Focus On... Mental Health This publication is copyrighted by the American Occupational Therapy Association and is intended for personal use. None of the information can be copied or shared in any format without permission from AOTA. Contact [email protected] to request additional use. Focus On... Mental Health ccupational therapy can play pivotal role in serving the mental health needs of people of all ages and conditions and within all settings—in the home, at school and nursing facilities, and throughout the community. This edition of AOTA’s “Focus On” series, on mental health, includes profiles of successful programs and projects helping a range of populations; official documents outlining best Opractices; and overviews of the evidence supporting occupational therapy interventions for mental health. Children and Youth In the Community The Mental Health Needs of Questions and Answers: Individuals Living With Multi- Virginia Stoffel Hard-Wired for Groups: Practice Perks: Community ple Sclerosis: Implications for Andrew Waite Students and Clients in the Mental Health Centers: Occu- Occupational Therapy Practice OT Practice, January 23, 2012 Classroom and Clinic pational Therapy Within Service and Research Emily Raphael-Greenfield, Anna Teams Arcenio Mesa, Kathryn Hoehn Ander- Additional Evidence and Shteyler, Michael R. Silva, Pamela G. Lisa Mahaffey son, Sally Askey-Jones, Richard Gray, Research Caine, Stephanie Soo, Elisa C. Rotonda, OT Practice, November 28, 2011 and Eli Silber and Daiana O. Patrone Mental Health SIS Quarterly Mental Health SIS Quarterly Newslet- OTs Walk With NAMI: Promoting Official Documents Newsletter, June 2012 ter, September 2011 Community Health and Wellness and Resources by Building Alliance and Self-Determination and Mental Fact Sheets Creating Occupational Therapy Advocacy Illness • Occupational Therapy’s Role with Groups for Children and Youth Suzanne White, Amy Anderson, and Linda M. Olson Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Community-Based Mental Amanda Roberts Mental Health SIS Quarterly • Occupational Therapy’s Role in Health Practice Mental Health SIS Quarterly Newsletter, March 2012 Mental Health Recovery Tina Champagne Newsletter, June 2013 • Occupational Therapy’s Role in OT Practice, August 6, 2012 Community Mental Health Waverly Place and MAOT Evidence and Research • Mental Health in Children and Meeting the Mental Health 2011: Creative Approaches to Occupational Therapy Interven- Youth: The Benefit and Role of Needs of Adolescents Recovery for Adults With Mental tions in Adult Mental Health Occupational Therapy Sarah Bream Health Issues Across Settings: A Literature OT Practice, June 28, 2010 Megan Fowler Review Specialized Knowledge and OT Practice, December 19, 2011 Allison Sullivan, Tawanda Dowdy, Skills in Mental Health Promo- CE Article: The History of Jeffrey Haddad, Sonia Hussain, Asha tion, Prevention, and Interven- Occupational Therapy in Adoles- An Exploratory Study of Social Patel, and Kristen Smyth tion in Occupational Therapy cent Mental Health Practice Participation in Occupational Mental Health SIS Quarterly Practice (available through Sarah Bream Therapy Groups Newsletter, March 2013 AJOT) http://dx.doi.org/10.5014/ OT Practice, March 25, 2013 Mary V. Donohue, Henry Hanif, and ajot.2010.64S30 Lilya Wu Berns CE Article: Integrating Mental Questions and Answers: Mental Health SIS Quarterly Health Knowledge and Skills Statements Susan Bayzk Newsletter, December 2011 Into Academic and Fieldwork • Cognition, Cognitive Reha- Andrew Waite Education bilitation, and Occupational OT Practice, August 6, 2012 Drama: Still a Tool for Healing Donna Costa, Rivka Molinsky, Judith Performance (available through and Understanding Parker Kent, and Camille Sauerwald AJOT) http://dx.doi.org/10.5014/ School Mental Health Toolkit Heather Javaherian-Dysinger and OT Practice, October 31, 2011 ajot.2013.67S9 • How To Use the Mental Health Michelle Ebert Freire • Occupational Therapy Services for Information Sheets Mental Health SIS Quarterly Evidence Perks: Update on Individuals Who Have Experienced • The Cafeteria: Creating a Positive Newsletter, December 2010 Mental Health Evidence-Based Mealtime Experience Domestic Violence Programs Online • Occupational Therapy Services in • Anxiety Disorders Using Pierce’s Seven Phases of Marian Scheinholtz, Marian • Bullying Prevention the Design Process to Under- the Promotion of Psychological Arbesman, and Deborah Lieberman and Social Aspects of Mental • Childhood Obesity stand the Meaning of Feeling OT Practice, December 20, 2010 • Depression “Boxed In”: A Community-Based Health http://dx.doi.org/10.5014/ • Grief and Loss Group ajot.2010.64S78 Practice Perks: Psychological • AOTA’s Societal Statement on • Promoting Strengths Brad E. Egan and Marisa Joseph and Social Aspects of Occu- • Recess Promotion Mental Health SIS Quarterly Combat-Related Posttraumatic pational Therapy Practice vs. Stress • Social and Emotional Learning Newsletter, September 2010 Occupational Therapy Practice (SEL) • AOTA’s Societal Statement on in Mental Health: Similarities Stress and Stress Disorders and Differences • AOTA’s Societal Statement on Kathleen Kannenberg Youth Violence OT Practice, July 26, 2010 Sample Letters to Congress on Questions and Answers: OT’s Role in Mental Health Copyright © 2014 The American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc. Katherine Burson Note: At the time individual items were published, prices and Ted McKenna products were up to date. Please check http://store.aota.org OT Practice, May 23, 2010 or www.aota.org for current information. Special Interest Section Quarterly Mental Health Volume 34, Number 3 • September 2011 Published by The American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc. Hard-Wired for Groups: Students and Clients in the Classroom and Clinic n Emily Raphael-Greenfield, EdD, OTR/L; Anna Shteyler, Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The conclusion summarizes Michael R. Silva, Pamela G. Caine, Stephanie Soo, the authors’ guidelines for robustly teaching group dynamics to Elisa C. Rotonda, and Daiana O. Patrone adult learners so that graduate students can continue the rich tradi- tion of occupational therapy group work in all settings. earning to create and lead occupational therapy groups The Neuroscience Underlying Group Therapy requires an understanding not only of group leadership and Ldynamics, but also of the neurobiology of group therapy and From an evolutionary perspective, group formation is an adapta- client diagnoses. Occupational therapists have a rich history of tion that increased chances for survival. Individuals belonging to group work beginning with the mental health arena and now with- a group are more likely to collaborate on tasks, receive warning of in all specialty areas. How occupational therapists are trained in danger, and get assistance from others in time of need, and there- group work has evolved with the expansion of knowledge of group fore have higher chances of survival than isolated individuals. theory, neuroscience, research methods, and the adoption of the O’Gorman, Sheldon, and Wilson (2008) proposed an evolutionary Occupational Therapy Practice Framework: Domain and Process, 2nd theory of selectivity of group-level traits, where desirable altruistic Edition (Framework-II; American Occupational Therapy Association behaviors are facilitated by group inclusion, while group-harmful [AOTA], 2008). Using a case example of a student group in a gradu- behaviors such as selfishness are eliminated through punishment ate occupational therapy program, this article will describe the basic or alienation. Because group inclusion involves the acquisition of knowledge and skill set students must acquire and the implications social roles, the natural selection process may have favored indi- this type of teaching of group dynamics has for the profession. viduals with genetic traits for prosocial behavior as well as psycho- Occupational therapy combines the teaching of group skills logical mechanisms that facilitate the identification, avoidance, and and process and its implicit emphasis on self-awareness with ostracism of non-reciprocators. occupation-based task analysis and neuroscience. Few other health Noted group theorist Kurt Lewin (1944) stated that the capac- professions have linked learning theory and practice as seamlessly ity for change is much greater in a group setting than when change as ours, but many academic programs delay the practicing of group is attempted individually. Recent studies on the brain’s ability to skills until fieldwork in mental health. The authors urge occupa- empathize provide insight into the neurological benefits of thera- tional therapy educators not to separate the academic learning of peutic groups. The social neurology of the human brain is localized groups and the experiential process of practicing these skills in the predominantly in the cerebral cortex and is correlated with the clinic. Unfortunately, with more academic programs discontinuing structural enlargement of this area compared to other species. The mental health Level II fieldwork, many students are missing oppor- ability to empathize is a fundamental factor guiding social relation- tunities to develop sophisticated group skills. The loss of this skill ships among human beings living within a society. Our brains are set could translate into further erosion of our role within physical biologically wired for social networking skills such as predicting the and psychiatric rehabilitation. behaviors of others, understanding