Therapeutic Relationships in Mental Health

Course

HCSW 1190

Discontinued

No

Course code

HCSW 1190

Descriptive

Therapeutic Relationships in Mental Health

Department

Mental Health and Personal Support Work

Faculty

Health Sciences

Credits

3.25

Start date

January 2012

End term

202010

PLAR

No

Semester length

8

Max class size

32

Contact hours

65 hours per semester

Method(s) of instruction

Lecture

Lab

Learning activities

Lecture
Case studies
Role-Plays
Group activities
Communication labs with actors
May include community service learning and/or participation in community based research projects when available.

Course description

The focus of this course in the Health Care Support Worker Program is to prepare the student to develop advanced therapeutic relationships in the mental health field through the use of communication skills. Empathy, warmth, and respect will be taught as well as confrontation and immediacy. Communication labs with actors are used to develop these skills. Assessment/communication/interviewing skills will be discussed for various mental disorders. Conflict resolution, problem-solving, and leadership skills will be developed. Group therapy and stress management theories and techniques will be explored. The importance of self-awareness will be stressed throughout the course.

Course content

Self-awareness: Values clarification, Johari window, understanding self to promote client’s growth, boundaries, and limit-setting
Therapeutic relationships: Types, phases, and strategies
Using a Rogerian approach to develop a therapeutic relationship with individuals with mental health issues
Listening and attending skills: Nonverbal communication, appropriate eye contact and proxemics, SOLER, body posture, and appropriate touching
Empathy, warmth, respect, confrontation, and immediacy skills
The problem-solving process and ways to implement client-focused interventions
Conflict resolution: Identifying resistance, understanding violence, the cycle of violence, and how/when to intervene on the continuum of violence
Stress management techniques
Risk assessment: risk factors, assessments, and interventions
Assessment and communication skills for the following categories of mental disorders:
- Schizophrenia
- Mood Disorders
- Anxiety, Somatoform, and Dissociative Disorders
- Personality Disorders
- Eating Disorders
- Sexual Disorders
- Co-Occurrent Disorders
- Child and Adolescent Disorders
Empowerment: ways to empower clients and the misuse of power and control
Strategies to manage difficult situations: Diffuse, de-escalate, and debrief
Concepts of Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD)
Application of interviewing and communication skills through structured lab interactions with “clients” (actors)

Learning outcomes

Understand the concepts and importance of the therapeutic use of self (self-awareness)
Understand the importance of the therapeutic use of self during interactions with individuals with mental health issues
Understand the types, phases, and implementation strategies for therapeutic relationships
Demonstrate active listening and attending skills
Demonstrate client-centred communication skills of empathy, warmth, and respect, and beginning skills of confrontation and immediacy
Understand the problem-solving process in working with a client and/or multidisciplinary team
Understand the concepts and skills for conflict resolution
Demonstrate an understanding of stress management
Demonstrate the theory and application for a risk assessment
Demonstrate the various communication skills associated with the following categories of mental disorders:
- Schizophrenia
- Mood Disorders
- Anxiety, Somatoform, and Dissociative Disorders
- Personality Disorders
- Eating Disorders
- Sexual Disorders
- Co-Occurrent Disorders
- Child and Adolescent Disorders
Understand the concepts of power and empowerment and their effects on therapeutic relationships
Identify escalating behaviours and strategies to diffuse, de-escalate, and debrief
Demonstrate basic interviewing skills