A model mental health professional has to:
Respect your patient and not sit in judgment.
Increase the well-being opportunities and happiness of your patient.
Have a good sense of humor.
Please reconsider keeping your professional distance and show him/her that you are human – a tiny bit of TLC won’t harm you know.
Please consider family and your patient’s good friends as team players.
It is so important to Inform your patient about any side-effects of his/her medication he/she might experience.
It will be very helpful if you make sure that your patient gets good dental care.
Help your patient fight bureaucracy as he/she is in a position of weakness at this stage.
Help fight the stigma accorded mental illness. There is a whole lot that you can do.
Last but not least, give your patient some hope. Nobody can live without hope.
You have no idea how different my life would have been if the mental health professionals I came into contact with had been more aware of the family’s feelings. I would hate anybody else to experience what my family did. Of course there are exceptions, but far too few.
