The Guide which was launched on Mental Health Engagement Day on 22 May in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Dublin, is for family members, carers and supporters of people who use the mental health services. The Guide is also intended to help staff in the services in their interaction with family members or supporters in dealing with issues such as confidentiality obligations.
The purpose of the Guide is to outline for family members, carers and supporters of service users the care they can expect for their relatives or friends when they use the mental health services.
It also makes some suggestions as to how family members, carers and supporters can care for themselves when a relative or friend is unwell or feeling emotional distress.
The Guide also sets out for the benefit of service users, their families and supporters and service providers ways of dealing with the issue of confidentiality in a constructive manner that can hopefully be helpful to all.
How to use the Guide
The Guide is available in two formats: a longer booklet and a credit card style leaflet which is a shorter and handier version of the booklet.
While the Guide covers both the Primary and Secondary Care mental health services, much, but not all, of the details in the Guide relate to the Secondary Care services.
In the booklet format, there is a Table of Contents on pages 4 and 5 and a Note (Note 3 on pages 49 to 53) dealing with various support opportunities.
The easiest way to work through the booklet is to look at the Table of Contents to identify issues that may be particularly interesting to the reader in his or her own personal circumstances. That way, those parts of the Guide of most interest can be read straight away.
