Empowerment applies to all patients receiving mental health services regardless of their disability level. Some communities stigmatize persons with psychiatric illnesses, thereby increasing their chances of self-loathing. Empowerment leads to an improved quality of life, thus making it necessary for all individuals, especially those receiving mental health services.
Based on the varying degrees of mental health, empowerment services would differ among individuals. One can consider an individual or group setting to offer empowerment services to persons with mental illnesses. Individual settings can help administer to persons with extreme cases of mental health issues. This strategy will help them in focusing on the underlying factor causing self-esteem issues and help in handling them (Cyril, Smith, " Renzaho, 2015). Group settings are effective among individuals who exposit similar degrees of mental illnesses. A group empowerment effort helps boost the self-esteem of persons efficiently.
A continuum of empowerment would entail empowerment actions geared towards helping an individual overcome their self-stigma. These actions would involve endorsing a positive attitude in a person, where they eventually learn to appreciate themselves (Cyril, et al., 2015). The attitudes would focus on improving their self-esteem, self-efficacy, and promoting optimistic views of life.
Empowerment practices show positive results, especially in overcoming self-stigma. Several practices can be helpful in providing empowerment opportunities to the individual. For instance, healthcare providers can replace non-compliance strategies with collaborative ones, which are more consumer friendly (Pincus, et al., 2016). The programs used in the empowerment process also need to be consumer-initiated to facilitate consumer satisfaction as it reflects their interests. Lodges and clubhouses comprising of members having psychiatric illnesses can also help in their empowerment process as they interact and share details of their conditions freely. Programs of Assertive Community Treatment (PACT) proponents believe that in addition to lodges and clubhouses, supported housing and employment can help facilitate empowerment (Corrigan, 2004). Programs that view consumers as a provider, as well as self-help services, can assist in improving empowerment among individuals.
The relationship between the practitioner and service recipient changes, as the practitioner engages in consumer-friendly actions. As such, the power shifts from the practitioner to the service recipient, as the practitioner has to meet the client’s needs.
Question 2.
An agency can ensure that the served individuals feel empowered by assessing the environment that these individuals occupy. Consumer satisfaction is associated with “halo” effects, where consumers provide feedback of the food, staff, and building as nothing but satisfactory.
Participatory action research can be useful in measuring and tracking the outcome of an empowerment plan. This research can involve a team of experts in medicine or social science, who endeavor to determine the results of the intervention plan (Cyril, et al., 2015). Feedback solicited from consumers can also be essential in measuring the satisfaction of consumers.
The agency needs to respond to the feedback to ensure that it improves empowerment practices. An oversight authority, independent of the agency, can help to ascertain the agency’s response to the feedback effectively and positively.
An agency cannot deliver empowering services if its staff feels disempowered. Productive and successful empowering services depend on the mood and attitude exposited by the giver. Therefore, if the staff members lack morale or feel disempowered, they will offer ineffective services to individuals.
Agencies can cultivate an engaging environment with their staff, where they encourage them to air their opinions regarding the operations the agencies run. Agencies can also engage the staff in using training sessions as well as workshops to enhance their skills (). Provision of rewards and incentives can also be an effective way of empowering staff members and ensuring that they feel valued.
References
Corrigan, P. W. (2004). Enhancing personal empowerment of people with psychiatric disabilities. American Rehabilitation.
Cyril, S., Smith, B. J., " Renzaho, A. M. (2015). Systematic review of empowerment measures in health promotion. Health Promotion International, 31(4), 809-826.
Pincus, H. A., Spaeth-Rublee, B., Sara, G., Goldner, E. M., Prince, P. N., Ramanuj, P., ... " Weeghel, J. (2016). A review of mental health recovery programs in selected industrialized countries. International Journal of Mental Health Systems, 10(1), 73.
