Professional Well-Being: Enhancing Wellness Among Psychiatrists, Psychologists, and Mental Health Clinicians

Abstract Background Employment within social firms in the UK is under-developed and under-researched, but a potentially beneficial route to vocational rehabilitation for people with mental health problems. This study explores the views and experiences of employees with mental ill-health, managers of social firms and mental health clinicians, in order to understand the potential value of social firms for the vocational rehabilitation, employment and well-being of people with mental health problems. Methods Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 employees with mental health problems in 11 social firms in England. A focus group and individual interviews were conducted with 12 managers of social firms. Two focus groups were held with 16 mental health clinicians. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Results Most employees expressed very positive views about working in a social firm. In responses from both employees and social firm managers, an overarching theme regarding the supportive ethos of social firms encompassed several related features: openness about mental health issues; peer, team and management support; flexibility; and support to progress and develop skills over time. Managers identified benefits of employing people with mental health problems who were sufficiently recovered. Knowledge of social firms within clinician focus groups was very limited, although clinicians thought they could be a welcome additional vocational resource. Conclusions High levels of job satisfaction among social firm employees may be explained by the supportive ethos of these working environments. Social firms have potential to be a helpful addition to the range of vocational pathways available for people with mental ill-health. Further mixed methods investigations of experiences and outcomes in order to understand who engages with and benefits from this form of vocational rehabilitation would be valuable in informing decisions about scaling up the model.

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Religion, spirituality and mental health

The Psychiatrist ◽

10.1192/pb.bp.109.025924 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 34 (2) ◽

pp. 63-64 ◽

Cited By ~ 46

Author(s):

Simon Dein ◽

Christopher C. H. Cook ◽

Andrew Powell ◽

Sarah Eagger

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Life Events ◽

Stressful Life Events ◽

Religious Faith ◽

Well Being ◽

Coping Mechanisms ◽

Mental Health Clinicians ◽

Active Engagement ◽

Full Understanding ◽

Engagement With Services

SummaryResearch demonstrates important associations between religiosity and well-being; spirituality and religious faith are important coping mechanisms for managing stressful life events. Despite this, there is a religiosity gap between mental health clinicians and their patients. The former are less likely to be religious, and recent correspondence in the Psychiatric Bulletin suggests that some at least do not consider it appropriate to encourage discussion of any spiritual or religious concerns with patients. However, it is difficult to see how failure to discuss such matters can be consistent with the objective of gaining a full understanding of the patient's condition and their self-understanding, or attracting their full and active engagement with services.

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Emerging Role for Technology in Positive Psychiatry Interventions

Convergence Mental Health ◽

10.1093/med/9780197506271.003.0013 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 181-198

Author(s):

Emily B. H. Treichler ◽

Ellen E. Lee ◽

Dilip V Jeste

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Well Being ◽

Living Environment ◽

Mental Illnesses ◽

Mental Health Clinicians ◽

Recent Trial ◽

Academic Organizations ◽

Senior Housing ◽

Computer Scientists ◽

The Impact

Increasing well-being, happiness, resilience, wisdom, and related positive psychiatry outcomes is possible via behavioral and psychological interventions. Convergence of psychiatry with computer science, engineering, and related disciplines will allow for the impact of these interventions to be personalized, maintained, and augmented in a number of ways. To illustrate such potential impacts, the authors use an example of a recent trial of a novel intervention to improve resilience within senior housing communities. Specialized technologies have the potential to improve fidelity and dissemination of positive psychiatry interventions. With the shortage of specialized mental health clinicians and the growing need for mental health services, technology can be used to extend the in-clinic services and provide greater support in the free-living environment. Development of such technologies to improve well-being will require mental health specialists to work directly with computer scientists, engineers, and people with mental illnesses. These collaborations will require infrastructure and support from research and academic organizations that partner with industry and community-based agencies and organizations.

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Role of Spirituality in Mental Health Practice

Indian Journal of Psychiatric Social Work ◽

10.29120/ijpsw.2017.v8.i1.8 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 44

Author(s):

Narendra Kumar Singh ◽

D Ram ◽

Nishant Goyal ◽

Justin Raj PC

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Therapeutic Process ◽

Well Being ◽

Mental Health Clinicians ◽

Mental Health And Illness ◽

Positive Coping ◽

The People ◽

Distress Level ◽

Health And Illness

Most modern medical disciplines adopt biomedical and positivistic corners while viewing and interpreting various events and phenomena related to living and physical worlds. But in case of mental health the dimension is much complicated and full of abstract elements and relativism; all these areas can be expressed or enumerated what can be possible in other steams of physical and biological sciences. Factors like socio-cultural and human factors, spirituality and religiosity have some definite association with various aspects of mental health and illness. Spirituality in recent times has been entertained as a major factor in determining the course of mental health and illness; it drew the attention of mental health clinicians and researchers to find out its temporal relationship with mental illness and psychological wellbeing. Many authentic literatures came up with the view that positive spirituality does have some potentialities to enhance as well as protect the positive mental health and psychological well-being of the people. Spirituality can also lower the distress level and increase the positive coping ability of people. The aim of this article is to explore the role of spirituality in psychiatry in terms of evolution of psychopathology, understanding of the illness and finally, its role in treatment of the psychiatric settings. This article also aims to sensitize mental health clinicians to remain positive towards the religious and spiritual beliefs of patients and to use those things in the therapeutic process. Keywords: Spirituality, mental health, psychiatry, psychopathology

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Spiritually and culturally sensitive evidence-based approaches to taking a spiritual history

Spirituality and Mental Health Across Cultures ◽

10.1093/med/9780198846833.003.0020 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 325-340

Author(s):

Larkin Kao ◽

John Peteet

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Health Professionals ◽

Health Professionals ◽

Clinical Care ◽

Well Being ◽

Patient Treatment ◽

Religion And Spirituality ◽

Mental Health Clinicians ◽

Basic Step ◽

Spiritual History

Given the demonstrated relationship between religion and spirituality (R/S) and mental health, clinicians are faced with the decision of how to integrate R/S into clinical care. The first, most basic step to inform this decision is to ascertain a spiritual history. A skillful spiritual history can help the clinician to understand not only the patient’s R/S and whether they would like R/S involved in his clinical care, but also key mental health information, aiding in diagnosis and treatment planning. Studies have shown that patients want clinicians to ask about R/S, and that taking a spiritual history can correlate with improved patient treatment adherence, trust, and well-being. While many mental health professionals consider patient R/S to be important, few discuss R/S with patients in practice, and few training programs include guidance on the spiritual history. This chapter includes practical tools and considerations to consider when taking a spiritual history in various clinical and cultural scenarios. Basic tenets of taking a spiritual history are reviewed, along with the details of a few published tools for taking the spiritual history. The chapter concludes with a discussion of nuances in the spiritual history and a summary of areas for future study.

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