Foundations of Reflective Practice in Mental Health.( Blog Entry1) Omozee

 

Foundations of Reflective Practice in Mental Health

1.1 Defining Professional Reflection 

( Blog Entry1) Omozee.

First, in order to embark on this journey, `I needed to know what professional reflection is. It is far beyond reminiscing of the day. According to Jasper (2013), it is one of the main professional skills, an organised approach to viewing our practice in order to be able to learn through it and improve. It is not a passive process but an active and disciplined process. Maintaining our competence and practise safely for our patients is our responsibility.  Bulman, Lathlean, and Gobbi (2012) found that students and teachers use reflection to learn new things and grasp tough situations.  In mental health, where things are complicated, it's important to relate our feelings and information.  Writing things down like we did in our blog is a strong way to do this.  Reflective journaling helps students bridge the gap between classroom theory and chaotic placement practice, according to Epp (2012).  It avoids theory as words and helps us observe how it works with a service user.

1.2 Selecting a Reflective Framework

A formal model is required in order to prevent reflection as a haphazard set of thoughts. Such models provide our minds with a coherent structure. To travel to my destination, I have decided to apply the Experiential Learning Cycle developed by Kolb (2015). Although other models such as the framework of critical reflection used by Fook and Gardner (2013) do a great job of breaking down social and power problems, the model by Kolb is highly effective in transforming one experience into future action. It consists of four distinct phases, which I have summarised in the table below. This cycle demonstrates that we cannot simply experience something and we have to see how we contribute to it, reflect on its meaning and make plans to behave differently in the future.

Figure 1 Kolb's Reflective Cycle (Kolb, 2014)

Kolb's (2015) Four-Stage Cycle	What it means in practice
1. Concrete Experience	What actually happened? (The event)
2. Reflective Observation	What did I feel and notice? (My reaction)
3. Abstract Conceptualisation	What can I learn from this? (The theory)
4. Active Experimentation	What will I do differently next time? (The plan)

1.3 Reflective Application: An Incident in Mental Health Practice

I will now use the cycle to an incident I had experienced as suggested by Kolb (2015).

(1. Concrete Experience) The situation occurred on a busy ward. A service user, 'Mr. A', got agitated with regards to his medication and felt neglected. He began pacing and his voice increased in volume. I was the first to respond. I attempted to reason with him by saying to him to lower his voice and that it would be sorted soon. This made him more agitated. Then one of the senior colleagues intervened. She sat near him (distantly) and simply requested him to tell her about his frustration. She heard and the situation diffused.

(2. Reflective Observation) I watched this and was ashamed of how I was contributing to the situation. My general supposition was that Mr. The issue was that A was agitated, and it had to be prevented in the interest of the ward. My colleague appeared to interpret the agitation as an effect of the problem: Mr. The helplessness of A. I was concentrated on the concept of control, whereas she was concentrated on the concept of understanding. I realised that my priority was the routine of the ward whereas his was his health.

(3. Abstract Conceptualisation) Reflecting on this, I can imagine how my actions were counterproductive. I was more of a give-orders person, rather than an empathetic one. This relates to person-centred care, which I had heard about, but had not put into practice. I had treated Mr. Not as a person with an authentic anxiety, but as an interruption. The moral of the story here is that de-escalation is not about telling commands, it is about justifying emotions. My colleague gave Mr. Listening gave him a feeling of control, which enabled him to regain his own sense of control.

(4. Active Experimentation) I would now approach my future practice in a totally different way. The next time I will stop briefly to deal with my own defence mechanism. I will then listen, not talk. Active listening skills, such as summarising his concerns (So, you feel ignored...), will be used to demonstrate to him that I have heard him. I will attempt to take my seat, when safe, to demonstrate that I am no danger. I will not only aim at stopping the noise but to discover what is the cause of the distress.