Consultation, Supervision, and Advocacy Plan
Abstract
Identifying a group that needs intervention is critical in developing a tailored approach towards handling the issues they face. The aim is to ensure the use of highly effective interventions that are useful and generate long-term and sustainable solutions to the problem the client faces. The purpose of this paper is to give information concerning the significance of consultation, supervision, and advocacy for older adults who are socially isolated and depressed. Ideally, the older adults are deemed socially distanced from the rest of the population, which leads to incidences of depression that harms their welfare. In the paper, the history of clinical mental health counseling for the group is given. Also, there is the exploration of the consultation theory and the strategies to intervene in the targeted clientele group. Finally, there are recommended steps that professionals can take to advocate at the state or national level to reduce barriers to access, equity, and success of the client’s population.
Keywords: Consultation theory, supervision model, continuum of care
Consultation, Supervision, and Advocacy Plan
Consultation is essential in offering necessary information to the individuals who want to counsel older adults who are socially isolated and depressed via groups, individuals, or even therapy of the couple (Domènech-Abella, Lara, Rubio-Valera, Olaya, Moneta, Rico-Uribe, & Haro, 2017). Even though there is a connection between consultation and supervision, the supervisors are allowed through the process of supervision to stimulate, encourage, and challenge a skilled counselor to exploit his potentials and reach a maximum level of competence (Erford, 2018). Finally, the resources for elderly individuals who are socially isolated and need counseling are inadequate. Therefore, advocacy on the mental health experts’ division is highly needed to help the socially isolated elderly who are depressed.
Serving the Elderly who are Socially Isolated and Depressed
Social isolation of individuals has diverse effects on their lives. Human beings are social species and, isolating them from their loved ones may lead to loneliness. Social isolation inflicts stress on the bodies and minds of the elderly leading to considerable negative outcomes on their health (Domènech-Abella et al., 2017). Most elderly suffer depression and other mental health-related issues due to social isolation (Erford, 2018). Stresses imposed on older adults due to isolation may increase the possibility of suicide attempts and suicidal thoughts. The need for counseling in older isolated individuals has increased due to those mentioned reasons.
The history of clinical mental health is relatively old. For many years, the elderly in European countries and the United States have been isolated (Domènech-Abella et al., 2017). They have been taken to nursing homes where they are being looked after by caregivers and doctors. Loneliness has increased greatly in these nursing homes because the elderly are separated from their loved ones. The government has established counseling plans in community nursing homes to reduce the risk of loneliness and negative thinking (Richard, Charante, Hoevenaar-Blom, Coley, Barbera, van der Groep, & van Middelaar, 2019). Many of the isolated elders undergo talk therapy or psychotherapy. Some undergo long term psychotherapy, while others do take a short term one depending on their needs. Therapy for cognitive behavior is one of the psychotherapies used by doctors in nursing homes for the elderly to deal with depression and loneliness. It concentrates on Helping people with depression to change their behaviors and attitudes that may worsen depression. Cognitive-behavioral therapy also Helps in handling anxiety and panic disorders for the elderly. Premature deaths are controlled in turn through these types of therapy and counseling.
Counseling Services across the Continuum of Care
In the United States of America, the government established Nursing home care agencies that provide care to the elderly, disabled and chronically ill people. The agencies provided protective care, such as eating, bathing, and getting dressed. They also offered skilled care. Skilled care comprises treatment and monitoring of medicine given to the elderly and disabled (Richard et al., 2019). These skilled services were provided by qualified and registered physicians and nurses. Nursing home care also offered recreational and social activities to the elders. In case of complications in nursing homes, the elderly patients were referred to the hospitals.
The emotional needs of the elderly in the community nursing homes are always ignored. Even though there are several plans for counseling for the elderly in community nursing homes, there is inadequacy in skilled personnel to carry out this task. Many of the elderly in residential home care are looked after by nurses and other caregivers but not qualified doctors (“Position statement 33…”). There is a need to increase the number of counseling personnel to handle this big group of elder people properly.
Recruiting and training the local people to Help in counseling the elderly in nursing homes will be a beneficial effort. The locally residing people will help in counseling and provision of therapy to the elderly with less pay. The counseling will act as a primary means of detecting depression and negative thinking in isolated elders (Richard et al., 2019). It will also reduce the rate at which depression in the elder worsens. The counseling will also help determine when an isolated elder needs advanced care and treatment.
Consultation Plan
Consultation in care homes is very important as it helps eliminate any mistake, whether big or small. Consultations help handle challenges associated with offering basic care or the elderly (Liu, Gou, & Zuo, 2016). It is also important in providing comprehensive and coordinated care for the complex needs of the elders. I would propose a sociological consultation model. Here behavior during a consultation is affected by social factors. Both the patient and the doctor in this consultation approach behave as per the rules of the responsibilities. Social factors affect the consultation results or how consultation is judged. The nursing care home should regularly consult to evaluate their performance and those of their patients. This can be done by calling the consultation agencies or inviting them to the care home to assess the performance.
Supervision Plan
I would propose a psychodynamic supervision model. This supervision approach will draw on the clinical information of the elderly. The model focuses on the behavior and representation of the elderly. The care home will monitor the development of their patients closely to ensure that they are making progress. Progress can be assessed by the behavior of the elders. The way they talk and the choice of words they use. All those will help the supervisors understand the attitude and feelings of their patients (Richard et al., 2019). Having a face-to-face conversation with an elder or the patient will help the supervisor understand their thoughts and feelings.
Advocacy Steps to Reduce Barriers for Clients
The care home agency professionals should always teach and supervise counselors properly before allowing them to counsel the elders. Proper teaching can be achieved by applying ethics, setting standards, and establishing competencies. This will help in increasing the skills and requirements of the counselor. Qualified counselors should be provided with a license to make them known to the agency (Liu, Gou, & Zuo, 2016). The agency should only employ a licensed counselor. The license ensures the employment of qualified and skilled counselors, therefore, reducing the chances of incompetence. The agency should thoroughly interview counselors before employing them. The interview will help in understanding their level of education and how experienced they are. The government also should come up with a rule regulating the number of counselors in a care home.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, counseling of the elderly who are isolated and depressed is very important as it helps reduce loneliness and stress. With proper supervision, consultation, and advocacy plan, the counseling procedure can be made more effective. A supervision plan helps in understanding the efficiency of counseling to the elderly. The consultation plan ensures the provision of coordinated and comprehensive counseling. Also, advocacy provides regulations that control the counseling procedure.
References
Domènech-Abella, J., Lara, E., Rubio-Valera, M., Olaya, B., Moneta, M. V., Rico-Uribe, L. A., … & Haro, J. M. (2017). Loneliness and depression in the elderly: the role of social network. Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 52(4), 381-390.
Erford, B. T. (2018). Orientation to the counseling profession: Advocacy, ethics, and essential professional foundations (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Pearson.
Liu, L., Gou, Z., & Zuo, J. (2016). Social support mediates loneliness and depression in elderly people. Journal of health psychology, 21(5), 750-758.
Mental Health America. (2012, June). Position statement 33: Substance use, abuse, or dependence and co-occurring interactive disorders. Retrieved from http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/positions/co-occurring
Richard, E., van Charante, E. P. M., Hoevenaar-Blom, M. P., Coley, N., Barbera, M., van der Groep, A., … & van Middelaar, T. (2019). Healthy Ageing Through Internet Counselling in the Elderly (HATICE): a multinational, randomised controlled trial. The Lancet Digital Health, 1(8), e424-e434.
