Professional Skills

Communication methods

You learned about communication techniques earlier in the course. You may want to go back and revise that earlier content. This topic will emphasise the importance of good communication in mental health and addiction support work and remind you of key communication techniques.

As a support worker, it is important to remember that each person you support has their own different and preferred communication method. Specific communication requirements should be addressed in the personal plan so that all multidisciplinary team members are made aware of their preferred preferences.

Methods of communication could include:

• preferred spoken language
• signs
• symbols
• pictures
• writing
• object of reference (this could be objects that initiate the beginning of a task)
• repetitive behaviours, including schedules
• other non-verbal forms of communication
• human and technological communication aids

As the support worker, you need to be aware of communication cues, which are actions or behaviours that indicate the communicator’s thoughts and feelings. You will also need to ensure the person receives and understands the communication.

Some individuals will use or require advocates or interpreters to enable them to express their views, wishes and feelings, and to speak on their behalf. These professional supporters will be identified in the personal plan and will be part of the person’s health professional team. If you have difficulty understanding or communicating clearly, it may be time for a more formal intervention. Seek the assistance of your supervisor or other member of the multidisciplinary team.

Communication techniques

The techniques described in the presentation below can be useful when communicating with tangata and their whānau.

Use the arrow buttons to move through the presentation and complete the activities on the last two slides.

Techniques list

• active listening
• using plain language
• rephrasing
• summarising
• adapting communication techniques
• empathetic communication
• professionalism
• using open-ended questions
• demonstrating cultural sensitivity
• respecting autonomy

Giving effective instructions

Having the ability to provide clear and comprehensive instructions is a crucial skill. You may be required to provide instructions both to your client and to members of the interdisciplinary team. You need to ensure that the instructions you provide deliver the information required clearly while providing the level of detail appropriate to the situation. Too much information can be as confusing as too little. Try to include only the important details.

To give instructions effectively, try these useful factors:

Team work

An essential part of your role as a mental health and addiction support worker is to be able to collaborate effectively with other people and organisations to support tangata and their whānau. Working collaboratively means working with others to accomplish a goal or task.

Working well as a team requires building and maintaining relationships and being an active team member. Good team members demonstrate the following behaviours.

• Communicate constructively: when you collaborate with others, your communication needs to be clear, direct, honest, positive and respectful.
• Listen actively: by absorbing, understanding, and thoughtfully considering the ideas and beliefs of others. Part of listening is receiving the information and taking an appropriate time to respond without getting defensive or reacting negatively.
• Be reliable: fulfil your commitments and always do your job to the best of your ability.
• Share information, knowledge and experience: the willingness to share and pass on important information helps ensure success and prevent surprises.
• Be an active participant: engage in discussions and meetings and take the initiative to support the person, their whānau and your multidisciplinary team.
• Cooperate: look beyond individual differences to focus on what is best for the person being supported and solve problems or issues in positive ways.
• Respect others: be courteous and considerate towards all members of your multidisciplinary team, the person you support and their whānau.
• Give and receive feedback gracefully.
• Share credit for good ideas with others.
• Acknowledge others' skills, experience, creativity, and contributions.
• Listen to and acknowledge the feelings, concerns, opinions, and ideas of others.

Working collaboratively in a multi-disciplinary team that is made up of people with different roles, professions or areas of expertise will help the tangata you support to meet their goals. When working collaboratively, members of a multi-disciplinary team contribute and share their views and perspectives about a person or situation to achieve a common goal and deliver high-quality support.

Benefits to the tangata you support when working collaboratively to achieve a common goal include:

• The care provided addresses the needs of the whole person, not just particular aspects.
• Whānau are kept up-to-date with changes in the person’s condition and can talk openly with care providers.
• Care can be customised to meet the person’s individual needs.
• There is a better understanding between all the people involved in the tangata’s care.

Activity

The following activity highlights ways you can use collaboration in your mahi (work).

Managing conflict

Conflict, or difference of opinion, will occur when you work with other people. Conflict can happen for a variety of reasons. It could be due to stress or a clash of personalities, or be brought on by changes at work or being put under pressure to complete a task. An important aspect of leadership is knowing how to manage and resolve conflict.

The important things to remember about conflict are:

• It is more than just a disagreement; conflict arises when one or more people feel threatened (which may or may not be accurate).
• Ignoring conflict does not make it go away. This is because conflict involves perceived threats, and these threats stay with people unless they are resolved.
• Conflicts bring about strong emotions. If people cannot manage their emotions, they are unlikely to be able to resolve a conflict.
• Conflict is not always bad. Although it can be destructive, well-managed conflict can release emotion and stress and even strengthen relationships.

There are several ways of dealing with conflict, but the important thing is to deal with it quickly before:

• People become more fixed in their views.
• Others become involved and take sides.
• Negative emotions make solving the conflict more difficult.

Strategies for managing conflict

Personal leadership

Personal leadership is the leadership of ourselves – our ability to take responsibility for our own development and contribute to the team's development. Growing strong personal leadership skills is essential and will also help you inspire others.

Peer leadership

A peer is a person at the same level as you, e.g. a colleague who does a similar job to you and has an equivalent ability level.

Peer leaders are individuals who already possess the natural characteristics of leading others.

Leadership techniques

Leadership is not necessarily something that happens at the management level of an organisation. Leadership takes place at all levels. The reason for individual leadership at all levels is that in a health and wellbeing workplace, miscommunication, misdirection or confusing instructions can have potentially disastrous effects on the health and wellbeing of all involved.

For this reason, every person working in a health or wellbeing environment has a leadership role. You need to take a personal leadership role by taking personal responsibility for doing what you need to do effectively.

You need to also take a peer leadership role by taking personal responsibility for ensuring that the other people you work with do what they need to do effectively. Peer leadership is when you provide trusted and relevant information, guidance and support to your peers and co-workers as necessary without being formally given the responsibility to do so.

Watch: SIMON SINEK: Leader versus manager (3:39 Minutes)

True leadership starts with distinguishing between being 'in charge' versus taking care of those 'in our charge'. Before watching this video, think about what this phrase might mean.

Role modelling

A role model leads by setting examples and inspires others by demonstrating their ideals, attitudes or actions. Being a role model is ‘leadership in action’. Leaders who are good role models pay attention to how they act and encourage teamwork and cooperation among those with whom they work. They support others in their growth and development and recognise their positive behaviours and attitudes.

Problem-solving

Problems are an everyday occurrence in life, and the workplace is no different. On any given day, you probably deal with many problems without really thinking about them. However, a problem can sometimes be more difficult to solve; at that point, you need to apply a process to determine the best choices and decisions.

Problem-solving is both a process and a skill you can learn. It takes you through a series of steps to help you reach the right decision:

Delegating

One of the marks of a good leader is that they don’t try to do everything themselves. They recognise that people have different skills and abilities, and it makes sense to give a task to the person best fitted for it.

Delegation is working out who is the best person for a task and giving that person the responsibility to carry it out. Delegating a task not only creates trust but also makes people feel that their contribution is valued and that they are an important part of the team.

Providing guidance

Guidance can be formal or informal; it is giving someone practical advice, help or support to do their job effectively and overcome any problems or difficulties they might have. Guidance can be part of the induction process when a new staff member starts the job.

However it is given, guidance is part of leadership and being a good role model.

Motivating people

If guidance is the ‘how’ of doing something, motivation is the ‘why’. Motivation is an individual’s enthusiasm and personal drive to complete work-related activities to the best of their ability. If someone is motivated, they want to do their job, to do it well and to enjoy it. If they are not motivated, they may do the job poorly or avoid doing it altogether.

Motivating people to do well is a combination of meeting a person’s needs and meeting the workplace's expectations of the person’s duties. Like guidance, motivation is part of leadership and being a good role model.

Activity

Safety in the workplace has many facets. This course has already covered many of the components that make up safe practice. This topic provides a reminder of some of the key aspects of safety.

Ethical behaviour

Behaving ethically means doing the right thing. Ethical standards include honesty, responsibility and loyalty, and upholding the right to life and the right to privacy.

Support workers can be faced with a range of ethical issues throughout their practice. The ‘right’ course of action may not always be clear because there can be conflicts between different ethical principles and practices. Some potential ethical dilemmas a support worker might encounter include issues surrounding:

• confidentiality
• autonomy
• professional boundaries
• conflict of interest
• dual relationships

8-step process for ethical decision-making

You may wish to revisit the 8-step process for ethical decision-making discussed earlier in the course.

1. Identify the problem or dilemma
2. Identify the potential issues involved
3. Review the relevant ethics codes
4. Know the applicable laws and regulations
5. Obtain consultation
6. Consider possible and probable courses of action
7. Enumerate the consequences of various decisions
8. Choose what appears to be the best course of action.

Cultural safety

Cultural safety is about providing an environment in which the cultural identity, background, needs and differences of every person are recognised and respected. People must be able to express themselves freely and safely without being judged by others.

Generally, culturally safe practices include understanding and respecting the cultural values and principles of clients and their whānau. Cultural safety means healthcare workers and their organisations need to think about how their own culture might influence the way they take care of patients. This means they have to acknowledge their own biases, attitudes, and assumptions that could affect the quality of care.

Applying Pacific values

When working with Pasifika clients, consider the following values:

Tikanga

Review the aspects of tikanga that may enhance your cultural safety practices when working with Māori:

• Whānaungatangata (belonging)
• Kaitiakitanga (guardianship)
• Manaakitanga (hospitality)
• Whakapapa (family connections)
• Mana (prestige)
• Tapu and noa (sacred and ordinary)

Tikanga involves support workers:

• Behaving appropriately in people’s homes, residential facilities and in meetings.
• Providing health care in an environment that is culturally sensitive to those using it.
• Acknowledging cultural protocols and protecting people’s rights to follow them.

Physical safety

In the care and support workplace, the safety of both staff and clients must be protected. Safety considerations include:

• Ensuring PPE is provided and used correctly.
• Providing lifting equipment such as hoists to avoid ergonomic injury.
• Protecting people from biological hazards such as potentially infected blood.
• Ensuring your client stays safe when attending appointments and events in the community.

Activity

You have already learned about some of the legislation that applies to support work. The following provides a reminder of some of the key legislation and introduces four more legislative acts.

Privacy Act 2020

The Privacy Act is the legislation designed to protect an individual's privacy. It defines such things as:

• What personal information is.
• When personal information can lawfully be collected, and from whom.
• How personal information should be stored.
• Who has access to personal information.
• How personal information can be used or disclosed.

There will be a legitimate need to collect and store personal information in a mental health and addiction setting. This will include contact details and medical data such as diagnoses and records of counselling and treatment. Because of the intensely private nature of this information, the Privacy Act must be adhered to rigorously. It is important to note that the Act defines personal data very broadly: anything that identifies someone is personal.

As a mental health and addiction support worker, you will frequently be called upon to share information about your client with team members or external health suppliers. Therefore, you must understand who you are authorised to share information with. The Privacy Act dictates that, as a rule, personal information must not be shared. However, there are circumstances under which it can be shared with certain people or institutions. For example, a subject may authorise their information to be shared with medical staff. Or if the sharing of information will lessen a serious threat, it can be disclosed. For example, you could share medical details with an ambulance or hospital staff in an emergency.

Your organisation should have policies related to minor breaches of privacy, and what rectification will be made. The Act defines a notifiable privacy breach as one that causes significant harm. If a significant privacy breach is identified, the Act dictates that the Privacy Commissioner is notified.

Standard NZS 8134:2021 Ngā paerewa Health and disability

The Ministry of Health administers this standard. A range of institutions, including aged-care residences and mental health and disability services, must comply with this standard. The standard:

• sets out what providers need to do to provide safe services for clients
• defines the rights of people receiving care, such as being treated with respect and being able to make informed choices.
• describes the responsibilities of providers, e.g., staff must have appropriate levels of knowledge and skills and must provide personalised treatment in consultation with the client
• indicates the provision of medications in a safe and timely manner 
• requires that preferences and nutritional needs are accommodated when providing food

Organisational policies and procedures are developed in accordance with legal and industry requirements. Therefore, organisational policies and procedures will instruct employees on work practices that comply with these Acts and the NZS 8134:2021 standard.

Code of Rights (1996)

The Health and Disability Commissioner created the Code of Rights, which outlines the rights of people using a health or disability service. The purpose of the Code is to promote and protect the rights of service users and to promote a fair, simple, and efficient resolution to any complaints that these rights are not being met.

The Code outlines ten rights that all consumers have when receiving a health and disability service in New Zealand.

1. The right to be treated with respect.
2. The right to freedom from discrimination, coercion, harassment, and exploitation.
3. The right to dignity and independence.
4. The right to services of an appropriate standard.
5. The right to effective communication.
6. The right to be fully informed.
7. The right to make an informed choice and give informed consent.
8. The right to support.
9. Rights in respect of teaching or research.
10. The right to complain.

Click on this link to view the Code in full.

Health and Safety at Work Act 2015

The Health and Safety at Work Act is designed to provide ‘a balanced framework to secure the health and safety of workers and workplaces’. (Ref: Health and Safety at Work Act 2015.) It describes the duties and rights of employers and employees. The Act requires all significant hazards to be identified, eliminated, or controlled by substituting, isolating or minimising them.

The Act established WorkSafe/Mahi Haumaru Aotearoa as the primary workplace health and safety regulator. This organisation is designed to prevent harm in the workplace and promote safe work practices.

Click on this link to display WorkSafe’s webpage on the Health and Safety at Work Act. Read the overview of the HSWA.

Click on this link to access the Health and Safety at Work Act.

The Misuse of Drugs Act 1975

The Misuse of Drugs Act provides a classification system for restricted drugs. All drugs are classified according to the potential level of harm:

(a) drugs that pose a very high risk of harm are classified as Class A drugs
(b) drugs that pose a high risk of harm are classified as Class B drugs
(c) drugs that pose a moderate risk of harm are classified as Class C drugs

Ref: The Misuse of Drugs Act 1975, section 3A.

The Act contains a list of all drugs under each classification. Note that the lists include both drugs that are illegal under all circumstances and controlled drugs, which can be accessed only with a prescription from a doctor.

Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 1992

‘The Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 1992 (the Mental Health Act) provides a legal framework for those who require compulsory psychiatric assessment and treatment for people experiencing a mental illness.’ (Ref: Ministry of Health, About the Mental Health Act.)

If a person has a mental health disorder and is potentially posing a risk to themselves and others, this Act allows for a compulsory treatment order (CTO) to be granted. This means the tangata can be compelled to receive treatment for their disorder, either as an outpatient or an inpatient. A Family Court Judge generally makes a CTO.

Click on the link to access the Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act.

Watch: Information for people and whānau on the Mental Health Act (2:24 Minutes)

The Gambling Act 2003

The Gambling Act is designed to control access to gambling and reduce harm from problem gambling. The Act places age limits on access to gambling. You must be 20 to enter a casino and 18 to place a bet or buy a lottery or scratch card. It also limits the number and locations of slot machines (pokies). The problem gambling levy is paid by all gambling operators on gambling profits. This levy is then used to pay for harm minimisation practices.

Click on this link to view a Ministry of Health webpage that describes the purpose of the Gambling Act and how it impacts other government entities.

Click on this link to access the Gambling Act.

Activity

Complete the following quiz testing your knowledge of the legislation discussed.

Professional development

Professional development allows you to improve your knowledge, competence, skills and effectiveness in your work. This can be done through education and training opportunities within your workplace or by an outside organisation.

Professional development can be both formal and informal and can take place in a variety of ways. These include gaining a formal qualification, mentoring, peer collaboration and coaching in the workplace, or simply watching others perform their jobs.

For example, the study you are completing now (this course) is professional development.

When you participate in a professional development programme, you:

• improve your skills and knowledge
• can recognise opportunities for advancement
• are more aware of changes in the way your work is done
• can be more effective in the workplace
• can help, influence and lead others by example
• are more confident in what you do and in your employment
• demonstrate that you are serious about your career.

Professional development isn’t just a one-time thing – it is something you should do continually throughout your career. Most workers will attend professional training sessions regularly throughout their career and this will be an expected part of their own professional development as well as being an organisational requirement. Support workers are ethically required to maintain and enhance their skills and knowledge throughout their careers and keep up to date with changes in legislation and best practice requirements. Additionally, if a support worker joins any professional association, they will typically be required to engage in a specific number of professional development hours/activities every year.

A good supervisor will be able to advise you on professional development activities that might help you meet your organisational and individual goals. One goal might be to improve your knowledge about treatment options for your client. Another goal might be to take a mindfulness course to help you cope with the stressors of your job.

Types of professional development courses

Some courses are formal and take a long-term commitment. For example, you may want to work towards becoming an Addiction Practitioner. This requires the completion of a degree-level qualification such as a Bachelor of Counselling. Leadership courses can also be useful when you are seeking to advance your career.

E-learning courses are a great way of improving your knowledge. Te Pou provides a range of free e-learning modules on a wide range of topics. Click on the link to view the list of e-learning modules. You will need to set up a Te Pou Learning Account to access these modules.

Some qualifications only remain valid if they are updated regularly. First aid certificates must be revalidated every two years, meaning you must attend a revalidation course.

Peer support and lived experience workforce

It is acknowledged that people with the lived experience of mental health or addiction issues may be ideally placed to support tangata going through these challenges. Te Pou defines the following peer workforce values:

• Mutuality: The authentic two-way relationships between people through ‘the kinship of common experience’.
• Experiential knowledge: The learning, knowledge and wisdom that comes from personal lived experience of mental distress or addiction and recovery.
• Self-determination: The right for people to make free choices about their lives and to be free from coercion based on their mental distress or addiction.
• Participation: The right for people to participate in mental health and addiction services.
• Equity: The right of people who experience mental distress and/or addiction to have fair and equal opportunities to other citizens and to be free of discrimination.
• Recovery and hope: The belief that there is always hope and that resiliency and meaningful recovery are possible for everyone.

Ref: Te Pou, Consumer, peer support and lived experience.

Searching for mental health and addiction support jobs

It is never too soon to start looking for employment opportunities. Doing this research may give you some ideas about which organisations and roles interest you.

Job search websites are a great source of employment information. In the following exercise, you will use the Seek website. This exercise will help you understand the current job market and set realistic expectations and goals as you prepare to enter the workforce as a community support worker.

Activity

This exercise will help you understand the current job market and set realistic expectations and goals as you prepare to enter the workforce as a community support worker.

1. Navigate to the Seek website: https://www.seek.co.nz/
2. Enter keywords such as mental health support worker or addiction support worker
3. Click on the Seek button. Job opportunities will be displayed.
4. Look at some of the jobs listed and complete the documentation below.