16 Turning challenges into opportunities in mental health placements
Clinical challenges
1. I have been given a man to work with on my own by my mentor. She would like me to help him with his low motivation and reduced activity. The problem is, everything I suggest he just dismisses or says he isn’t interested. I’m getting nowhere and I’m feeling like I might as well give up.
2. My mentor has told me to spend time on the ward in the communal areas getting to know the service users but no one seems to want to talk to me. They are all in their own world as far as I can see and I don’t know how to get in there.
3. I’ve been visiting a woman for the last 3 weeks and things seemed to be going well. Last week I got held up at another visit and was 5 minutes late. She was fuming when I arrived. She refused to let me in, and by the time I got back to the office she had contacted my mentor to complain about me. I was so embarrassed.
Professional issues
1. I was spending time with one of the service users I have been keyworking with my mentor yesterday and she was really opening up. We were talking about her future and that was when she told me she didn’t see a future for herself. She said she knows that she will kill herself one day but told me not to tell anyone because they will overreact.
2. I was in the car with my mentor who I’ve been getting along with really well. She started to tell me about all these problems she is having at home and started to cry. She said she isn’t coping at all and finding it really hard to do her job.
3. I was on the ward yesterday and I saw this health care assistant (HCA) really taunting one of the service users. I could see she was getting more and more angry but I didn’t know what to say. Eventually the service user blew up and started shouting at the HCA. The alarms went off and loads of staff appeared to restrain her. She got even angrier and hit out. Eventually, they had to give her some medication to calm her down. The HCA didn’t say anything about the lead up to it and said it was just out of the blue.
Learning opportunities
1. I’m on placement in the assertive outreach, and about three-quarters of the service users don’t want me to visit them with my mentor. My mentor says we have to respect their choice, which I understand, but I’m spending more than half my time sitting in the car. I’m worried I won’t meet my competencies.
2. My mentor is the team leader on the ward and is too busy to spend time with me. She’s really nice and keeps telling me I’m doing fine but I feel that I need more guidance and support. Also, how is she going to sign my competencies if she hasn’t seen me practise?
3. I’m really not sure what I’m going to get from this placement as all I see the nurses do is sit in the office doing paperwork. That’s not what I came into nursing for and I’m disappointed that it seems to take up so much of their time.
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