Psychosocial rehabilitation

Psychosocial Rehabilitation Student Name University Psychosocial Rehabilitation Introduction British Columbia has experienced many developments in mental health in the past decade. BC has managed to change its mental healthcare system through two processes: reorganization of mental healthcare services and delivery (Morrow, 2004), and a shift in the treatment and understanding of mental illnesses. The thesis of this essay states that the most effective method to psychosocial rehabilitation is to switch from one centralized psychiatric hospital to smaller home-based settings in communities throughout BC. Psychosocial rehabilitation has its roots in the principles of change, hope and recovery of people living with various mental illnesses. The regionalization of the mental healthcare system in BC has seen the change to a recovery-oriented model. This model places the patients at the center of intervention measures. There have been numerous benefits of the regionalization process. First is the reduction of stigma that psychiatric patients had been grappling with since the dark days when they were being treated no better than animals. Setting up care centers in communities has helped integrate patients with the various members in the community, thus, fostering acceptance. Regionalization has also created an large room for interest groups to champion the cause of persons with mental illnesses. Most importantly, regionalization of mental healthcare system in British Columbia has afforded patients with the much-needed freedom to choose when and where to access mental health services, and at their convenience. This report will also focus on a case study of psychosocial rehabilitation in British Columbia (BC). British Columbia has successfully transformed the mental healthcare system in the past decade and has recorded improved results. For this reason, this essay will use it as a case study. Psychosocial Rehabilitation Scholars have presented numerous definitions of psychosocial rehabilitation. However, these definitions revolve around one compelling concept: that psychosocial rehabilitation is a process that enables people with long-term mental illnesses to develop and explore social, leisure, professional and life skills which would give them the ability to achieve independence (Baron, 2000). There are three bastions of psychosocial rehabilitation. These are patient-centered plans, self-determination and hope. The purpose of psychosocial rehabilitation is essentially the improvement of the patients. Recovery involves the development of purpose and meaning in the patient’s life, even as the patient surmounts the devastating effects of mental illnesses. Recovery also forms the practitioner’s most crucial part. According to Brown and Donohue (2002), “the recovery model provides assistance to consumers as they serve to achieve their personal goals and ambitions in life. The community mental health center provides services that foster this recovery.” (P99). Modern treatment of mental illnesses differs sharply from previous approaches. Previously, people suffering from mental illnesses would be isolated from the rest of the community by confining them in mental health centers. Currently, as is evident in British Columbia, the trend has been shifting towards integration within the community. Consequently, governments have integrated mental healthcare systems within communities. This has seen the treatment of mental cases in homes and other smaller institutions where patients receive care, and in case of any complications, they are forwarded to the central healthcare. Nevertheless, the fundamental principles of psychosocial rehabilitation are largely the same. Recovery of the patients depends on a language of hope, planning and community services which the client renders. The implication of this approach is that it gives the purchaser of mental healthcare services opportunity to make choices. Therefore, consumers of mental healthcare programs include a variety of options to choose. They can choose to receive services offered to them from their homes, or visit the nearest centers where notice has been personalized. What boosts the concept of community health integrations seems to be the realization of the mental healthcare system as a right, rather than a privilege. The role of community support is to make confidence in patients and an successful life management. Essentially, psychosocial rehabilitation enables patients to live independently from the healthcare system, thus, lessening the need for hospitalizations (Baron, 2000). The general idea of community integration, therefore, leads to the reduction of persons being institutionalized for mental health problems. It is clear that the community is the least restrictive environment compared to hospitals and other mainstream health centers. Therefore, the community affords mental health patients the perfect environment in which they can experience recovery. It is for this reason that British Columbia has adopted this approach in tackling mental health problems. This allows each individual with mental complications to develop essential life skills. The patients is able to be an active member in the community and can positively contribute to community programs, something that would not have been possible were the individual to be confined to a hospital or health center. In addition, it helps the patient to develop relationships with other members of the community. By so doing, the patient is able to develop socially and psychologically, and this is crucial to the recovery process. Case Study: British Columbia British Columbia has recorded numerous developments in the field of mental healthcare. According to Morrow (2004), there has been a tremendous shift in the treatment and understanding of mental illnesses. In addition, there has been a restructuring of mental healthcare services and delivery. This has involved changes in the philosophy of care as well as bringing on board mental health service recipients and the care of families. British Columbia has also scaled down the province’s leading psychiatric hospital. In a nutshell, the change in mental healthcare service and delivery in British Columbia has recorded a strong impact on the treatment of people with mental illnesses. This case study brings to the fore the details of a study that researchers carried out with a view to understanding the dynamics involved in the move towards community-based mental healthcare. The paper pays particular attention to the different experiences of the people who lived through them, and to the extent to which regionalization of care has improved the response to the medical and social needs of individuals. The process began in 2000 when the Ministry of Health in British Columbia announced the Riverview Hospital Redevelopment Project. The project kicked into motion the transfer of patients out of Riverview Hospital, the largest psychiatric hospital in British C...