Welfare System For Individuals With Mental Disabilities

Michael is 45 and has suffered depression and anxiety since he was a teenager. He was recently admitted to hospital due to a panic attack and lost his job due to having too many days off because of his mentally health challenges. He has some supportive friends but they seems to not know how to help or support him anymore. His ex-wife has custody of his five year old child and even though he has a good friendship with his ex -wife, he feels like he has failed as a parent and is failing at life in general.

You are required to prepare a report, proposing a detailed and integrated welfare system specific to the chosen scenario and comprising the following:

Identify the welfare system/s relevant to the case study framework

Identify resources and support for the specific target group that can be accessed within the relevant welfare system/s

Evaluation of services suitable for the scenario

Welfare systems relevant to the case study framework:

Welfare system networks serve to provide emotional, spiritual, medical, social, and financial assistance or support to the individuals to ensure that whatever crisis that the individual is going through does not affect the health and wellbeing of the individual (Lehmann & Kayed, 2018). Welfare is essentially just wellbeing which refers to the optimal state of health, physical, social, physiological, emotional, and spiritual. This report will attempt to explore and develop a welfare network for the specific case study.

The case study represents the case of Michael, a 45 year old who had suffered depression and anxiety disorders since he had been a teenager. The patient had been admitted to hospitals due to recurrent panic attacksand had also lost the job due to taking too many day offs and his mental health challenges. Along with that, even though the patient had some supportive friends, he has lost most of the contact with his friends. He is also divorced and along with that the custody of his five year old child is with his ex-wife. Even though he had friendly association with his ex-wife, he stills is suffering from a sense of failure as a parent and a human being as well. Reflecting on the information that has been gathered regarding the patient, it is clear that he has been suffering from depression for a long period of time and he had not gone through necessary treatment interventions that can help him overcome his major depressive disorders. Although, he had been submitted to mental health facility for panic attacks, his depression symptoms have not been adequately addressed in the past at all (Scheeringa et al., 2018).

It has to be mentioned in this context, that the major depressive disorder and anxiety is the main challenge that Michael has been suffering from (Slade et al., 2014). As per the details that had been shared he has been depressed for a long period of time, and as a result of the traumatic events that has been happening in his life such as his suspension, divorce, and separation from his 5 year old child, his mental condition has been deteriorating further.

There are various types of welfare services and system network that are available for people in psychosocial need of support in the Australian health and social care system (Kidd, Kenny & McKinstry, 2015).  With respect to the care needs that Michael is exhibiting, he is in need of employment support, community engagement services, accommodation support, along with advocacy information and alternative forms of communication.  As per the Australian Institute of Health and welfare organizations welfare services, the most relevant and appropriate welfare system that Michael could be accessing is the services for people with disability (Aihw.gov.au, 2018).  It has to be mentioned in this context that mental illness is also equivalent to any other physical disability as it has the power to alter the functionality, perception, and behavior of an individual.  The services for people with disability in the Australian welfare system network includes advocacy, information and alternative forms of communication, accommodation support, community support services, community access services, respite care employment services, and other additional support services (Glisson & Williams, 2015). Due to the lack of financial support after the loss of his job, psychosocial emotional support after his separation with his wife and his child, and lack of any social engagement after his separation with his friends, services for people with disability will be the most applicable in appropriate service network for Michael.

Identify resources and support for the specific target group:

First and foremost, the most important resource or service that Michael or people from similar target groups need to access is counseling of the assistance of a psychotherapist.  Michael had been suffering from a prolonged major depressive disorder couples with anxiety disorder which requires consistent therapeutic interventions including cognitive behavioral therapy mindfulness based therapy and the aid of antipsychotic medication. The second most important resource or service that this target groups require is Group Therapy in the community engagement setting. There is mounting evidence that suggest that group counseling therapies to improve the negative thought patterns and behavioral characteristics of severely depressed patients (Aihw.gov.au, 2018).

The next most important resource or service that the patient or similar target patient groups would require is social or occupational support.  Unemployment and lack of financial stability is also reported to enhance the deterioration progress of depressive disorders of similar mental illnesses.  Social and occupational support has been reported to any with negative thought patterns and suicidality in depressed patients. Along with that for the similar patients group 24/7 social support assistant is also know the very important support service that can help avoid the risk of any fatal self harming tendencies on suicidal attempts (Aihw.gov.au, 2018).

Evaluating the services suitable for the scenario first and foremost it has to be mentioned that the most impactful and effective service resource is the aid of psychotherapeutic assistance. It has to be mentioned that for the patients with a mental disability, the impact of combination therapy involving both pharmacological and non-pharmacological measures had been effective in improving the quality of life and thought process of the patients with major depressive disorders. Along with that, the impact of group based therapies is also influential on improving the thought process and encouraging better coping strategies to facilitate faster and smoother recovery. Along with that, another very important service that can help improve his mental health is community service and different social engagement activities. As discussed by Whiteford et al. (2014), the separation anxiety from being separated from his five year old child can provoke aggression, violence and negative thought process among the depressive patients. The impacts of positive, socially engaging activities are reported to improve the mindset and curb separation anxiety in grieving parents. Lastly, the aid of occupational support can rekindle sense of purpose in life for Michael and can help improve his mental health and facilitate recovery (Kessler et al., 2015).

Conclusion:

On a concluding note, the impact of welfare services is extreme in improving the mental health of the patients with mental illnesses and can help facilitating the recovery progress of the patients as well. This paper has successfully identified the welfare service system and the resources that are most applicable to the scenario selected and similar patient groups, along with the evaluative advantages and disadvantages of the resources and services.

References: 

Aihw.gov.au (2018). Understanding health and welfare data. [Online] Retrieved from https://www.aihw.gov.au/getmedia/da44307c-4ae7-4d08-a5ad-f8e8529f8040/aihw-australias-welfare-2017-chapter1-7.pdf.aspx [accessed on 21st Nov]

Glisson, C., & Williams, N. J. (2015). Assessing and changing organizational social contexts for effective mental health services. Annual Review of Public Health, 36, 507-523.

Kessler, R. C., Sampson, N. A., Berglund, P., Gruber, M. J., Al-Hamzawi, A., Andrade, L., ... & Gureje, O. (2015). Anxious and non-anxious major depressive disorder in the World Health Organization World Mental Health Surveys. Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences, 24(3), 210-226.

Kidd, S., Kenny, A., & McKinstry, C. (2015). The meaning of recovery in a regional mental health service: an action research study. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 71(1), 181-192.

Lehmann, S., & Kayed, N. S. (2018). Children placed in alternate care in Norway: A review of mental health needs and current official measures to meet them. International Journal of Social Welfare, 27(4), 364-371.

Scheeringa, M. S., Singer, A. M., Mai, T. A., & Miron, D. (2018). Access to medicaid providers: availability of mental health services for children and adolescents in child welfare in Louisiana. Journal of Public Child Welfare, 1-13.

Slade, M., Amering, M., Farkas, M., Hamilton, B., O'Hagan, M., Panther, G., ... & Whitley, R. (2014). Uses and abuses of recovery: implementing recovery?oriented practices in mental health systems. World Psychiatry, 13(1), 12-20.

Whiteford, H. A., Buckingham, W. J., Harris, M. G., Burgess, P. M., Pirkis, J. E., Barendregt, J. J., & Hall, W. D. (2014). Estimating treatment rates for mental disorders in Australia. Australian Health Review, 38(1), 80-85.