Mental health nurses contribute significantly to the struggle against substance dependence. They administer evidence-based treatments to aid those suffering from substance misuse disorders and addiction develop more beneficial coping skills and strategies, such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), motivational interviewing, and relapse prevention.
Mental health nurses help people build skills, create safe, purposeful connections, and set objectives. In addition, mental health nurses provide emotional and psychological support for families of substance abusers and those in recovery. Through collective outreach, mental health nurses assist families in detecting the signals and indications of addiction and help them gain access to resources that can aid those influenced by substance abuse addiction.
What Is Mental Health Nursing?
Psychiatric nursing, or mental health nursing, provides specialized attention to those experiencing psychological health issues to improve their quality of life and facilitate rehabilitation. Mental health nurses are adept at identifying, examining, and managing mental health problems. They interact with other medical personnel to provide the best possible care and realize patient objectives. Mental health nurses may have to deal with individuals of diverse ages, ethnicities, and socio-economic classes, as mental illness can affect individuals from any background.
For those looking to train as a nurse and create a safer world for the next generation, Marymount University MSN-PMHNP online degree program equips students with the knowledge to maximize productivity and optimize efficiency. The course trains students to become advanced practice psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners through a firmly focused curriculum of ethical and evidence-based care. This program is flexible, so students can continue to work while advancing their careers. In addition to online coursework, students will also complete one on-campus residency and 750 clinical hours.
What Do Mental Health Nurses Do?
Mental health nursing is an enriching and demanding profession. Mental health nurses give people the support they need to make changes in their lives, granting them the ability to cope more proficiently with their mental health issues and uphold a higher level of autonomy.
There may be numerous circumstances in a person’s life that contribute to mental illness. Conversely, others have chronic mental health conditions necessitating long-term management. As a mental health nurse, one’s responsibility is to institute positive affiliations with those using mental health services. This can comprise aiding patients in conforming to their medication plans, proposing pertinent psychotherapies, or coordinating social activities.
Mental health nurses should be able to generate robust, trusting relationships quickly to ensure that the individual understands their condition and receives the appropriate care. Mental health nurses are important to patient safety and will have the capability to recognize if and when someone can be in danger of harming themselves or somebody else.
The Skills of an Outstanding Mental Health Nurse
Communication
Mental health nurses must exhibit robust communication capabilities to interact with their clients adeptly. Paying close attention to their patients is a vital part of the responsibility to gain insight into their struggles. Mental health nurses apply verbal and printed communicative capabilities to confer and coordinate assistance for their patients and relay patient updates to family members. They also employ written communicative faculties to produce and revise patient documents and formulate medication plans.
Empathy
Mental health nurses must possess a strong ability to connect with and relate to the people they care for. This requires empathy so that they can understand, relate to, and ultimately comfort and treat the people in their care.
By exhibiting empathy, healthcare experts can comprehend patients’ feelings, provide vital help, and nurture their need to feel comforted. It allows them to develop trusting relationships with their patients. When a nurse has established trust between themselves and their patient, they may ask relevant questions to gain insight into their circumstances and craft an individualized treatment program.
Problem-Solving
Mental health nurses typically exhibit solid problem-solving skills to address patient issues. Some patients may have issues that are complex and difficult, and staying composed and handling the circumstances orderly and expertly is essential when engaging with these individuals. For example, in the case of an uncooperative patient, a mental health nurse can use effective communication to understand why a patient refuses to cooperate and work to find a suitable solution. They must also have robust technical proficiency to evaluate and comprehend patients’ health issues and suggest appropriate medications.
Time Management
Time management involves organizing and prioritizing tasks to maximize efficiency and productivity. It consists of scheduling activities to accomplish objectives and goals on time. Mental health nurses generally need to be available to work nontraditional hours, such as evenings, weekends, and public holidays. However, effective time management will allow them to maintain a healthy work-life balance, enabling them to take care of their personal and family responsibilities.
How Do Mental Health Nurses Help Fight Substance Abuse?
Symptom Management
Symptom management is an essential part of the battle against addiction. Mental health nurses can help those challenged by addiction by trying to pinpoint signs and regulate their condition. This could involve surveying psychological well-being, offering individual and collective therapy and drug education, offering support, finding patients appropriate resources, and assessing the success of any treatment that has happened.
Mental health nurses will also cooperate with the companions and confidants of the individual going through addiction to ensure they are coping well and providing necessary support. Through symptom management, mental health nurses can assist in lowering the impact caused by addiction and can help to guide the person toward a more promising future.
Crisis Intervention
Crisis intervention is an evidence-based approach to aiding persons in distress. Mental health nurses employ it to act in a substance abuse emergency to suppress and control the expanding cycle of abusive substance consumption and related medical and social issues. They focus on understanding the root cause of crises and exploring all possible solutions with the person. Crisis intervention is short-term and prioritizes keeping a patient safe and stabilizing their condition.
Mental health nurses use crisis intervention to provide structure, direction, and assistance to help people needing to comprehend and manage their behavior and feelings. Interventions might involve individual counseling, assistance groups, referrals for further care, and organizing for required medical services.
Crisis intervention aims to deliver swift alleviation of a patient’s distress and aid the person to transition out of the crisis and back into regular routines.
Substance Abuse Education
Mental health nurses are heavily involved in educating people, with the aim of preventing substance abuse and making those with substance abuse issues aware of the support available to them. Knowledge about substance abuse helps those affected by or at risk of developing a mental health issue and the general public to understand the influence and dangers of substance usage and misuse.
For individuals engaging in substance use, nurses offer education about the risks of their practices and how to make healthy lifestyle changes. They begin by conducting assessments to identify current behaviors and prior substance use, then collaboratively develop plans to reduce any risks associated with future use. Mental health professionals provide evidence-based information about the long-term dangers of substance use and offer recovery resources through referrals, support groups, and other treatment options.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a mental health intervention often used to help individuals with substance abuse issues. Through CBT, nurses can help clients better understand and address their distress and the habits and behaviors that lead to unhealthy substance use.
During CBT sessions, nurses work with clients to identify and evaluate prejudicial beliefs that may otherwise prompt the client’s substance misuse. Nurses then challenge these thoughts, equipping patients with the necessary skills to effectively resist cravings and cope with their addiction.
Besides challenging one’s thoughts and beliefs, a cognitive behavioral approach emphasizes the importance of healthy coping skills and behaviors. Nurses may aim to help substance abuse clients identify the triggers and consequences of their actions to learn how to manage the urges and cravings associated with substance abuse. Ultimately, CBT helps individuals suffering from substance abuse problems become more self-aware and evaluate their thoughts and behaviors to lead healthier lifestyles.
Group or Family Therapy
Group or family therapy is an effective way for mental health nurses to help individuals combat substance abuse. Group therapy allows individuals to gain invaluable insight into their challenges with addiction and understand how their behavior affects other members of their family or friendship groups.
Family therapy works in a similar way. During these therapeutic sessions, medical attendants can aid family members in comprehending how their assistance and collaboration may direct or affect an individual’s battle with addiction.
By understanding how substance abuse influences entire support systems, the families and friends of those suffering from addiction can learn how to form effective conditions for recovery. Moreover, mental health nurses can likewise utilize cognitive-behavioral and dialectical behavioral skills to aid somebody in recognizing and changing negative thought patterns that can prompt relapse.
They can also help recognize and actualize “coping skills” that can be utilized in circumstances of temptation. Through group or family treatment, mental health nurses have an invaluable platform to help those longing to avoid substance misuse.
Treatment Planning
Treatment planning necessitates collaborating with the substance user to produce a tailored plan which advances recovery from substance abuse. The methodology should consider the various interconnected issues (emotional, physical, social, professional, and vocational) connected to the individual’s substance misuse. To achieve success, the plan should likewise incorporate strategies to battle desires and raise access to social assistance, interventions, and programs that provide support to help heal from drug and alcohol abuse. Treatment planning should educate patients on the dangers of various substances and the options for treatment and recovery going forward.
Similarly, mental health nurses can use their skills to distinguish high-risk environments and activities that could further derail an individual’s progress toward recuperation. With the assistance of a skillful mental health nurse and an effective treatment plan, people can succeed in their recovery from substance abuse.
Case Management
Case management is an evidence-based approach mental health nurses use to combat substance use disorder (SUD). It starts when a client goes into treatment and is utilized to evaluate each person’s needs and conditions. With case administration, psychological wellness nurses evaluate, arrange, interface, and screen administrations intended to improve an individual’s general well-being and aid their recovery. This broad procedure includes participating in dynamic and latent casework.
Active casework involves working with clients to set objectives, providing resources and directions, and overseeing treatment plans. Inactive casework includes helping with creating fundamental administrations for a client, including education, employment, housing, and community resources.
Case management acts as a bridge between accessible treatment services, ensuring clients get the required resources to help their recovery. It is an effective method that mental health nurses employ to help those suffering from substance abuse disorder improve their quality of life.
Medication Management
Medication management involves helping clients understand and manage their medications. Mental health nurses enable effective medication use by monitoring medication compliance and side effects, identifying and addressing problems with substance use, and helping educate patients about medication and risk factors associated with misuse.
Nurses also help determine the effectiveness of the medication so that adjustments can be made as needed. In addition, they can work with patients to develop strategies and support networks to reduce or discontinue the use of substances. By providing these services, mental health nurses can be beneficial in helping clients with substance abuse challenges.
Nurses: Crucial in Crises
Mental health nurses are indispensable in aiding people with substance abuse to battle their addiction. A sympathetic, secure, and encouraging environment can help people recognize the root causes of their substance abuse, develop healthier means of addressing the problem, and give guidance and assistance for long-term abstention.
Mental health nurses can also aid individuals and their families with ascertaining and treating physical and psychological health disorders that can lead to a person’s substance use issues. They can also provide programs and support services that assist individuals in maintaining their sobriety.
