Progressing recovery-oriented care in psychiatric inpatient units

Abstract

Purpose -Initiated by the service user movement, recovery-oriented practices are one of the keystones of modern mental health care. Over the past two decades, substantial gains have been made with introducing recovery-oriented practice in many areas of mental health practice, but there remain areas where progress is delayed, notably, the psychiatric inpatient environment. The peer support workforce can play a pivotal role in progressing recovery-oriented practices. The purpose of this paper is to provide a pragmatic consideration of how occupational therapists can influence mental health systems to work proactively with a peer workforce.Design/methodology/approach -The authors reviewed current literature and considered practical approaches to building a peer workforce in collaboration with occupational therapists.Findings -It is suggested that the peer support workforce should be consciously enhanced in the inpatient setting to support culture change as a matter of priority. Occupational therapists working on inpatient units should play a key role in promoting and supporting the growth in the peer support workforce. Doing so will enrich the Occupational Therapy profession as well as improving service user outcomes.Originality/value -This paper seeks to provide a pragmatic consideration of how occupational therapists can influence mental health systems to work proactively with a peer workforce.

Generalist, specialist and generic positions experienced by occupational therapists in Norwegian municipalities

“…From this point of view, it seems important to increase occupational therapists’ autonomy such that they can provide the best possible service to their clients (Bonsaksen et al , 2018). Related to the findings of this study and results from other studies (Cook and Cook, 2003; Fox, 2013; Fossey, 2001; Lloyd et al , 2017), there seems to be value in examining ways for occupational therapists to describe the unique way in which they contribute to the team. The findings presented the way in which the occupational therapists suggested developing this unique manner, including innovation while use their core knowledge to enable people to engage in everyday life activities (Zemke, 2004; Hasselkus, 2006).…”

“…A recent study of occupational therapists working in municipalities who provided assessments of clients with cognitive impairments concluded that the therapists valued an occupation-based process, but used impairment-based screening tools even if they questioned the usefulness of the results (Stigen et al , 2019). A review from an Irish study in the field of recovery in mental health found that the dominance of the biomedical models of care continues to be pervasive (Lloyd et al , 2017). Turner and Knight (2015) explored what could reinforce the occupational therapists’ professional identity and found that they could do that through a shared understanding of the profession’s internalized beliefs, values and knowledge about the positive effects of occupation on health and well-being.…”