PERTHCITY COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH TEAM
DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES
Perth City CMHT is a team of multi-disciplinary staff working with individuals aged
16-64 years who are experiencing severe and/or enduring mental health problems.
We believe that people must be involved in decisions about their care and treatment and as such assessment and care planning will be defined by individually identified strengths, hopes, and aspirations.
The Team consists of Administration Staff, Clinical Psychologists, Community Mental Health Nurses, Community Support Workers, Community Pharmacist, Community Rehabilitation and Recovery staff, Consultant Psychiatrists and other medical staff, Mental Health Officers, Occupational Therapists and Social Workers.
There is a Duty Worker available from 9.00 a.m. – 5.00 p.m. Monday to Friday to offer advice and support to service users, carers or relatives.
Services Provided
● Mental Health Assessment and Treatment
● Assessment and treatment for social and communication skills
● Assessment and treatment for vocational and general living skills
● Needs Assessment
● Community Mental Health Nursing Assessment
● Health Education and Interventions
● Psychological Interventions
● Mental Health Officer Advice and Guidance
● Medication Assessment, Monitoring and Review
● Carers Assessment
● Group Interventions
● Therapeutics Clinics: - Health Clinic, Depot Clinic, Clozapine Clinic
Current research/evidence based nursing/professional practices in this area:
Recovery Based Practice, Strengths based interventions, Crisis Interventions, Psychological and Psychosocial therapies, Clinical Supervision, Management Supervision, Integrated Care pathways for Mental Health and for unplanned Mental Health Needs, Early Intervention, Skills competencies analysis based on Skills for Health, Personal Development time to encourage a robust learning climate. Physical Health Care Strategies, Group Interventions, Long Term condition Management Strategies.
We encourage learner nurses to ask questions and will endeavour to answer them. However, we will expect learner nurses to assist with their own learning by developing a questioning approach and evidence-based practice.
Facilities Available For Students
Journals and books are available in each base, and the Gillingham Library at Perth Royal Infirmary and the library at MurrayRoyalHospital can be accessed.
PerthCity Community Mental Health Nurses’ MISSION STATEMENT
As a team of community mental health nurses we aim to provide support and evidence based interventions to clients with mental health problems, and support to their carers and families.
Central to our approach is the therapeutic alliance, the principles of collaborative working, informed choice, honesty and respect.
Our belief is that the client is responsible for their own decision making and life course as far as is possible. That they are capable of recovery, and are valued members of the community.
Our endeavour is to maintain close links with the client’s network of support and to liaise with statutory and non-statutory services in order to cohesively match client need with community provision.
We adopt the lifelong learning ethos and encourage learner nurses to ask questions and will endeavour to answer them. However, we will expect learner nurses to assist with their own learning by developing a questioning approach and evidence-based practice. We look forward to hearing their views about how we can improve the learning experience. We will treat learner nurses as individuals acknowledging their needs, encouraging them to complete a learning contract and reflective diary on their time with the team. Each learner nurse will have a mentor and associate mentor during their placement and will be encouraged to spend time with the different professions in the team and in the wider community.
THE VALUES BASE FOR MENTAL HEALTH NURSING
Relationships
Putting positive working relationships supported by good communication skills at the heart of practice.
Maximising time to build relationships and challenging systems that detract from this.
Recognising when relationships are unhelpful and taking steps to address this.
Rights
Based on principles in legislation, safeguards and codes of conduct.
Respect
For diversity of values and placing the values of individual users at the centre of practice.
Listening to what people say and not basing practice on assumptions about what people need.
Seeing the whole person and not just his or her symptoms
Seeing the person as the ‘expert’ in his or her experience.
For the contribution of families and carers.
For the contribution of other professionals and agencies.
For the social context of people’s lives.
Recovery
Promoting recovery and inspiring hope – building on people’s strengths and aspirations.
Increasing capacity and capability to maximise choice.
Reaching Out
To make best use of resources available in the wider community.
To other agencies involved in mental health care.
Being proactive about opportunities and mobilising opportunities to work with others to bring about change.
Responsibility
At corporate, individual and shared levels to translate the vision and values into practice by evolving current models for practice and challenging and shaping institutional systems and procedures to accommodate this.
CORE FUNCTIONS OF THE MENTAL HEALTH NURSE
Engaging people in care and treatment and providing interventions based on meeting people’s physical, emotional, social, psychological and spiritual needs.
Working with people to assess, plan, implement and evaluate programmes of care.
Assessing risk and supporting the therapeutic management of risk.
Creating and sustaining therapeutic environments in community settings.
Delivering psychological interventions and psychological therapies.
Supporting people receiving pharmacological interventions, including medication management and prescribing.
Providing case management and co-ordination of input from other professionals, services and agencies.
Assisting people to connect with mainstream activities by working with a range of agencies out with health and social care.
Practising therapeutic management of a range of challenging situations, including aggression, violence and self-harm.
Adopting an illness-prevention, health-promotion focused stance which tackles and challenges health inequalities.
Advocating for people, and supporting people’s access to independent advocacy services.
Managing psychiatric emergencies including arrangement of admission to inpatient services where appropriate.
Supporting carers and promoting access to carer support organisations and carer needs assessment.
Provision and receipt of clinical/management supervision.
Providing education on mental health issues to other health professions and agencies.
Work within the Care Programme Approach
Contribute to rotas within team e.g. duty and emergency
Act as mentors for nursing students
Adhere to all NHS Tayside policies and NMC guidance for records and record keeping.