Psycho-social interventions 2

The previous post focused more on assessment than intervention, so I thought I would expand a little more on intervention.

Psycho interventions (the individual)

It would be very remiss not to provide strategies that may help the client to better manage the symptoms of things like anxiety, depression, grief, overwhelming feelings (including anger and fear), stress, trauma reactions, unhelpful thoughts and unhelpful behaviour. There are a myriad of simple tools that can be provided here and these are readily available on websites targeting anxiety and depression and those providing CBT tools. Some of these have been covered in previous entries on this blog, but other helpful websites include:

•  Beyond Blue (Link: http://www.beyondblue.org.au/),
•  Cognitive Behaviour Therapy self-help resources (Link: http://www.getselfhelp.co.uk/)
•  Australian Centre for Grief and Bereavement (Link: http://www.grief.org.au/resources )

Normalising reactions can be a powerful tool to use here too.

Social interventions (the context/ environment)

Sometimes there are fairly immediate and accessible changes that can be made to the client's environment e.g. writing a letter of support for priority housing, referral to organisations that offer emergency relief and/or practical assistance, referral to free legal advice, the provision of accurate information and advocacy to other relevant organisations. I believe that it is important to allow the client to arrange these referrals themselves as much as possible, as this increases their knowledge, skills and autonomy, and their ability to alter their environment.  Once these have been addressed change may continue, or deeper issues may then be able to be worked with.

Interventions targeting the interactions between the individual and their environment

This is where the more complex interventions occur, and these need to be based on good psycho-social assessments. Here we are working with the connections between the client and their environment – the environmental factors that are contributing to their symptoms and the ways they are responding to environmental issues. Some people are more positive and resilient than others, so how one person reacts to an environmental factor (e.g. a motor vehicle accident, the death of a family member or an overcrowded household) will usually differ from how another person will react.

In reality there are usually multiple issues in the environment of the client, and thus multiple impacts on their lives. Identifying links between issues can be useful for both us and the client, and can result in increased insight (hopefully for the client as well as us).

Summing up

Our overall aim is to facilitate change and better functioning for the client. Sometimes these changes are small and sometimes, over time, we are able to encourage more major changes to occur. But remember that it is always up to the client, not us, to implement the changes.