In mental healthcare there has been an explosion in psychosocial interventions over the last 15 years with a dizzying array of therapies and techniques being employed. Add this to the complexity of human beings, operating from a comprehensive array of cultural backgrounds and beliefs; various levels of knowledge and understanding; differing likes and dislikes, life experience and behaviours and you have a highly complex and often confusing mix. Considering this situation a guide to some of the techniques we can employ to help is called for.
If you were training to be a plumber you would expect to be introduced to the tools of the trade and given instruction in. how to use them. This book is a toolkit of some of those interventions you may find useful in your practice designed with exercises and real life applications that will help equip you for your career in caring for others. There are frequent calls within the book for you to practice these skills yourself and employ the techniques within your own lives. Many of these interventions are also useful life skills and using them in your own life will not only help you to develop yourself, it will also put you in a position of deeper understanding with those you care for as you will understand some of the difficulties in changing behaviours first hand. A good axiom here is not to ask others to do things we would not be happy to do ourselves.
There are two additional issues that are of particular note in order to ensure you are practising safely and effectively. The first is, do not imagine that reading this book, or doing a short course in many of the techniques within, makes you an expert in that therapeutic approach. Most therapies take training, time and practice to become proficient in. Do be clear however, that there are many interventions inherent in those therapeutic approaches that can be usefully employed in collaboration with the service user to help them on their journey to recovery. The second point is to remember at all times to be guided by the people you care for as to the different priorities for intervention. All too often service users complain they are not listened to and that services have unrealistic expectations of them. If we want to help people to recover we must work with them in a collaborative way to ensure they are leading the changes, clear on the goals we are aiming for and help motivate them to succeed.
If you are a student nurse, a newly qualified nurse or even a nurse of some years standing looking for tips to update your portfolio of skills, this book will stand you in good stead for practice. It can be read as a whole but can also be dipped into section by section as you come across situations in practice, perhaps, that warrant further exploration of that particular subject. Engaging with this book will help you to become a more effective practitioner of the art of mental health nursing, enhancing your ability to facilitate recovery with people of diverse backgrounds and needs. Sandra Walker

About the authors vi

Foreword viii

Acknowledgements ix

Introduction 1

1 An introduction to psychosocial interventions 4

2 Cognitive behavioural therapy 22

3 Dialectical behavioural therapy: an introduction 37

4 Mindfulness for all in action 63

5 Low intensity cognitive behavioural therapy interventions 81

6 Why should I get fit? Physical activity as an intervention 107

7 Dual diagnosis 125

References 147

Index 157

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