Reference no: EM133624979

Question: How do you think the clients' relationships, life events, culture and activities could contribute to the recovery process?
Describe the importance of timelines, including the relevance of the worker and clients' responsibilities?
Define evidence-based practice and explain its relationship to providing recovery based mental health supports?
Understanding of mental health and mental illness have changed over time. Briefly describe the way this has changed over time and describe some of the current and emerging ways of understanding and treating mental illness?
Scenario - Jen's Story

I am 19 and my life has been pretty crap at times. My dad used to bash mum and he'd hit me and my brother too. Mum left him when I was 13. Mum had to work heaps to afford the rent and to look after us. I guess I spent a lot of time caring for my little brother.

School wasn't very easy for me. I found it hard to keep up. Sometimes I would just feel so depressed that I couldn't even get out of bed. When I was 15 I attempted suicide, and ended up in the psych unit. When I was 16, I had my first manic episode. My mind was racing and there was no chance I could sit down and concentrate at school. I went to Sydney for a few weeks and lived on the streets and in hostels and got admitted to an Inpatient mental health unit at one of the suburban hospitals. They got in contact with my family and I returned home on medication for Bipolar Disorder. I can't remember much of that time but it was not long after I returned home that I realised I was pregnant.

I had a good group of friends who stuck by me - I don't think I would have got through without them and mum. I left school at the end of year 10. Most of my friends have moved on now but I know Tamara is still around.

I regularly saw a psychiatrist at the CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health) team who monitored my medication. When I turned 18, I was transferred to the Adult Mental Health Team but I didn't engage well with anyone there - they seemed too busy and the psychiatrist wasn't as good.

My mum has stuck by me. She can be really controlling but I think she worries about me. I reckon she blames herself for me getting sick. I know she hates the way I live. After Hannah was born, I moved in with Josh. I thought he loved me and would be a good support but mostly he's a waste of space. Hannah was an unsettled baby - she cried all the time and it was too much for me. I felt myself getting really depressed again, I just couldn't cope. Mum now has Hannah.

I started smoking pot because it helped me feel normal but now its crap. It costs too much and I just sit at home out of it getting more depressed. Josh is into heavier stuff. It turns him into a real bastard - I'm well shot of him and don't want to go back to him. I'm trying to stay off the pot now and get my life sorted. The counsellor at D&A is good and the Refuge staff are really supportive. They've helped me sort out some accommodation in the Women's Housing with another couple of women. I feel things are looking up for me right now. I want to have more of a role with my daughter. I love kids heaps and sometimes think I would make a good childcare worker if I could get my life under control. I am sick of being broke and would like to get a job.