Mental Health Month continues and Nurses Week 2023 is coming to a close.
Psychiatric / Mental Health Nurses are playing key roles as the nation focuses on and significantly innovates healing and recovery from the COVID, an often tumultuously divisive social climate, upheaval of and in the workplace, the opioid epidemic, as well as increased rates of violence and suicide.
Psychiatric mental health nursing is a specialty within nursing that focuses on the care of individuals, families and communities with mental health and substance use disorders.
Using evidence-based practices, psychiatric mental health nurses play a vital role in supporting mental health and substance use disorders recovery through a variety of services, including:
- Assessment and diagnosis of mental health and substance use disorders
- Development and implementation of meaningful recovery (treatment) plans
- Facilitation of individual and group therapies
- Assistance with medication management
- Case management / healthcare system navigation
- Education and support to patients, families, and the community in developing the coping skills necessary to achieve goals and optimal outcomes
- Planning and administration of programs and services to meet identified needs of diverse populations
- Mental health nurses work in a variety of settings, including:
- Inpatient psychiatric hospitals
- Outpatient psychiatric clinics
- Substance use disorder treatment centers
- Primary care settings
- Schools
- Correctional facilities
- Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics
- Virtual platforms
Wishing you all much strength-filled healing Mental Health Month and Happy Nurses’ Week!