Mental health is always an integral part of our life and essential for our general well-being. The stress and burden of handling challenging times can be overwhelming.
Due to the fact that people have to deal with illness, hospitalization, death of loved ones, economic hardship, and job loss all at once, the recent COVID pandemic has once again brought attention to the topic of mental health.
If you are a caregiver for a mental health patient, it is normal to feel confused about how to help them.
For somebody with a mental health issue, support from close ones can improve their condition. Whether you are a family member or a caregiver, the information here can help you better understand the issue and show your support to somebody you care about.
What should you know as a caregiver for a mental health person?
Learn about mental health conditions.
Books or websites can hardly help you prepare for the mental health situations that may arise. In that case, you should educate yourself by learning about a person’s mental condition and what they are experiencing. You can ask open-ended questions to get to know their feelings better. Those questions could be:-
- When do they feel good?
- How do they feel?
- What makes them feel worse?
- Is there anything you do that makes it worse?
- What things help them to feel better?
Encourage Treatment
Caregivers can learn how to remind mental health patients about medication. You can offer transportation services and take them to therapy sessions. But, try not to pressure your family member to take medication and treatment on time.
Also, talk to the medical team about a treatment plan. Find out how to contact the right person when you notice emotional or behavioral changes.
Create a healthy environment
Ask for help from other family members and distribute stress equally. Don’t just leave the whole responsibility on one individual’s shoulder.
Assign everyone in the household to pick roles as per their abilities and help you with caretaking. Also, you can include your family member with mental health issues and make them handle a few responsibilities in the family.
Learn about Warning Signs
Caregivers can take caregiver counseling to identify mental illness. You can also acquire better skills to talk about mental illness or emotions if your family member doesn’t want to talk.
With Custom Care Solution’s training, you will gain a strong knowledge about medical conditions that disrupt a person’s ability, thinking, eating habits, mood, and daily functioning.
Take care of yourself
Being a caregiver has its consequences. 1 out of 4 caregivers feels emotional stress while taking care of a person with mental illness.
One important way to tackle the situation is to take care of your mental health. Being healthy mentally and physically helps you solve the problem and encourages others.
Find Professional Support
If your family member has Dementia or Alzheimer’s, leave the caregiving to the doctors at Custom Care Solutions. Take outside support and proper counseling to release the stress.
Not only do people with mental health conditions need encouragement, but caregivers can also go for online counseling to handle the stress.
