MH90.2013 Support others to promote understanding and help to improve people's mental health

Overview

This standard covers supporting others to understand and contribute to the improvement of people's mental health. You are likely to be working with people in other agencies or services who are not mental health practitioners but who work with people with or at risk of developing mental health needs. The people and agencies with whom you have contact and may need to support in developing their understanding of mental health issues, may be within other areas of health or social care or may be within other sectors, such as prison service, police, youth justice. The standards would also be relevant to working with other people, such as the significant others or carers of people with mental health needs. Carers may be formal or informal in the care they provide to people with mental health needs. This standard applies to mental health practitioners who seek to develop the knowledge and practice of others about mental health and related needs and issues. Users of this standard will need to ensure that practice reflects up to date information and policies. Version No 2

Knowledge and Understanding

You will need to know and understand:

1. the relationship between physical, social, psychological and emotional development and behaviour and associated patterns
2. psychological and emotional functioning of people and how this may affect their health and well-being
3. the effect of the physical environment on mental health and the inter-relationship between the overall context in which people live and their mental health and well-being
4. how personal beliefs and preferences affect how people live and the choices that they make
5. the role and value of one to one peer support and support groups
6. the nature of mental illness and the role of the people/agency with whom you are supporting in working with those with different kinds of mental illness
7. the impact which mental illness may have on a person's health and well-being as a whole
8. the interventions including medicines that may be used to help people with mental health issues and the potential effects of medication on overall health and wellbeing
9. the role of carers and their own needs and difficulties
10. how previous and present care interventions and investigations may affect people's mental health
11. the relationship of confidentiality to individual rights; confidentiality and the tensions which may exist between a person's rights, the agency's responsibility to people and its responsibility to others
12. the current national legislation, guidelines and local policies and protocols which affect your work practice
13. the importance of values-based practice for eliciting and understanding the values of stakeholders and for resolving conflicts between them
14. the nature of the health and social care sector and the roles and functions of the relevant agencies within it including those concerned with mental health
15. how others can contribute to the improvement of people's mental health; the nature of the support which others will need to develop their knowledge, skills and confidence about mental health; the types of misinformation that people have about mental health and mental illness and how this can be challenged
16. the role of your employing organisation and its services and how they relate to other agencies and services in the mental health area and other sectors with which you work
17. your own role and responsibilities and from whom assistance and advice should be sought if you are unsure
18. your own values and how these affect your work with people who use services and with other service providers

Performance Criteria

You must be able to do the following:

1. help others to identify their knowledge and skills in relation to mental health and the support they would like to develop this
2. explain to others how their and others' actions and priorities can affect the rights and mental health of people
3. encourage and support people to recognise their own strengths, aspirations and resources, and how they can build on these in moving towards recovery and development of self-management skills
4. seek further advice and support if you have difficulty in relation to recovery practice in understanding people's concerns, priorities and other values, and/or resolving conflicts with or between values
5. offer up-to-date appropriate and accurate information and advice to others:
1. on the nature of mental health and well-being
2. on the quality of mental health and well-being that people expect
3. on the factors that affect mental health and well-being
4. on the range of services that you and your agency is able to offer to meet the needs and issues of people in relation to their mental health and well-being
5. on the range and nature of other mental health services and how they can meet the needs and issues of people
6. provide information and advice:
1. at the time others need it recognising that there are times when people want support rather than further information
2. in a manner that is sensitive to others' state of knowledge and confidence
7. discuss any issues that others may wish to explore in relation to their own mental health and well-being and that of people in their care
8. encourage others to:
1. recognise their own strengths and weaknesses
2. understand how mental health services and mental health professionals function and the reasons for this
3. recognise the strengths and weaknesses of mental health services
4. develop effective methods of working with mental health services and mental health professionals
5. understand the behaviours that mental health services tend to expect from the people with whom they work
9. identify with others the nature of people's needs in relation to their mental health and well-being and the mental health services that are suitable for and open to them
10. offer appropriate reinforcement and encouragement as others develop their skills and knowledge in relation to mental health and related needs and issues
11. encourage others to access and use yourself and other relevant sources of support to improve people's mental health and well-being
12. value others' contribution to improving the mental health of people
13. acknowledge the nature of others' work with people and the overall context and purpose of that work
14. identify the contributions that others can make to improving people's mental health
15. identify clear goals and processes for improving the mental health of people and communicate these effectively to others
16. identify and take opportunities to link improving mental health to the role and functions of others using language which is appropriate to their context and culture
17. enable others to communicate their own views on improving people's mental health
18. identify who is best placed to undertake specific activities to improve people's mental health and agree with others respective roles and responsibilities
19. provide appropriate opportunities and support to enable people to develop their knowledge and skills in improving people's mental health
20. evaluate with others everyone's effectiveness in improving people's mental health and agree and implement actions to develop effectiveness

Additional Information

This National Occupational Standard was developed by Skills for Health. This standard links with the following dimension within the NHS Knowledge and Skills Framework (October 2004): Dimension: HWB4 Enablement to address health and wellbeing needs