Exploring Online Mental Health Resources - Case Study A: Marcello's Essay.

 You will use this case study to answer the question

Case Study A: Marcello

Marcello is a 35 year-old man who has been struggling with alcohol problems and concurrent social anxiety and depression. He has a history of political affiliations in his native Guatemala that resulted in being tortured, and then having to flee to Canada as a political refugee. Marcello is not able to call or write to family back home for fear that he will be discovered, so his move represents considerable loss.

Marcello has found assimilation into Canadian culture to be a challenge. This combined with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms related to his torture, has led to drinking 20-40 ounces of tequila daily. Drinking helps numb Marcello’s symptoms and helps him cope with social isolation and missing his country and family. Marcello also drinks to help him function in social settings, since he finds group settings and relating with women extremely anxiety-evoking. His greatest fear is that women think he is “weak as a man.” While drinking helps him cope with depression and anxiety, it has resulted in hangovers, work-related problems such as absenteeism and decreased performance and financial strain from spending considerable money on alcohol.

Marcello explained that in his culture, there is an expectation that he “should have been married with children by now.” He describes feeling profound shame and stigma when he meets anyone from the Spanish-speaking community because he has not achieved these goals, so he often avoids people. In Marcello’s culture, men must never appear to be weak, so it is a significant challenge for him to seek therapy and disclose his problems. Discussing personal vulnerabilities reflects a lack of machismo and carries a very negative judgment.

Pretend that the person featured in the case study is someone you know. The person explains that s/he either doesn’t want to seek professional help or s/he is unable to find help (you choose). You decide to help the person by looking on the Internet for resources and interactive tools that can help the person understand more about their mental health problem and begin to build resilience. The website might also be an opportunity to help the person access professional help or peer support.

Web-addresses for accessing mental health resources

The web address where I can access the resource/tool.

The web-address where the tools/ resources could be accessed include the following web addresses:

https://www.heretohelp.bc.ca/

https://www.facingus.org/

https://www.facingus.org/:  The website emphasises on guaranteeing a healthy mental health to its users. The website is designed in the form of a clubhouse and intends to extend support in the form of inspiration to the users and guarantee them a healthy life (facingus.org, 2018). It should be noted in this regard that individuals with mood disorders and mental health problems such as stress and anxiety often find it difficult to cope with the society (Chu, Keller & Rasmussen, 2013). In order to provide assistance, the website makes provision for the clients in the form of interactive tools and informative blogs which can be used in order to alleviate the standard of living (facingus.org, 2018).

https://www.heretohelp.bc.ca/: HeretoHelp is a mental health wellness initiative that was taken up by the BC partners and is exclusively designed for the patients who require assistance with substance abuse issues (Heretohelp.bc.ca., 2018). HeretoHelp is one of the leading non-profit organization in Canada that intends to help patients with substance abuse disorder and has been rendering its services since the year 2003 (Heretohelp.bc.ca., 2018). It should be noted in this regard, that at present the organization has seven sibling organizations and is funded by the BC Mental Health and Substance Use services, which is an agency of the Provincial Health Services Authority.The Ministry of Children and Family Development also extends its support to the organization (Heretohelp.bc.ca., 2018).

An explanation as to why you would recommend this specific resource to someone with the disorder(s) addressed in the case study. That is, why would a person living with the disorder(s) benefit from going to the website and looking at the resource? Be sure to connect your answer back to both the case study as well as what you have learned in the course about the disorder(s). For example, what specific part of the disorder(s) does this resource/tool address?

The case study A was chosen by me. Prior to providing a rationale about the recommendation of the helplines to the concerned client, the major factors of the case study must be highlighted. The client, Mr. Marcello is a victim of substance-abuse and also suffers from anxiety and depression. As reported by the case study, it should further be noted that on account of political disturbances, Mr. Marcello had to flee from his native land in Gautemala and take refuge in Canada. He has not been in contact with his family members since a long time and has also been reported to suffer from PTSD. In addition to this, Mr. Marcello finds it extremely difficult to cope with the Canadian culture and also experiences low-esteem for his vulnerabilities. Further, Mr. Marcello also feels he is weak and also does not fulfil the set tradition of his culture that requires him to get married and have kids at his age. He feels emotionally low and is not able to confide in any one else for gaining support. As an individual,

Detailed description of FacingUs and HereToHelp websites

It can be comprehend the barriers that Mr. Marcello encounters while thinking about seeking professional support. However, his mental health condition is serious and must be addressed immediately, in order to avoid further complexities. Hence, it would be recommend to him to use the mental health support websites online so that he starts feeling better and recovers with time. The rationale for the recommendation of the online resources is to let Mr. Marcello seek help without feeling vulnerable or weak. The fear of the client to be called weak by the society serves as a major barrier that does not permit his to seek professional support. However, accessing online resources would not expose his mental health condition to the society and would remain restricted to himself exclusively. Therefore, the recommendations would serve beneficial to the client.

The three specific tools that would be recommended to the client from the website ‘facingus’ would include the following:

The wellness tracker is an exclusive feature of the ‘facingus’ website (facingus.org, 2018)  It helps in investigating the existing health trend that affects the mind and the body. The wellness tracker would help in monitoring the overall mood, state of well-being, symptoms of mood disorder, lifestyle preferences and physical health which are the key components and regulators of the mental health (facingus.org, 2018). The DBSA wellness tracker can thus be defined as an online tool that equips the client with the capability to stringently monitor and evaluate the mood level spanning throughout the day. Also, the tracker helps in recognising the potential health issues that might compromise with the quality of the living standard of the client. The diverse sections of the wellness plan helps in establishing a better partnership with the clinician in order to address complete wellbeing. The tool is available in the form of an application and is free. It can be downloaded from the internet and would track the mood of the client throughout the day (facingus.org, 2018). It can hence be stated, in this regard, that the DBSA wellness tracker would help Mr. Marcello to evaluate his mood type, dietary intake, water intake and level of physical exercise throughout the day. It would thus, make the client aware about his physical health condition at every instant and accordingly motivate him to seek wellness support.

 The website contains an interesting and an entertaining section which is known as the Dave’s spark creativity center (facingus.org, 2018). This section allows the clients to channelize their negative thoughts and insecurities into creativity, so as to harbour a ‘feel good’ essence. The section contains podcasts on art and painting, creative writing, stand-up comedy and music. Research studies show that engaging in creative ideas help in stabilising the disturbed mind and attaining serenity (Blomdahl et al., 2013). Psychologists often recommend ‘hobby therapy’ to people experience anxiety and depression as a relief remedy (Khoury et al., 2013). In the same way, it can be said that the podcasts and the online workshops available on the website would help the client in managing his depression and provide relief to his mind (Blomdahl et al., 2013). The case study mentions that the client feels increasingly helpless and hopeless on being distanced from his family members and native land. The client could specifically pick videos in his native language and connect with the emotions. It is expected to make his feel better (Chu, Keller & Rasmussen, 2013).

Why FacingUs and HereToHelp are recommended for individuals like Marcello

The website offers another interesting resource in the form of ‘Media-Rooms’ which can be accessed by the client (facingus.org, 2018). The resources comprises of success stories of individuals who battles difficult and complicated mental health problems such as depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder. In addition to this, it should further be noted that resources in the form of meditation assistance and motivational audio casts are available that facilitates recovery.  Research studies prove that administration of mindfulness-based therapies such as meditation and yoga helps in providing composure to the disturbed state of mind (Connors et al., 2013); (Khoury et al., 2013). In the same way, the videos on meditation and yoga can impart helpful self-management strategies to the client and help him heal.

On the other hand, the three tools that would be recommended to Mr. Marcello from the website ‘heretohelp’ would include the following:

The website offers self-screening test tools that help the client in taking care of their mental health and well-being. The tests, effectively look for symptoms of certain mental health illness (Heretohelp.bc.ca., 2018). Also, it helps in accessing the pattern of substance use and variations in everyday mood. The client would be recommended to undertake the depression, anxiety disorders, risky drinking and the well-being screening test. These tests would help in analysing the symptoms and depending upon the score obtained by the client, wellness therapies can be assisted to the client. The rationale for recommending the above mentioned screening tests to the client include, the assessment of the risk areas identified in alignment with the case study.

The website offers an insight into the personal success stories of the people who have experienced substance abuse issues and associated mental health problems in the past (Heretohelp.bc.ca., 2018). It should be noted in this regard, that the personal stories do not offer any medical expert advice but rather offers reflective stories about people who had managed their mental health illness on grounds of self-determination and will power. Therefore, Mr. Marcello can browse through the success stories of individuals like him who had been experiencing depression and substance abuse issues and accordingly gather knowledge about self-management strategies to combat the existing health issues (Galanter, Kleber & Brady, 2014).

It has been mentioned in the case study, the client indulges in heavy alcohol consumption. This clearly reflects that the client needs to manage his temptation and at the same time also be aware about the negative implication of alcohol on the physical and mental health (Shapiro & Carlson, 2017). Informative factsheets on mental illness and alcoholism, alcohol treatment and safer drinking: Beer, wine and other spirits are available. I would recommend Mr. Marcello to browse through the mentioned pdf documents (Heretohelp.bc.ca., 2018). This would not only educate him and make him aware about the negative impact of alcohol on health but would also help in making him aware about the treatment options that are available. Also, it would help in providing an over-view about the disastrous impact of alcohol on the mental as well as the physical health of the people and motivate him to involve himself in a wellness plan.

References:

Blomdahl, C., Gunnarsson, A. B., Guregård, S., & Björklund, A. (2013). A realist review of art therapy for clients with depression. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 40(3), 322-330.

Chu, T., Keller, A. S., & Rasmussen, A. (2013). Effects of post-migration factors on PTSD outcomes among immigrant survivors of political violence. Journal of immigrant and minority health, 15(5), 890-897.

Connors, G. J., DiClemente, C. C., Velasquez, M. M., & Donovan, D. M. (2013). Substance abuse treatment and the stages of change: Selecting and planning interventions. Guilford Press.

facingus.org (2018). FACINGUS. [online] www.facingus.org. Available at: https://www.facingus.org/media [Accessed 3 Dec. 2018].

Galanter, M., Kleber, H. D., & Brady, K. (Eds.). (2014). The American Psychiatric Publishing textbook of substance abuse treatment. American Psychiatric Pub.

Heretohelp.bc.ca. (2018). Here to Help | Here to Help. Retrieved from https://www.heretohelp.bc.ca/

Khoury, B., Lecomte, T., Fortin, G., Masse, M., Therien, P., Bouchard, V., ... & Hofmann, S. G. (2013). Mindfulness-based therapy: a comprehensive meta-analysis. Clinical psychology review, 33(6), 763-771.

Shapiro, S. L., & Carlson, L. E. (2017). The art and science of mindfulness: Integrating mindfulness into psychology and the helping professions. American Psychological Association.pp.78-81