Post by temmy on Jul 31, 2015 5:49:47 GMT
Dual diagnosis means someone has both a mental illness and a substance use problem. Many people with alcohol and drug problems have a range of mental health problems at higher rates than the general community. I considered the dual diagnosis workshop to be an eye opener and I found many instances of Ah- Ah moments (i.e. information that I heard for the very first time and kind of struck and stays with me).
It is heart rending to learn that the prevalence of clients presenting with both issues have increased over the years. It makes me wonder which problem came first. Perhaps the mental illness prompted the person to abuse drugs, or maybe their drug problem triggered their mental illness that was meant to have surfaced.
Working with the youth mental health where majority of them present with substance use problem and mental illness, it was recognised that treatment are often difficult because many of the support services involved in substance used and mental illness does not necessarily overlap until the recent years. However, the workshop has helped to understand that integration of care between mental health and alcohol and other drug in Australia is gradually increasing over the years which will further improve the outcome of clients with dual diagnosis in our own time. (new mental health nurse)
Lastly, I believe the workshop has better equipped me with how best to care for people experiencing dual diagnosis by implementing harm minimisation rather than focusing on total abstinence. I was able to see things from my client’s point of view, knowing that each of them are in a journey of their life and that the stages of change they might seems to be at the time they present to our service may not necessarily mean they cannot be firmly established again in future, even if they present to us with relapse for a number of times. Our role as mental health nurses is to continue doing our best to support and facilitate them until they find their feet again.