Introduction The main aim of this assignment is for the author to

Introduction: The main aim of this assignment is for the author to discuss the values, skills and qualities needed by a mental health nurse to work effectively with a people experiencing mental health distress. The author will discuss their knowledge and understanding of the values, skills and qualities. The author will provide evidences-based readings and will support their points with evidence from different literature. The author has chosen skills, qualities and values that she thinks is most important as there are a wide range of all three. The author has chosen communication and observation as her skills, she has chosen to discuss the importance of providing dignity and respect to clients receiving care and lastly, she has chosen to talk about showing empathy and compassion. Main Body: The World mental health Organisation defines heath as a state of complete physical, mental, and social wellness, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, but something that everybody can experiences over their lifetime. The world health organisation defines mental health as a “state of well-being in which the individual realises their own potential. A person can cope with the normal stresses of life and can work productively and is able to contribute on their community” It is normal and natural for us to feel down or low at times. Wellbeing may be compromised when negative emotional are extreme or for very long periods that compromise with the person’s ability to function in daily life. Mental health has many different components and can influenced by many different factors or triggers such as social, biological, environmental factors. (WHO 2002) Mental health nursing is a specialist nursing discipline, who works with people who are experiencing mental health difficulties. Mental health nurses work with both the individual and their families in times of distress to enable the person to use their own strengths and resources as well as professional help to promote recovery and wellbeing.There are many essential skills a mental health nurse needs to provide the best quality of holistic care to a person experiencing mental distress. Knowledge is the foundation of providing effective care. A nurse can not help or support a patient if they do not have the knowledge. A nurse must have knowledge surrounding the policies and legislations. They must also have a knowledge around mental health and the different amenities within their area. A mental health nurse is constantly learning throughout their career, this gives the nurse fresh relevant information that can be implemented to improve the quality of care for the client. It is important for the nurse to educate themselves throughout their career. According to the oxford dictionary a skill is defined as “The ability to do something well”. The skill the author has chosen to discuss is communication. Communication is a key part to mental health nursing, and it is crucial to be able to communicate properly. Most mental health nursing consists of different groups of diverse professionals working together within the multidisciplinary team to provide care to individuals. This requires high degrees of communication skills and active listening skills. In order to provide the best quality if care to individual. Communication skills are vital in providing effective care for the client and gaining a better insight of the client. In mental health what is communicated by the client is vitally important in gaining an understanding of their mental health difficulties and helpful in provided the best quality of care. Nurses are centre of the communication networks between the client, their families and the other professional as they work closely with the client, and because they have a therapeutic relationship with the client. Listening is one of the most important skills because its through this that we learn about the past experiences of the client. We can convey this by giving the client our full attention and using therapeutic communication skills such as reflecting, restating and clarification. Communication is key in every nursing intervention and if a mental health nurse lacks the ability to listening, they can lack the ability to be empathetic towards the client. In nursing it can be helpful to say less and do more. It is important for the nurse to be silent to allow space for the person to talk. We can convey that we are listening by our non-verbal and verbal communications. Therapeutic communication is an interpersonal interaction between the client and the nurse, which the nurse focuces on the client’s specific goals and needs to promote an effective exchange of information. Hildegard Peplau was a nursing theorist who developed the concept of the therapeutic nurse-patient relationship which includes four different stages: orientation, identification, exploitation, and resolution. The orientation stage, the nurse would involve the client on their treatment, providing them with information and explanations and answering their questions. The identification stage begins when the client works with the nurse, they perceive most helpful to them. The clients express their feelings and thoughts. The client starts to feel a little stronger in their recovery. The exploitation stage is when the client avails of all the available services provided to them. Goals start to develop such as going home. The resolution stage is when the client no longer needs professional help and decided they can live independently. The client begins to meet their own needs, set new goals and return to the daily living. (Peplau, H 1952)Peplau used observation as the first step in therapeutic interactions. Observation is a key skill in nursing, a nurse must actively observe the client’s non-verbal que’s when they are communicating with them in order to get a better insight on how they are feeling. The nurse must observe the client’s appearance, speech, behaviours and their mood, this could indicate a change in their mental health state, in which they must document these details. A nurse must observe a client taking medication as some anti-psychotic medications can have severe side effects. A therapeutic relationship is vital to the success of interventions. There can be many factors that enhance the nurse client relationship. (Videbeck 2016)According to the oxford dictionary values are defined as principles or standards of behaviour; that one’s judgement of what is important in life. The core values when carrying out care to treat any person, as an individual and to provide them with dignity and respect. To promote the health and well being of the person. To work effectively with others to provide the essential care for the person. The main aim is to provide a high standard of care to the person all the time. A nurse should act with integrity and be open and honest towards the person and everyone else involved in their care. The value that the author has chosen to write about is respect and dignity. This means treating each person as a unique person and maintain the person’s dignity and respect. Nurses should respect and maintain their own dignity and that of patients in their professional practice. Nurse should treat all people equally and fairly without discriminating on the grounds of gender, age, race, religious beliefs, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, disability or if the person is a member of the travelling community. The nurse must also strive to communicate with the client about their care and give them any information in a way that they can understand. The nurse should always protect and promote the autonomy of the client and respect their choices, beliefs and their values. The client has a right to refuse care or treatment without feeling pressured into something. The nurse should protect and promote the autonomy of patients: respect their choices, priorities, beliefs and values. Decisions to refuse care or treatment should trigger further discussion and be respected in the context of the person’s capacity. The nurse is responsible for seeking consent by the client before any nursing intervention takes place. (NMBI) The oxford dictionary defines Qualities as a distinctive attributes or characteristics possessed by someone or something. The author thinks the most important qualities a nurse should have is the ability to be empathic and show compassion. Empathy is the ability to relate and recognize another person’s emotions and thoughts. It is an essential quality in order to provide high quality compassionate care towards their client’s. It is the ability to perceive the client’s feelings, putting themselves in some else shows. Therapeutic communication techniques such as nodding, restating what the client has said, and clarification. From being empathic moments create a bond between the and the nurse (LaRocco, 2010). A nurse should look at the person in a non-judgemental way, the nurse should try and gain a deeper understanding of the other persons perspective without passing judgment. Doing this leads to a deeper level understanding of the person. Showing empathy does not necessarily mean the other person is right but taking the time to gain a better understanding will help the nurse show empathy towards the person. It is vital for a mental health nurse needs to have excellent interpersonal skills and have great listening skills and understand what the person is going through. The nurse must put themselves into the other persons shoes. A nurse’s ability to demonstrate empathy is a major factor in developing therapeutic relationships with the person. A mental health nurse should be compassionate, they must recognize the pain of others and do their best to help alleviate their suffering and help in their recovery. (Videbeck 2016) When a client is shown compassion by the nurse they are more likely to feel more comfortable in times of mental health difficulties. Showing a client compassionate care can help the client feel supported and more confident. Showing compassion can also show the client that they are respected during their time of illness. When a nurse is aware of the clients concerns, they can, make them feel at ease and less anxious about their admission to hospital, nurse who take the time to listen and spend one to one time with the client helps greatly in their recovery. Showing compassion shows the client that they matter decreases the burden of being unwell and allows the client to relax and focus on getting better instead of worrying about the care they are receiving. The author believes that nurses who show compassion and care about the client’s wellbeing typically enjoys their jobs more than others, who focus less on the emotional side of their profession. A compassionate nurse can relate to their clients on a deeper level and gives the nurse a feeling of self-gratification to provide the support needed. Conclusion: From doing this assignment the author has gained a better knowledge on the different skills, qualities and values needed to be a good mental health nurse. The author used a vast range of literature to support her ideas. The author chose communication and observation skills as her skills needed. She also discussed the importance of dignity and respect while providing holistic care for an individual experiencing a mental health difficulty and how it benefits their recovery. She also discussed the importance of compassion and how it can help in their recovery and can help the client relax and focus on their recovery.