Self-care recovery journey

This article explores the self-care recovery journey of a culturally diverse patient going through severe depression. It discusses the impact of traumatic life events on mental health, the importance of cultural safety in care, and the role of family-centered care in recovery. It also emphasizes the need for interdisciplinary care and a holistic approach to mental health care. Course code and college/university not mentioned.

Running head: SELF CARE RECOVERY JOURNEY
Self-care recovery journey
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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Table of Contents
Question 1:.......................................................................................................................................2
Question 2:.......................................................................................................................................3
Question 3:.......................................................................................................................................3
Question 4:.......................................................................................................................................4
Question 5:.......................................................................................................................................5
Question 6........................................................................................................................................5
Question 7:.......................................................................................................................................6
Question 8:.......................................................................................................................................7
Question 9:.......................................................................................................................................7
Question 10:.....................................................................................................................................7
References:......................................................................................................................................9

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Question 1:
Life events have a significant impact on the mental health of an individual. As
mentioned by Cleland et al. (2016) traumatic life events have been reported to be a significant
contribution factor leading to date order dated mental health statements and preparing the
individuals towards mental disorders such as anxiety depression and personality disorder. In case
for Justin as well, the traumatic life events that he encountered while growing up had a
significant detrimental impact on his mental health which can be considered as factor that
propelled and accelerated his depression. Although Justin had been an active and healthy
growing child in the primary school, his life started to change since his high school. He
encountered bullying and racial discrimination in the high school which affected his mental
health and in turn his progress in school. As discussed by Cleland et al. (2016) racial
discrimination and bullying is one of the most fundamental dramatic life events that culturally
diverse children have been reported to go through which had eventually in practice their mental
health into the point of acquiring different mental and behavioural disorders. It has to be
mentioned in this physical environment is a notable social determinant of health and a
discriminatory environment undoubtedly has severe adverse effects.
As discussed by Wallace, Nazroo and Bécares, (2016), cumulative exposure of racial
discrimination and bullying has incremental negative impact on mental health, especially for
adolescents belonging to ethnic minorities due to the impressionable minds. Another important
traumatic life event for Justin had been his father's illness which led to him dropping out of
studies and losing his apprenticeship and the death of his beloved uncle Reggie, with whom,
Justin had a significantly strong bond. Bereavement of a loved one undoubtedly is one of the
most severe trauma and its impact is also lasting and of much higher magnitude. Death of a loved

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one has a range of detrimental impact and can even lead to suicidality depending on the nature of
kinship (Pitman et al., 2014). Hence, these traumatic life events have gradually affected the
mental health of the patient in the case study.
Question 2:
The aboriginals are the first people of Australia that have been living in the Australian
lands for thousands of years and this traditional community has a very distinct perception of
health and wellbeing. Their traditional and deep rooted ancestral spirituality can be considered as
one of the most important aspects associated with their understanding and perception of health,
both physical and mental. Their understanding of health is holistic, encompassing physical,
emotional, psychosocial and spiritual healthy state. As discussed by Bombay (2015), aboriginal
culture depicts sound mental health as an optimal state of social and emotional wellbeing; and on
the other hand, mental illness as the gaping lack of the same. On the contrary, our understanding
of mental health is far from this multimodal perception. Our understanding of mental health is
limited to the cause and its clinical manifestations. Although, the aboriginals recognize the
mental illness as a continuum which is linked with the background, physical environment and the
lived experience of the individual suffering from mental illnesses.
Question 3:
Aboriginals have a strong bond with their ancestral traditional and spirituals, and in most
cases, their health; especially mental health and wellbeing is intricately linked with their cultural
identity and spirituality. While accessing care, the lack of the cultural safety and appropriateness
is one of the most fundamental aspects that contributes to extremely low mental health help
seeking behavior among the Australian aboriginals. The most important aspect here is
communication, which is key to developing therapeutic relationship with patients and urging

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their utmost co-operation and contentment. However, the western influence on the health care
services might have a profound impact on the approach of the carer as well. In case of Justin, the
care and communication approach plays a fundamental role in providing him comfort and
willingness and hope to recover. The western model of mental health and care delivery focuses
entirely on the symptomatic relief rather than holistic care. Hence, in case the traditional means
of care and culturally safe communication is not provided to him, he might be offended and the
recovery progress might get disrupted. Being a care provider of the western background with
limited knowledge about this ethnic group, my tone of voice, posture, gesture and eye contact
might be disruptive or restricting factors.
Question 4:
Aboriginals have a strong familial bond, their understanding of health and wellbeing of
health is significantly linked with their family and loved one as well. Family support has been
identified as a strong support network which can help accelerate the process of recovery for
mentally ill patients and along with that, it can also help in empowering and encouraging the
mentally ill to fight the illness (McCalman et al., 2017). In case of Justin as well, integration of
the family members into the care can significantly improve the condition for him. Family centred
care is a useful framework which can be accessed to successfully develop partnerships with the
family members of Justin. As discussed by Coyne (2015), family centered care encompasses the
family to have the shared decision making power and involvement in the care planning and
implementation of the care provided in collaboration of the care providers. In this case, a
multidisciplinary care team involving traditional healer, language interpreter, aboriginal cultural
expert, cultural liaison officer and an aboriginal patient educator can help the family contribute

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and collaborate with the psychotherapist and mental health nurse to collaborate in Justin’s care
(Mental Health Commission of NSW, 2018).
Question 5:
Australian aboriginals tend to have a strong view and perception towards their physical
environment. They are much more comfortable and safe in their houses and they are rarely
content with their surroundings in situations where they are forced to live the comfort and safety
of their homes. Considering hospice stay, most aboriginals tend to avoid it and feel negatively
about it due to the strange and sterile environment, the western influence of the physical
environment also clashes with their traditional livings styles (Slater et al., 2015). The fear of lack
of cultural safety and the loss of comfort and contentment has been reported to instill a fear
making the aboriginals regarding having to stay in the hospital, especially for the vulnerable state
that the mental patients are in, it can be a huge challenge for Justin to overcome as well. As per
Bhi.nsw.gov.au (2018), although, the aboriginal highly rate their hospital stay, when asked about
specific of care and stay, their response is usually less positive than the non-natives. Lack of
information sharing, lack of cultural safety and care complications have been reported as
contributing factors to this negative experience. Hence, in case proper cultural safety is not
incorporated, these factors can influence the mental state of Justin and can also lead him to want
to discontinue treatment altogether.
Question 6
Cultural safety is a very important aspect of care and it entails a number of different
factors, which needs to be taken into consideration while providing care to an aboriginal. It can
be defined as the acceptance to the different cultural differences and respect for the unique
cultural identity (Hungerford, 2014). For Justin as well, care needs to be taken to communicate

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with in a culturally respectful manner. The freedom of choice and empowerment should be
provided to him which will help him feel valued and respected. The concepts of traditional
healing should also be incorporated with the collaboration of a cultural liaison expert to help in
enhancing comfort and contentment during his stay. The six principles of recovery model of care
also integrates the aspects of culturally safety excellently. The care providers must respect the
uniqueness Justin represented and his cultural identity, respect and honor his real choices, respect
his attitudes and rights, safeguard his dignity and respect in care activities, encourage partnership
and communication from both the patient and his family members (Health.gov.au, 2018) .
Question 7:
Mental health assessment can be defined as the tool that helps in identification of the
mental state that the patient is in and how it affects the mental state of the patient, the exact
severity range and helps in determining the treatment trajectory that the patient will require to
recover. For Justin, the mental health assessment carried out by Helen, it was discovered that he
was most at risk of mental and emotional wellbeing, with the score of 16 – cut off score: 11. The
assessment data revealed that Justin had severe self-loathing and lack of sense of self-worth
which had been evident from the comments he had been making such as “I am not worthy of
worrying about”. Hence, from the mental health assessment score and the different
characteristics that have been identified, the risk for self-harm and suicidal ideation. His
difficulty to sleep at night indicates the onset of insomnia which has the potential to further
complicate his depression (Health.gov.au, 2018). While planning his care, the four key principles
of recovery model of care, person 1st and holistic care, supporting personal recovery,
organizational commitment and workforce development, and action of the social inclusion and
the social determinants of mental health. In this case, care plan must incorporate motivational

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interviewing and behavioral therapies. Along with that he will need suicide prevention activities
as well in his care planning along with collaboration from weight and glucose management care
(Parnell, Morris & Jacobs, 2017).
Question 8:
There had been seven session of 1:1 interventions. In the first case, Justin had been
expressing his self-loathing for being admitted to the facility however it has been recognized that
the care provider did not have knowledge of aboriginal perspectives which was identified and
taken into account. The care provider respected his choices and only communicated with him
when he wanted to communicate which is a commendable patient centred effective
communication technique (Parnell, Morris & Jacobs, 2017). This strategy helped Justin to
increase the willingness to talk although his suicidal ideation seemed to intensify. The
communication strategy was strength focused which helped him focus on his recover.
Question 9:
In order to support Justin to be able to continue on the track of recovery from the
depression and maintain optimal well-being after returning back to his family and community,
keeping him active and also his mind engaged in some or the other tasks is important. The
interdisciplinary members, such as dietician, fitness trainer, and occupational therapist with the
collaboration of the psycho-therapist can help him remain active and focussed on his recovery
track, after he comes back home (Health.gov.au, 2018).
Question 10:
This activity had given me the opportunity to explore the acre scenario for a culturally
diverse patient going through severe depression. I have acquired a wealth of knowledge and

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expertise regarding how to manage a culturally diverse patient. It has to be mentioned that the
physical environment, communication and care approach has a strong impact on the mentally ill
patient. This activity has also provided me with the opportunity to understand the impact of the
traumatic life events on psyche, along with that following Justin across his self-care journey
provided me with the opportunity to understand how to integrate cultural safety in care and
family can be incorporated in care planning for accelerated recovery. There is a profound role of
the interdisciplinary care members in mental health practice, how they can collaborate with the
patients and their family members to support the patient through his journey, even after
discharge (McGough, Wynaden & Wright, 2018). This experience changed my mind-set
drastically about the care planning and intervention for culturally diverse patients, I have
understood a more holistic approach based of optimism and support can provide better care
outcomes for patients suffering from mental disorders.

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References:
Health.gov.au, (2018). A national framework for recovery-oriented mental health services.
Australian health Ministers’ advisory council. [Online] Retrieved from
http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/content/67d17065514cf8e8ca257c
1d00017a90/$file/recovgde.pdf [Accessed on 3rd Oct]
Bombay, A. (2015). A call to end mental health disparities for Indigenous people. The Lancet
Psychiatry, 2(10), 861-862.
Cleland, C., Kearns, A., Tannahill, C., & Ellaway, A. (2016). The impact of life events on adult
physical and mental health and well-being: longitudinal analysis using the GoWell health
and well-being survey. BMC research notes, 9(1), 470.
Coyne, I. (2015). Families and health‐care professionals' perspectives and expectations of
family‐centred care: hidden expectations and unclear roles. Health expectations, 18(5),
796-808.
Health.gov.au, (2018). Department of Health | Principles of recovery oriented mental health
practice. [Online]. Retrieved from
http://www.health.gov.au/internet/publications/publishing.nsf/Content/mental-pubs-i-
nongov-toc~mental-pubs-i-nongov-pri. [Accessed on 3rd Oct]
Hungerford, C. (2014). Recovery as a model of care? Insights from an Australian case
study. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 35(3), 156-164.
McCalman, J., Heyeres, M., Campbell, S., Bainbridge, R., Chamberlain, C., Strobel, N., &
Ruben, A. (2017). Family-centred interventions by primary healthcare services for

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Indigenous early childhood wellbeing in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United
States: a systematic scoping review. BMC pregnancy and childbirth, 17(1), 71.
McGough, S., Wynaden, D., & Wright, M. (2018). Experience of providing cultural safety in
mental health to Aboriginal patients: A grounded theory study. International journal of
mental health nursing, 27(1), 204-213.
Mental Health Commission of NSW. (2018). Aboriginal communities. [online] Available at:
https://nswmentalhealthcommission.com.au/mental-health-and/aboriginal-communities
[Accessed 2 Oct. 2018].
Paniagua, F. A., & Yamada, A. M. (Eds.). (2013). Handbook of multicultural mental health:
Assessment and treatment of diverse populations. Academic Press.
Parnell, D., Morris, S., & Jacobs, R. (2017). Engaging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
peoples in the ‘Proper Way’.
Bhi.nsw.gov.au (2018) Patient perspectives-Hospital care for Aboriginal people. Bureau of
Health Information. Bureau of Health Information [Online]. Retrieved from
http://www.bhi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/323929/patient-perspectives-
hospital-care-for-aboriginal-people-report-2016.pdf. [Accessed on 3rd Oct.]
Pitman, A., Osborn, D., King, M., & Erlangsen, A. (2014). Effects of suicide bereavement on
mental health and suicide risk. The Lancet Psychiatry, 1(1), 86-94.
Slater, T., Matheson, A., Ellison-Loschmann, L., Davies, C., Earp, R., Gellatly, K., & Holdaway,
M. (2015). Exploring Māori cancer patients', their families', community and hospice
views of hospice care. International journal of palliative nursing, 21(9), 439-445.

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Wallace, S., Nazroo, J., & Bécares, L. (2016). Cumulative effect of racial discrimination on the
mental health of ethnic minorities in the United Kingdom. American journal of public
health, 106(7), 1294-1300.