Mental Health Recovery in Mildura: Strategies and Role of OT

This essay delves into the mental health landscape of Mildura, Australia, highlighting the prevalence of mental health complications among adults. It examines various health promotion strategies, including lifestyle medicine, stress management and skills training, and community interventions, with an emphasis on their implementation and effectiveness. The essay also analyzes the role of occupational therapists in mental health recovery, emphasizing the importance of occupation-and activity-based interventions, such as exercise therapy, in reducing stress and improving overall well-being. The essay connects these interventions to the Ottawa Charter for health promotion, highlighting the interlinked strategies for comprehensive mental health outcomes. The essay also touches on the importance of community based mental health literacy for the betterment of the society. The essay concludes by emphasizing the importance of these interventions in aligning with the National Mental Health Strategy of Australia to reduce the impact of mental health disorders on individuals and communities.

Running head: MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEM
Mental Health Problem: Mildura
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEM
Mental illness of parents poses a serious challenge to the quality of life (QoL) of
parents and their children. Improving QoL is an important political and public health concern
(Bee et al., 2014). The following essay aims to highlight the mental health complications
among the adults’ population of Mildura, the possible interventions for steady recovery and
the role of anoccupational therapist in mental health recovery.
Mental Health: Parents in Mildura
According to the Victoria’s Mental Health Services Annual Report (2016-2017), 11 %
of the Victorian population suffers from mental health complications and the majority of
them are adults. Among this 11% of population, half of them are women and 33% of them
reside in rural areas like Mildura. According to Van Loon et al., (2014), children of parents
suffering from mental health problems are highly susceptible towards developing
psychological problems. This is because the child interaction with parents with mental health
is not healthy moreover, the family environments with parents with mental illness is negative,
which cast an adverse impact on the child. Thus parental monitoring must get a detailed focus
in present mental health interventions in Vitoria in order to safe guard adolescents with
mentally ill parents from developing similar problems (Van Loon, Van de Ven, Van Doesum,
Witteman&Hosman2014).
Health promotion strategies
Lifestyle Medicine: Mental health and stress are closely associated with unhealthy
lifestyles. Thus, healthy behaviour interventions contribute to physical and mental health
along with the management of stress (Min, Lee & Lee, 2013). With expand in occurrence of
the lifestyle disease, therapeutic changes in lifestyle have now become the prime focus for
physical and mental health promotion. Thus life change aimed towards smoking,

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consumption of alcohol, physical activity, healthy diet, stress management, obesity and stress
management (Min, Lee & Lee, 2013).
Stress management and skills training: Management of stress of daily life and adding
towards recovery through adverse health effects are important factors in mental health
promotion. Interplay of mind, brain and body in involved in generation of stress and thus
interventions designed over mind-body medicine is recommended as an important medium
for managing stress (Min, Lee & Lee, 2013).
Community intervention: Community interventions deal with expand in public
awareness about mental health which will help to expand the acceptance of the mental health
care for prevention and promotion of the mental health illness (Min, Lee & Lee, 2013).
Victoria State Government is also in favour of the community interventions toward the
improvement of the mental health of the adult populations (Victoria State Government,
2017).
Other strategies that can be implemented for mental health recovery or prevention
include preventive consultation and positive psychotherapy (Min, Lee & Lee, 2013). Kalra et
al. (2012), have vouched in favour of improvement of coping strategies in order to reduce
stress induced by mental illness. Person centred care or targeted interventions at individuals
may also derive positive results (Kalra et al., 2012).Hagenet al. (2012) has opined that
evidence-based online mental health promotion an helpful strategy for mental health
prevention and treatment.
Analysis of five selectedhealth promotion strategies
Lifestyle medicine is one of the important mental health strategies because, according
to Department of Health Australia (2017), majority of the population in Vitoria abides

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unhealthy lifestyle life smoking, consumption of alcohol and this are main factors behind the
mental health complication among the adult population. Moreover, according to National
Mental Health Consumer and Carer Forum Australia (2014), people with complications in
mental health are commonly smoke tobacco in comparison to the general population and this
tendency is likely to aggravate the mental health complications further. Taylor et al. (2014),
has opined that prevention of smoking or prevention against consumption of alcohol will help
the people suffering from mental illness to recover faster.
Smoking of cigarette is a crucial preventable risk for mental illnesses. Severity,
assessment of patient’s dependence and willingness to quit smoking, behavioural intervention
along with proper knowledge, motivational interviewing and accurate pharmacotherapy will
be useful evidence-based approaches. Moreover, counselling and education for low-risk
alcohol consumption could to be procured in lifestyle medicine interventions (Min, Lee &
Lee, 2013).
According to Taylor et al. (2014), cessation of smoking is related with reduced
anxiety, stress and depression. this in turn helps in promotion of positive mindset and quality
of life.
Stress management and skills training
Stress is the major stigma behind the generation of depressive symptoms and these
gradually aggravates into complex mental illness like anxiety (Heim & Binder, 2012).
Moreover parent stress either arising out of mental illness or responsible for mental illness
cast immense impact upon their children. According to Heim and Binder (2012), stress in
early stages of life like childhood abuse or parental neglect is a well-established and major
risk behind generating depressive disorders in the later stages of life. Hence coping up with

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adult stress and stress related mental illness of the parents is crucial for better outcome of the
children during the developmental stages.
Cognitive behavioural approaches or cognitive-behavioural stress management
(CBSM) and subsequent skill training is useful for speedy recovery from mental health
illness. CBSM promotes strong cognitive and emotional reactivity. It also helps in moderate
mindfulness and rumination. Other approaches that are frequently undertaken for optimal
management of stress include breathing (abdominal breathing) and relaxation exercises
(progressive muscle relaxation) (Gu, Strauss, Bond & Cavanagh, 2015)
The main goal of this therapy is eradication of irrational thought pattern and replacing
the same with rational thoughts. This in turn assists people to cope-up with stress, illness and
pain while increase sustained attention towards moment-to-moment experiences (Min, Lee &
Lee, 2013).
Community intervention
For the majority of physiological diseases, it is largely accepted that population will
benefit via knowing the nature of actions that are required to be undertaken for prevention of
the physical disease, early stage intervention, and subsequent treatment. But, similar type of
public knowledge in the domain of mental health disorders (mental health literacy) has
received significantly less attention. So community based interventions will help to increase
the proper knowledge and adequate awareness of mental health disorders among the
population of Mildura (Jorm, 2012).
Community based mental health approach mostly involve mental health literacy for
example interventions in the educational settings, whole-community campaigns and Mental
Health First Aid training. Moreover, increasing community based mental health literacy is

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required to be focused on the national policy and monitoring of population because, the
whole community is entitled to under-take effective actions for better mental health outcomes
(Jorm, 2012).
The community based interventions in mental health disorders or illness will help to
increase public's knowledge regarding how to restrict mental disorders, proper recognition
about the disorder for example how it is developing, proper education about help-seeking
options and the available treatments, adequate knowledge about the effective self-help
strategies for mild mental health problems, and optimal first aid skills to assist others who are
suffering from mental health problems (Jorm, 2012).
Preventive consultation and positive psychotherapy is important mental health
prevention as it aims to reduce the vulnerability to depression and anxiety. Positive
psychotherapy comprises of 8 to 12 sessions which will focus on self-observation, skill
development and sustaining attention towards daily life experiences. Positive psychotherapy
aims to improve engagement, positive emotion and thereby improving quality of life(Min,
Lee & Lee, 2013).
Person centred care maximizes the health coverage for both non-communicable
diseases and mental disorders. It is helpful in treating mental health disorders like depression
and alcohol use disorders that occurs in association with the non-communicable diseases like
heart disease and diabetes (Patel &Chatterji, 2015). PCC is procured via systematic care and
support planning. Optimised implementation of PCC helps in the improvement of wellbeing
via developing positive sense of control (Eaton, Roberts & Turner, 2015).
Linkage between the interventions

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CBSM is one of the principal approaches used against stress management
interventions (Stead et al., 2016). According to the reports published by Hofmann, Asnaani,
Vonk, Sawyer and Fang (2012), cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a famous therapeutic
approach that can be utilised to a variety of problems like substance use disorders,
schizophrenia, depression, anxiety disorders, personality disorders, bipolar disorder, anger,
aggression and other related psychotic disorders. Application of CBT under the framework of
PCC will help to reduction mental health illness and associated non-communicable
disease(Hofmann et al., 2012). The majority of people take help of alcohol or cigarette in
order to cope up with stress (Stead et al., 2016). Research reports published by Stead et al.
(2016), stated that behavioural support along with positive psychotherapyalong with
medications help people to get rid of stress and thereby aiding them to quit smoking. Thus
stress management and life medicines interventions will work in sync in order to protect the
adult population of Mildura from the severity of the mental health illness. Furthermore Jorm
(2012), is of the opinion that promotion of mental health literacy will help to generate
awareness in the domain of mental health complications and thus the people will become
more serious about their lifestyle and this will reduce occurrence of mental illness.
Ottawa Charter has five key strategies for health promotion and this include building
healthy public policy (lifestyle medicines), creating supportive environments (person centred
care and positive psychotherapy), strengthening community action (community
interventions), and developing personal skills (stress management) and reorient health
services. Under these five strategies, all the above-discussed interventions are linked and this
will help in procuring comprehensive mental health outcome. For example, Ottawa Charter
aims to provide a focused development of personal skills along with the encouragement
towards participating individual to change their lifestyle while taking responsibility for their
own health (Mittelmark & Bull, 2013;Mcluckie, et al, 2014).

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Strategies and health promotion values
The aim of these interventions is to reduce the mental health illness among the adult
populations in Australia and this will in turn help to reduce adverse mental and physical
health outcomes on the upcoming populations. Thus these interventions are in accordance
with the National Mental Health Strategy of Australia (2017) which aims to reduce the
impact of the mental health disorders on the individuals, community and family members.
Moreover, the National Mental Health Strategy of Australia (2017) also aims to prevent the
development of the mental health disorder sand associated non-communicable disease among
the population. Whiteford et al. (2013) have highlight the increase of cigarette smoking,
alcohol consumption, unhealthy diet and lifestyles in response to stress management as the
major contributing factors behind the global burden of mental health complications. The
research carried by Lê Cook et al. (2014), stated that quitting smoking along with reducing
consumption of alcohol to reduce the mental health complications and this in turn is linked
with the reduction in occurrence of non-communicable disease.
Values of occupational therapists (OT) to address mental health issues
Strong evidence exists at the universal level towards the importance of occupation-
and activity-based interventions in numerous areas like programs focused on emotional and
social learning and stress management activities (Arbesman, Bazyk & Nochajski, 2013). At
the target population level, firmg evidence suggests that life skills and social programs are
effective for the adults’ populations who are married and have children. Additionally
evidence of social skills programs is strong for the adult population who require assistance at
intensive level (serious behaviour disorders, autism spectrum disorder) in order to improve
self-management and social behaviour (Arbesman, Bazyk&Nochajski, 2013). According to
Scheewe et al. (2013), OT nurtures a value towards the observance of the exercise therapy

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towards the success recovery from the mental health complications. Exercise therapy
performed once a week helped to improve the physical fitness and this in turn reduced need
of care in patients (Scheewe et al. 2013).
Analysis of the approaches undertaken by OT
The main advantage of using exercise in mental health recovery is helps in the release
of stress relieving hormones. According to Morgan et al. (2013), reduction in stress helps to
fight against mental health severity and also helps in reducing the urging of smoke (Morgan
et al., 2013). Rashedi, Gharib &Yazdani, (2014) is of the opinion that social participation and
interaction helps in the reducing social exclusion among the mentally ill patients and this in
turn help them to share their problems and thereby helping in speedy recovery via framing
person-centred care.
However, the disadvantages of social participation is, it may results in social bullying
and thus further increasing the complications of mental health Rashedi, Gharib&Yazdani,
2014). On the other hand, exercise regime may increase the level of fatigue among the
patients. According to Naess, Lunde & Brogger, (2012) increase in fatigue turn may
aggravate the sense of depression further complicating the state of mental health.
Challenges of OT
The main challenges which an OT face include lack of proper job satisfaction and
high rate of burn-out (Scanlan & Still, 2013). However, in case of mental health occupational
therapists, while providing social support in order to improve the social behaviour, they
experiences verbal abuses coming from the participants. This abuse delays the recovery-
oriented practice while increasing the burnout and turn-over among the OT (Slade et al.,
2014).

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Thus from the above discussion it can be concluded that in order to control the mental
health complications among the adult population of Mildura, proper synchronization of the
mental health improvement strategies are required. However, apart from mental health
prevention strategies, active participations from the occupational therapists will aggravate the
process of recovery.

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