Mental health articles

Engagement and Relationship Building The process of engagement and relationship building with mothers is undoubtedly influenced by their past relationship experiences.Mothersmay have been disappointed or abused in relationships, personal or professional, and be quite cautious about developing a new relationship with someone who offers help. Their psychiatric diagnoses may have been used against them by family members (e.g., Their [her children’s] father has used themental illness againstme, in court and out of court. . .”) or by professionals (e.g., “. . .not being believed by the system, a stigma with a mental illness.”). Providers may view mothers’ reluctance or inability to attend treatment appointments, perhaps because of conflicting family responsibilities or concern for the care of children, as avoidance or manipulation. Careful consideration should be given to women’s seeming ambivalence by exploring perceived obstacles to change and reported barriers to service participation, especially as they relate tomotivation, parenting status, and family goals.Empathy and a nonjudgmental approach promote effective engagement and relationship building.A mother participating in our Family Options intervention described her Family Coach, “. . .he’s been kind of a good sounding board and is very understanding of the things that are going on in terms of what I’m dealing with.” Providers may be able to assist mothers in developing expanded, enhanced social support networks aswell as positive treatment relationships by providing consistent, dependable, non-judgmental care over time. Another mother in the Family Options intervention explained, “What’s most helpful is having somebody to talk to, knowing that if things start to go wrong, I do have some place I can turn to, somebody that I can call.”Athoughtful, caring provider may be the first dependable person a mother with mental illness has had in her life.