community’s lives.

Two heads are better than one. Collaboration in addressing mental health in the community is crucial. It brings together so many disciplines and combines efforts to provide the best care to the mentally ill person or the most vulnerable people. Community involvement and participation in the program are also crucial on how effective the program will be—screening the community for mental health illness using the various mental assessment tools, such as the Becks depression inventory. The earlier the mental health issues are detected, the better the prognosis of the disease (Townsend & Morgan, 2020).

Secondly, we have to create an enabling environment for mentally ill people. Here, healthcare workers educate the family and the community that they should accept people with mental illness and involve them in social activities. This act gives the people a sense of belonging to a particular group, diverting their minds from the triggers of depressions and boosting their self-esteem that even if they have the condition, they are still important (Townsend & Morgan, 2020). Thirdly, school education to adolescents and the youth on mental health and what are the triggers of mental illness and strategies on how to deal with them when in such situations creates awareness to the young on how to avoid the triggers and how to deal with their issues positively, these reduce the number suicide and depressions (Sakellari et al., 2015).

Lastly, do a rehabilitation program. Young people are into drugs and substance abuse, exposing themselves to a greater risk of developing mental health problems. For those addicted, rehabilitation will help them recover from drugs or reduce their way of intake. Hence rehabilitation helps reduce the number of substance-induced mental health conditions (Sakellari et al., 2015). Also, you must come up with counseling sessions where people with issues find a way to express their feelings and emotions and help them overcome them. A problem once shared is a problem half solved. Some people feel nice and relieved when they find a person to talk to, which promotes their mental health (Townsend & Morgan, 2020).

For the successful implementation of the health promotion plan, I will work with psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric nurses, community elders, and family units. The program will roll out from screening and treatment of mental health conditions in the community. Mass education on mental health will include school outreach programs, rehabilitation and counseling sessions, and follow-up of mental health cases. Every activity above it requires collaboration which has these benefits.

First, improve patient care and outcome (TigerConnect, 2019). A psychiatrist will diagnose the patient to have a mental health problem. Collaborating with the nurse to implement the management will help the client achieve a better outcome. Secondly, reduce the cost of health care (TigerConnect, 2019). When the disease is diagnosed early and taken care of adequately, it helps reduce the length of hospital stay. When the psychologist teaches the community how to handle mental health problems, it reduces the number of patients admitted to the psychiatric ward. Thirdly it improves staff relationships and development. When these teams sit down to solve the mental health cases, they significantly learn from each other and become better next time when addressing a similar issue (TigerConnect, 2019).

To sum it up, collaborative management in health promotion is the mainstay adopted in managing health conditions. Mental health problems and even medical problems will be addressed better if there is an inter-disciplinary approach among the health professions. Even though some people may feel undermined to work with other staff, health professionals’ goals should always be to promote health and save lives.

References

Rice-Oxley, M. (2019, June 3). Mental illness: is there really a global epidemic? The Guardian; The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jun/03/mental-illness-is-there-really-a-global-epidemic

Sakellari, E., Sourander, A., Kalokerinou-Anagnostopoulou, A., & Leino-Kilpi, H. (2015). Opinions About Mental Illness Among Adolescents: The Impact of a Mental Health Educational Intervention. School Mental Health, 8(2), 268–277. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-015-9159-7

Tiger Connect. (2019, November 4). 5 Benefits of Interprofessional Collaboration in Healthcare | Tiger Connect. Tiger Connect. https://tigerconnect.com/blog/5-benefits-of-interprofessional-collaboration-in-healthcare/

Townsend, M. C., & Morgan, K. I. (2020). Essentials of psychiatric mental health nursing : concepts of care in evidence-based practice (8th ed.). F.A. Davis Company.

VicHealth. (2012). What is Health Promotion? A Definition | VicHealth. Vic.gov.au. https://www.vichealth.vic.gov.au/media-and-resources/vce-resources/defining-health-promotion