Dual Diagnosis

The dual diagnosis workshop was something that I was looking forward to because of the clients we had/have in our facility and I was hoping to be able to provide them with better care or care that was more designed to suit them. The whole session was very relevant to where I am currently working and it made me realise how many staff members are not educated around dual diagnosis and what we could have done for past clients to promote their wellbeing.

The workshop was full of surprises for all of us. The facts and figures were not what I expected; especially around alcohol consumption and that the elderly had the greatest prevalence. General discussions around assessment forms also made me realise the assessments we do are quite minimal and basic and we could defiantly benefit from a more detailed assessment form for dual diagnosis clients. One of the activities I found very interesting was the different drug names and what class they come from. There were many slang drug names I had never heard of and knowing these names, I think, will help me in the future if clients speak about these drugs.

We now know that there are many different services that we can refer our client onto who have a dual diagnosis and how beneficial they are for these clients. Most of us asked about what issues should be treated first and who should treat the different issues. We were surprised to be told that we should be treating the dual diagnosis together and that it is everybody’s responsibility to treat both issues.

I felt that the session was very informative and provided me with information I had not yet thought about. We had a client that unfortunately did not get the totally care he could have if we had of known of some of the services around dual diagnosis. He was appropriately treated for his mental illness but his substance use was either forgotten about or treated as a negative aspect of his life. I found that this session gave me the confidence that if I was again faced with the challenges of a client with a dual diagnosis, I would be able to treat both his mental illness and his substance use and link him or her in with the right services.

I believe that more clinicians need to be educated on dual diagnosis and making sure staff is using the resources that they have access to, is essential for dual diagnosis clients to be treated appropriately. I know that I will be discussing alcohol and drug use in more depth with my clients and having a more in-depth form that can be completed would help clinicians get a clearer picture of that persons substance use. The workshop was very useful and educated me on issues that are so important in mental health.