Community Education Project
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Community Education Project
Every community is marred with some problems that are neglected since the community has no idea of how to handle the problems. The other problem with the community is they ignore and neglect the problems since they go against culture. Most of the problems ignored are the awkward and uncommon problems that the community discriminate against. In this action plan, the discussion will be about how the community can be educated on matters of mental health. The plan will identify the problem the community has neglected mental health and why they stigmatize the victims.
Mental health is our social well-being, emotional and psychological. Mental health dictates how we think act and feel. Mental health patients have a hard time handling stress making choices and also having stable relationships with others. Mental health should be taken into consideration from an early age through to adulthood. The reason being mental disorder can come to anyone that is children, teenagers and adults.
Mental health issues display differently when it comes to adults, teenagers and adults. In adults, environmental factors the main cause of mental illness and the symptoms of mental illness are social withdrawal, strange thought or delusions, depression, confused thinking, suicidal thoughts, inability to handle normal problems or tasks, hallucinations and substance abuse.
In teenagers substance abuse, social withdrawal, anger management problems, intense fear, problems with authority, inability to handle daily tasks and responsibilities, eating problems, sleeping problems, a negative mood and complaining too much. For teenagers, especially in high school and college, mental health comes due to the adolescent age.
For children, the symptoms of mental disorders are changes in school performance, nightmares, being temperamental, aggression and disobedience, changed eating and sleeping habits and poor results in school despite so much effort. In children, a family is key to their well being, and children brought up in stable families are less likely to be affected by these problems. On the other hand, if children are brought in families marred with violence or extreme poverty, these symptoms are likely to be experienced.
When a parent or a caregiver observes these symptoms, they should immediately seek help form mental health professional to ascertain the damage of the disorder. The mental health specialist will decide the extent of the mental illness and recommend home treatment or if the patient should be placed in mental health care facilities. The only problem is that many parents and caregivers see mental illness as an abomination in the society. They, therefore, leave the mentally disturbed people to handle the illness on their own. The results of these are that many have died or gotten worse to the extent they are a threat to themselves and the community.
The problem is mainly because the community have no idea of mental health awareness. This action plan is aimed at educating the community about the essentiality of mental health care facilities and the work culture in mental health care facilities. The action plan will be aimed at the community and the employees of the mental care facility.
Objectives
The first objective of this action plan is to educate the community of the significance of mental care facilities.
The second objective is to ascertain the relationship that should exist between mental care facility employees to ensure excellent care is provided.
Community Education
Mental health awareness to the community can take a long period depending on the willingness of the community members to attend the training or awareness program. The stakeholders of this teaching program will be the local community and the local council that will help with the education project. The community education will require some material for the information to be passed effectively. A printed document explaining the significance of mental health will be provided, and a conference or local community hall will be used to educate the people. Due to the population of the community, it will be efficient to handle the education in shifts for a period of one month.
Implementing the project will take one month, and the educators will have to be equipped with the necessary information to impact the community. The mandate here was to inform the community that mental illness is a common illness that with proper treatment, the victims can heal and resume their normal life. The community was taught on the spiritual, traditional and medical perspective. Several experts were taken to ensure the community members grasp the information. The material used in the education project were real-life examples of people who have healed and how the mental facilities help the mental patient heal successfully. The community was taught how mental care facilities could lead to the early intervention of the illnesses that will limit the stigma of treatment. Also, when the mentally unhealthy people are in the mental facilities, the outcome of the treatment is highly to turn out positive, and the quality of their life improved. Furthermore, it is cost-effective to the community, and the rights of the mental patients are respected.
Mental Care Facilities Employees
The second objective of this action plan is to develop a good work culture in mental care facilities. A good culture can only be achieved with good leadership and governance, efficient utilization of the available resource and good work relationships between the employees and the management (Saxena & Sharan, 2008, p. 424). If the community plays its role of taking the people with mental disorders to the community based mental facilities and the work relations in the facilities are not perfect. Then the patients will not receive the care they deserve, and the result is they might get worse than expected.
Good work culture is defined by the way people conduct exemplary service to the patients. that is, they are not forced but do it willingly to ensure the patients get better. Employees in mental facilities should not be driven by pay but by the willingness to ensure the well-being of the mental patients. The features of good work culture are collaboration, consideration, transparency, communication and good working relationships (Becker’s Hospital Review, 2020). These features translate to better care for mental patients. Collaboration is working hand in hand with the other employees to ensure maximum care is provided. Consideration is caring about the feeling of the other employees as well as those of the patients. Transparency involves sharing information openly without withholding anything to ensure the well being of the patients. Additionally, transparency is about the leaders being open with the objectives and goals of the facility to the employees as this will give them the right direction on how to conduct their business. Any organization cannot function properly without effective communication. When it comes to communication, it must go both ways from the employees to the leaders and from the leaders to the employees. Effective communication will give better feedback to ensure proper care for the patients. Better relationships are also key because, without them, problems and conflicts will always arise, which will hinder the better provision of care (Meinert, 2019).
In the education project on mental health care employees, these are the elements that will be discussed to ensure the employees are conversant with them. These aspects will develop the rate of care delivery to ensure the care provided is up to standard. The education will be provided by a professional for a duration of one month since it will be a workshop for the employees. The employees will require internet connection, books and pens to note the essential points of these elements. The education will also be conducted in shifts to ensure care delivery in the mental facility is stalled.
Both objectives of the education project will be monitored and evaluated after a duration of six months to ensure whatever was taught is being put into practice. For the community, the evaluation criteria will be to ascertain whether mentally challenged people are being taken to the mental facility for treatment. Also to ascertain whether they are being discriminated against and stigmatized.
For the mental health care facility employees, the evaluation will be done after six months also to ascertain whether the workshop worked for the employees. The criteria will be based on how the leaders utilize the resources available. The employees’ relationships with each other and the patients will also be evaluated. The communication within the facility will be evaluated too to ascertain whether the education worked on the employees. Finally, the most crucial criteria for the evaluation will be whether the workshop helped in improving the care of mental patients.
Interventions
When education educating the community, the community needs to liaise with qualified nurses. The nurses will give the community insight about mental disorder issues which will help the community understand the essence of mental facilities. Within the facility, the nurses’ intervention role will be the willingness to use the resources available to help the mental patients as this will build confidence among the community members.
Partnerships
Working with the community is not an easy task. Health professional cannot do it alone, and there they will require to partner with the local authority to mobilize the community to attend the education project. The community elders will also play a crucial role in the partnership since they can reach more people and mobilize them. With the mental facility employees, a partnership with the government is essential to ensure they are provided with the required resources and material for the project. The partnership should take seven months where the first month will be the education months, and the next six months will be to monitor and evaluate the project and ascertain its outcomes.
References
Becker’s Hospital Review. (, 2020). Five traits of a high-performance culture — and eight steps to start building one today. Leadership and Management.
Meinert, D. (2019). How Leaders Can Foster Better Collaboration. SHRM Magazine.
Saxena, S., & Sharan, P. (2008). Mental health resources and services. International Encyclopedia of Public Health, 418-430. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-012373960-5.00043-5