Many are times when you hear about words like empowerment and mental health. They are so common that they are sometimes considered buzzwords or vague terms — they cover a lot but don’t go into specifics.
A patient with adverse mental illness can greatly recover with the advancement of their personal power, which can be done through giving more community opportunities and treatment partnerships. Here, we discuss how empowerment can improve mental health, improving their way of life in the process.
What is Mental Health Empowerment?
In the mental health context, empowerment refers to the control, level of choice, and influence that patients suffering from mental health issues have over their lives. Mental health empowerment can be achieved by:
- Respecting the decisions made by people over their own lives
- Remaining respectful and non-judgmental
- Providing encouragement and support to every decision that people make regarding their lives
- Focusing more on the positives, abilities, and strengths
- Having a genuine relationship with the person suffering from mental health issues. They should always be comfortable discussing their feelings and how they want things done
When done correctly, mental health empowerment can play a massive role in the patient’s recovery through its holistic and person-centered approach.
How to Achieve Mental Health Empowerment
The two targets of mental health empowerment are:
Treatment Partnerships
Strategies that facilitate treatment partnerships focus more on recovery endorsement than approaches that suggest poor prognosis, more collaborative treatment options, and community-based treatment services, rather than depending on institutions located far away.
While focusing on treatment options that work for individuals is somewhat efficient, they are not sufficient on their own. This begs for alternative solutions that can be used along with treatment partnerships.
Community Opportunities
Usually, the community is responsible for discrimination and stigma that worsen the patients’ mental health issues. Along with treatment partnerships, communities with more realistic views and more accommodating to patients with mental illnesses rather than stigmatizing and discriminating against them are more helpful in mental health empowerment.
Battles to do with mental health are so big that an individual’s and the doctor’s efforts alone might not be sufficient. Communities that understand, support, and respect other people’s life choices play a massive role in mental health empowerment.
Get the Help You Need
At Pandora’s House Psychiatry, we understand the challenges of poor mental health. We focus on helping patients improve their quality of life and facilitate a full recovery. Along with our professionals, we have a warm, safe, and supportive atmosphere needed for the wellbeing of our patients.
Is the psychiatric treatment offered right for you? You can contact us with us to find out.