Reflection on Communication: GD158 Mental Health Nursing Assignment

This report is a reflective critique of a significant communication episode in mental health nursing, focusing on a conversation with a patient experiencing depression. The student, a registered nurse, details the communication strategies used, including active listening, nonverbal cues, and empathetic approaches, to build a therapeutic relationship and address the patient's distress. The report analyzes the application of the humanistic developmental model of counseling, highlighting its focus on patient empowerment and self-management of mental health. The student discusses strengths and weaknesses in their communication skills, emphasizing the importance of cultural competence, maintaining eye contact, and avoiding directive statements. The analysis includes the exploration of the patient's background, the impact of social isolation, and the implementation of positive communication techniques to improve the patient’s mental state. The report concludes with a self-assessment of the communication process, identifying areas for improvement and emphasizing the importance of patient-centered care and the development of therapeutic relationships in mental health nursing.

Running head: REFLECTION ON COMMUNICATION
REFLECTION ON COMMUNICATION
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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REFLECTION ON COMMUNICATION
Introduction
Communication in the nursing sector is one of the most important factors for the proper
care delivery to people with mental and physical disability or other issues related to health.
Hence, in this context, the communication with a patient with mental depression regarding the
loneliness of the patient will be discussed here by me. I am a registered nurse and focused on the
well being of the patient tried to communicate with the patient and helped the patient in the
improvement of the mental state. Hence, the patient should be empowered and provided with
proper empathetic communication. I have used the communication strategies in this
communication or the conversation to manage the patient’s distress and also develop the
therapeutic relationship with the patient as well. However, the counselling of the patient can be
improved with the consideration of the humanistic developmental model of counselling. This
model focuses on the education development of the person focusing on the person centred care
approach (Simmons & Daw, 2018). Thus, the focus of the counselling or the communication
episode was to improve the health literacy of the patient and helping her to develop the self
management regarding the mental health distress. Hence, the following section the counselling
model and the process of the communication will be discussed and reflected by me in order to
improve and develop future competence.
Overview of the Episode
Ms Emily was the patient who had arrived in the mental health facility where I have been
working as a registered nurse and responsible for the primary counselling of the patient. The
patient was nervous and also introvert in nature. I found that the patient was not comfortable to
tell her issues and the experience she was facing. Hence, I tried to make her comfortable by

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talking about casual staffs and about myself. I asked her name, her hobbies and also the daily life
style of Emily. She was eventually normalised and communicated about the interests she has and
also stated that she was feeling anxious at times and felt very low and depressed as well. I
listened to her with nonverbal communication strategies such as nodding head, moving hand and
most importantly constant eye contact maintaining (Aggarwal et al., 2016). In this context, I can
state that I have implemented the active listening and the nonverbal communication strategy to
develop the confidence of the patient. Moreover, the patient was opening up with time and also
effectively communicating with me. I have found that the patient is from an Aboriginal
community and depressed due to the neglecting behaviour of her classmates in college and also
her partner is avoiding her after enrolled in the college. Hence, the communication was helping
me to understand the patient. The patient is experiencing a mental trauma due to the social
isolation and neglect of her partner. I have used the positive tone of communication in some
situations where the patient is required to be consoled as she cried at some stages of
communication as well. I have used the normalising statement, rephrasing and also the active
listening as well as the empathetic and positive tone of communication in order to empower the
patient regarding positive life style and self management (Thompson et al., 2018).
Moreover, the factor of the counselling of the patient is focused on the improvement of
the patient’s mental state. Hence, I implemented the strategy of eliminating any kind of
conflicting statement with the patient. In this context, normalising statement has helped me in
this process. However, I have lacked some competence in the patient centred counselling
process. I have forgot to maintain the continuous eye contact with the patient and also stated
some directive statements without considering her statement. However, I have mistakenly did
these in one instance and changed the situation regarding the process of the positive counselling

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process. I also implemented the empathy in order console the patient and also effectively listened
to her concerns about the situation. I used the positive and empathetic communicating
competences considering the quality and safety of the patient and provided her some advices
regarding the situation (Martin & Atkinson, 2018). I have helped her critically think about her
own needs rather than the societal factors. Thus, I can also state that I have comforted the patient
with all the knowledge I have gained during the work experience in the sector mental health care
delivery. However, I can find that I need to improve my competences in several way and should
improve the factor of the therapeutic relationship development with the patient for the proper
care delivery or counselling providence. On the other hand, I used the humanistic developmental
model of counselling for the delivery of the proper education and improving the situation for the
patient regarding her depressing condition. I also have developed the important knowledge about
the patient and helped her in developing the knowledge about the management of her self in a
positive context and properly stand against the depressing condition. Hence, I have motivated her
to properly study and develop the goal of life and achieve the goal.
Overview of Counselling Model
Counselling is a process which help people to seek the way out from any kind of negative
psychological situation. Thus, this process of care should be provided with the consideration of
the present and past situation of the patient. The assessment of the patient should be focused on
the psychological characters of the patient and the impacting factors of the psychological
condition for the patient. I have used the humanistic developmental model of counselling in this
situation of the counselling of Ms Emily who is an Aboriginal student and she is depressed due
to the social isolation in her educational institution and the negligence of her partner. Hence, I
communicated with the patient considering the therapeutic relationship development with the

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patient by actively listening to the patient and also letting her comfortably communicate with me.
This process focused on the exploration of the condition of the patient and the exploration is
effective in the process of the improved intervention planning for the patient (McArthur, Cooper
& Berdondini, 2016).
In this context, I also found that the patient was not able to study and properly focus on
the career planning as she is always being depressed. Thus, the mental and physical health is
affected as the patient’s eating habit was also affected and also impacted in the social life of the
patient as she isolated herself from her family and friends as well. All these factors helped me in
analysis the situation of the patient and found that she is thinking in a negative way and affecting
her cognitive development as well physical development. On the other hand, the social life of the
patient is also affected. Hence, I provided her with advices to regain the hold on her mental
condition and reduce the negative thought process. This the second stage of the model that is the
intervention. In this stage I have solely used the positive and empathetic tone of communication
with the patient. I have also provided her education with some pictorial and audio-visual
documents which had motivational speeches and also effective ways to handle depressing
situation in the student life. The motivation of the student found to be in very low condition.
Thus, the motivation development of the patient was the primary intervention form my side and I
used the humanistic developmental model of counselling for the process of the motivational and
educational counselling process for the patient (Park, 2019).
The third stage of the model is to empower the patient with the focus on the effective
development of the moral and also the improvement of the knowledge of the patient. The
positivity development and empowerment about the effects of the depression on the mental and
physical health along with the lifestyle have been provided to her by me. I have been focusing on

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the improvement of the situation for the patient with the context of the improvement of the
depressed situation of the patient (Bray & James, 2019).
Hence, the humanistic developmental model of counselling is focused on the
empowerment of the patient with the context of the education development and it focuses on the
analysis and intervention of the situation of the patient with the proper communication process
implementation (Stafford et al., 2018). I implemented the model and also improved the situation
for the patient effectively. I have interacted with the patient considering the patient centred
mental health nursing processes along with the proper counselling method as well. Thus, the
communication was effective for the patient and help her to reduce the negative effectives of the
depression on her health and life style that is improved the health and well being of the patient
properly.
Analysis of the communication process
I have communicated with the patient implementing all my knowledge and skills in the
process of counselling. The factor of the improvement of the patient’s depressed condition I have
maintained the NMBA nursing standards of safety and quality and the person centred care
delivery process. Here, Ms Emily was a person from the Aboriginal community and the
communication process should be person centred and the cultural competences should be
maintained in the process of the communication with the patient in this case. Hence, I found that
I have used the positive tone and the active listening strategies of communication as well as
maintained the eye contact with the patient most of the time of the communication. I also never
neglected the patient and also communicated with her with all the cultural competences and
person centred approaches. Thus, the communication was positive as the empathetic tone and the
positive outcome was the focus from my end for the patient. Hence, the communication was

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overall positive and effective in terms of the depression reduction for the patient (Moriarty et al.,
2019). I have educated the patient about the negative factors or the risk factors of the depression
in life as well as helped her think positively about herself.
The whole communication has been developed with the consideration of the cultural
competence, proper respect and dignity to the patient and also developed the proper therapeutic
relationship with the patient (Lueck, 2018). Hence, the communication was overall positive and
focused on the positive health outcome of the patient. I should also state that I have mistaken in
some factors such as I could not maintain eye contact with the patient in all the instances and
also in one time, I have used the directive tone for the patient as well. Hence, based on this
reflection I can state that I should improve the communication skills and eliminate the mistakes
as mentioned earlier. On the other hand, I should improve the context of the communication
regarding the situational analysis as well.
In the communication or the counselling of the patient with depression I have
implemented the humanistic developmental model of counselling as this model is developed
based on the exploration, intervention and the empowerment factor (Martin, 2017). In this
scenario, I had to empower the patient about the context of the depression effects and also the
reduction processes of depression as well. Hence, the implementation of the model and the
positive communication strategies were the strength of the counselling process. However, I
lacked some competences of communication strategies which can be marked as the weakness of
the counselling process as well. Hence, I should focus on the improvement of these competences
for the future practice and providing proper support to different cultural and age background
patients properly with my counselling skills. However, the analysis and supporting the patient
was effective in this process of the communication or the counselling (Jones et al., 2018). Hence,

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as the final result the context of the counselling can be marked as effective for the patient. I have
provided her with effective knowledge and support regarding the social and the educational life
considering the effects of depression on her health and life style. In this context, the counselling
process is effective in the process of the knowledge development and reduction of the mental
health distress for the patient as well. On the other hand, the factor of the improvement of the
patient can also be assessed in this context, as the patient is a student and should improve her
confidence and self management skills with time and experience (Chahar Mahali, Beshai &
Wolfe, 2020). I have helped her by directing the ways of the self management as well as
educating her.
Conclusion
Based on the above reflection and discussion I can conclude that the process of the
communication is very much important in the context of mental health care delivery. In this case,
I have found that I have maintained most of the communication and the registered nursing
standards in the process of the counselling. However, I have lacked some competences and
should focus on the improvement of those competences. I should also improve the
communication skills by reflecting and learning from the past experiences in this context.
Moreover, I have used the humanistic developmental model of counselling which helped in the
analysis and education providence to the patient regarding the situation she was facing. I have
improved the situation of the patient regarding her negative thought process and also effectively
analysing her condition for the future development of the patient as well. Hence, I find the model
of counselling I have used in effective in this process of the counselling of the patient.

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References
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Counselling Perspective. Heroism Science, 4(1), 6.
Chahar Mahali, S., Beshai, S., & Wolfe, W. L. (2020). The associations of dispositional
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