Health and Social Care

Customer Care

• The majority of mental health difficulties are relatively mild. It is important to alleviate distressing situations by being calm, supportive and understanding 
   
• Be prepared to take sufficient time to listen. Receiving assurance that someone cares about the situation can relieve feelings of anxiety
  
  
• Try to provide a relaxing environment. Reduce factors that create excessive noise or distractions. Give the person your whole attention
  
  
• People with mental health difficulties can sometimes lack confidence. Giving clear, concise information will help in decision-making situations
  
  
• If action is promised be sure to carry it through to completion
  
  
• Involve individuals in issues that have a major impact on their lives. This will ensure that any feelings of isolation and loneliness they may experience are not compounded by your actions
  
  
• Some people who experience mental health difficulties may feel powerless and find it difficult to voice concerns. It is important they are encouraged to express their views. In some cases it may be necessary to invite outside advocates to support an individual who cannot articulate views or needs
  
  
• If an individual who has a severe mental health difficulty behaves in a way which is unsafe or damaging themselves, or those around them, contact should be made with professionals such as a doctor, social worker, or community psychiatric nurse

(Source: Focus Consultancy Services “Focusing Best Practice” Disability Awareness in the Customer Care Context Focus Project. Disability Action.

Overcoming Barriers

• The label of mental illness is one that is often perceived as stigmatising, and people with mental health problems may therefore be reluctant to disclose that condition
  
  
• People with mental health problems are not people to be shunned or excluded from society
  
  
• Early treatment reduces the chance of the illness re-occurring
  
  
• People develop mental health problems throughout their life, and many people with mental health problems can overcome their condition.
  
  
• Social Clinicians are trying to tackle the stigma of mental illness by raising our awareness of what mental illness is and how it can be prevented and treated
  
  
• Services for people with mental health problems may sometimes need to be provided differently in order to compensate for their particular disability. This might include the willingness to make a home visit where a visit to the clinic or facility might cause distress
  
  
• People with mental health problems are not stupid. They may behave in different or unusual ways, or exhibit fears and anxieties that others regard as unfounded, but this doesn't mean that their intellectual functioning is impaired
  
  
• Someone with a mental health problem may be perceived to others as 'difficult' or may not be taken seriously. If someone behaves in a way that seems unusual or different, don't assume that they are deliberately doing so, or that that they are trying to cause trouble. Keep calm, and treat them with dignity and respect.