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The Concept of Spiritual Care in Mental Health Nursing - Essay Example

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My overall experience of dealing with Gary has been based upon how I as an individual practicing nurse can actually help him to integrate better…

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"The Concept of Spiritual Care in Mental Health Nursing" is a great example of a paper on care. My first client was Gary who is 51 years old with a history of depression and physical aggression besides experiencing other symptoms. My overall experience of dealing with Gary has been based upon how I as an individual practicing nurse can actually help him to integrate better with the community to overcome his symptoms. My experience, therefore, was one where it becomes critical for me to ensure that Gary not only maintains his normal behavior but at the same time he takes an active part in the community. For me, it was also the role of being a motivator for him.

The main issue was not only to help Gary continue with his medical treatment but also to ensure that he remains in a positive state of mind while contributing to the community. Secondly, it became more important for me to tackle the issue of how his family can be better integrated into his overall mental wellness is achieved. (Reed, & Fitzgerald, 2005)

There has been a considerable focus in theory on improving the mental wellness of the patients. ( Greasley, and Fong Chiu, 2001) I believe that the family can play an important and significant role in ensuring Gary’s consistent recovery from depression. My interaction with him suggests that if his family can become relatively more proactive in managing his stress triggers and depression by engaging more with him, he can be recovered. I believe a practitioner needs to be more focused on helping all the pieces of the puzzle to fit together in order to deliver a more integrated care delivery for Gary. ( Wand,& Happell, 2001)

My second patient was Kathy with schizophrenia with hallucinations and disorganized speech patterns. She is divorced however has one child of 10 years of age who is living with her also. My overall experience with Kathy has been relatively difficult because she is not only the sole breadwinner for her small family but also lacks strong family support and care. While dealing with her, my overall goal was to make sure that she follows the prescribed treatment as well as the required support and companionship at the treatment level.

While dealing with her, I realized that nurses need to take a much larger leadership role while helping their patients to recover and deliver quality health care services. The biggest challenge or the issue to be faced is one that of not allowing nurses to take leadership roles. I believe that in cases of dealing with patients having mental illnesses, it is quite critical to actually develop the capabilities of nurses to assume more leadership roles. ( Canadian Nursing Association, 2005)

Kathy presents a typical dilemma for a nurse to actually decide upon whether she is willing to go the extra mile and provide the necessary holistic support to patients with mental illness or should limit her role up to the clinical side. What I have not been able to achieve with her is delivering a more integrated and holistic care treatment for her in order to help her to become more accommodating socially. (Roush, 2012)

Care providers also need to create and support an environment where nurses can take leadership roles and improve the overall quality care process.