STR - Support Time Recovery - Activity 2.4 - Principles of care planning

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STR / Support Time Recovery Training course

VRQ Level 2 Certificate in Mental Health

Answer to Question 1

Most of the work I do is at places where they do not use any form of official Care Plan systems, in fact some of them use virtually no written records of any type. The places that I do work at that use Care Plans are places where I have absolutely no contact with those Care Plans.

Answer to Question 2

Planning for the future care of the Service User:

Care plans are exactly that, a plan of care for the Service User. It should show what treatment etc. is planned to help the Service User with their recovery process.

Protection of the Service User and the Service Provider:

A Service Users care plan is useful for them as it shows what the Service provider agreed to provide and if they are not providing the agreed help then they can fight for it.

It also protects the Service Provider as it states exactly what they agreed to do with the Service User. If the Service User then later changes their mind about part of their treatment, then they can at least show that it was agreed to at some point.

Monitoring progress of the Service User:

Care plans are very useful for monitoring the progress (both good and bad) of the Service User. You can compare what has been agreed to what has happened and find out which bits have helped and what has not.

Answer to Question 3

I think the most important thing about a care plan is that it addresses what the Service User wants, all worked out in partnership with them. Putting somebody down for a couple of sessions of art therapy a week could be great for some people, but some might hate it. If the person does not agree with the Care Plan then they will work against it and not with it and that could do more harm than good.

Always make sure its all useful, there is no point wasting the time of workers and the Service Users by getting them doing things that will not be helpful to them.

Make sure that the Care Plan is as clear and understandable as possible, there may be times when people other than you or the Service User may need to read the Care Plan.

Keep all information up to date and check on a regular basis that's its all still correct. Its very easy to make mistakes by basing decisions on out of date or incorrect information.

Always be realistic, recovery can be more about the journey, not always the final destination. Booking somebody in for 10 sessions of CBT could really help somebody, but for somebody else it could be barely enough to scratch the surface of the problems.

Next: STR Activity 2.5 - Networks
Previous: STR Activity 2.3 - Identifying needs and planning

Please note: The contents of the Level 2 Certificate in Mental Health Students workbook are copyrighted, so I have not included any of the questions, purely my answers which are only copyrighted to me! If you have access to the workbook it will make a lot more sense to you. Please do NOT copy my answers and use them as your own, I have just put them here to give you ideas for any parts you may be stuck on.