Here’s my latest column at McKnight’s Long-Term Care News:
Secrets to making your environment ’emotionally healing’
Back when I worked in psych, one of our most effective tools to improve mental health was maintaining a healing emotional environment, or therapeutic milieu. That’s why I was shocked when I first entered long-term care.
I couldn’t believe the din that faced me on the floors or the way some people spoke to the residents or the lack of coordination of care. In some ways, the settings are so similar —inpatient care, short- and long-term stays, family involvement, treatment teams, etc. — but the focus on physical versus mental health creates completely different atmospheres.
The reality is that even though our residents are entering LTC due to physical problems, their medical troubles impact their mental health and vice versa.
