The main tasks of Post – Stroke Psychological rehabilitation
Restoration of all the components of mental health:
1. Axiological component (positive attitude to yourself and the others):
– creation an atmosphere of the psychological comfort, mutual support and assistance,
– support of the patient’s emotional equilibrium,
– help to find the meaning of life, to get a self-confidence,
– help to reconsider the olden value system,
– help patients to retain self-esteem, to correlate their pre-stroke and post-stroke essence of life with respect.
2. Instrumental component (use the reflection as a mean of self-cognition, ability to concentrate on your inner world and on your place in relationships with others):
– help to understand: that you are responsible for your own health, that, by taking an active life position regarding your condition, you can achieve yourself a lot,
– assistance in setting the directives to take an active part in rehabilitation process,
– help to realize changes in your inner self,
– help to find your own part in the closest environment and community.
3. Necessitative and motivating component (ability to use stressful situations for achievement of positive changes, need for self-development):
– psychological support for stoke survivors,
– formation the patient’s positive frame of mind (help to relearn how to enjoy life),
– to make patient and his/hers relatives informed of:
– condition’s nature, stroke’s psychological results,
– guidance aimed at preventing a second stroke,
-prospects and pace of recovery,
– creation of positive outlook on future life, help in discovering life perspectives,
– attaining realistic approach to his/her condition, chances and bounds of recovery,
– providing the conditions for one’s experiences’ inner review,
– help in discovering your own resources, creative potential,
– providing the conditions: to share adequate behaviour strategies, to control the disabilities,
– help with hobbies’ extension,
– arrangement for friendly and respectful mixing with people, where one could discuss the problems, find out how did others go through a few life trials already,
– engaging relatives into rehabilitation process.
16 ELEMENTS OF MENTAL AND EMOTIONAL HEALTH – Nancy Mc Williams
Signs of healthy stress resistant personality, important for stroke survivors
-cheerfulness,
-inner control locus – ability of the individual to associate the happenings in life with his/her own participation in it,
– feeling your own purpose and abilities, faith in yourself,
– criticism: the balance between aspirations for risk or safety, keeping stability, balance between letting the uncertain things happen and controlling the events,
– conscious approach to your life, ability to find and overcome your psychological barriers,
– willingness to learn from others, open-mindedness to new experience,
– fresh perception: finding something new in already known,
– autonomy, independence from the opinions of others,
– creativity.
WORK PRINCIPLES
1. Humanity – it is a belief in stroke survivor’s abilities and his/her own creative, active roots.
It is the skill to find our patient’s real strengths, character’s highlights to help him/her to overcome new risen problems, difficulties.
From our point of view the stroke survivor is, first of all, the willing, seeking, acting individual and only secondly- the patient with condition.
2. Reality – taking into account – real abilities of the stroke survivor, his/hers life situation and disadvantages (physical and mental), life goals and ambitions.
3. Systematisms – recognizing the individual as the complete system, relying on his/hers compensative skills.
In the unified system all the elements are correlated. Individual’s special aimed activity and inner eagerness can make the damaged and temporally disabled organs’ functions replace themselves with survived ones.
4. Mutual help and support. It’s creation of special atmosphere and mutual help conditions for stroke survivors.
Thanks to that supporting interaction, the individual is able to discover his/her own inner unrecognized resources and new abilities, which he or she hasn’t believed in before.
Besides, the will to live is getting stronger, new desires and aspirations appear.
5. Variety – represents the creative, versatile work, which uses variable forms and methods, taking into account real needs of program’s participants.
It is the modification of the whole work system and its trends in conformity with gained work experiences, and new abilities of the volunteer’s team.
Work areas
1. Psychological rehabilitation and support
Special therapy, helping stoke survivors to recover by:
– finding new purpose in life,
-getting self-confidence an discovering inner strengths,
-finding new basis in life and other people,
-realizing your priorities, interests, targets, individual abilities and restrictions caused by a stroke,
-attaining psychological health, when you can enjoy life and implement yourself.
Our program’s forms of Psychological rehabilitation and support are carried out as:
Club meetings (twice a month),
specific meetings to share the experience – “Kaleidoscope: the world of my interests” (twice a month).
2. Educational activities
This sphere is covering delivery of the following information and explanation to the public:
-Stroke causes and results,
-Prophylaxis to prevent the second stroke,
-Rehabilitation stages,
-Possibilities of adaptation to life,
-Necessity of stroke survivor’s relatives’ support.
We carry out the educational work by:
– Using mass media sources (’Dome square’ radio station; ‘Psychology for us’, ’Psihologijas pasaule’, magazines as well as republican newspapers such as ’Vesti Segodnja’, ’Chas’, ’Telegraf’).
– Holding seminars for those, who have an interest to take part in the program (volunteers, stroke survivors, their relatives).
– Distribution of our information booklets in medical and educational institutions.
3. Diagnostics‘ practice
The main tasks of individual diagnostic for participants of our rehabilitation program are:
– following up the psychological health’s restoration dynamics of stroke survivors,
– recommending the individual developing program for independent practice for each patient.
That kind of diagnostic is carried out by our program’s volunteers once a year (it takes from 3 to 4 sessions-within individual’s powers).
Diagnostics is carried out by using, chosen by us, classical package of psychological tests and neuropsychological methods. As well we use the conversation, observation and method of unfinished sentences, we have developed.
We study:
– individual’s general frame of mind, his/her attitude to himself/herself, towards the condition and recovery,
– significant psychological needs,
– various cognitive abilities,
– peculiarity of temporal perspective and capacity for work,
– level of adaptability.
In the end – each diagnostics’ participant is presented with resources ‘reference, which points out the strengths and abilities, most characteristical dynamics, difficulties and restoration targets.
This reference is discussed at the closing meeting, where the patient receives the folder with individual developing tasks and exercises.
4. Correctional and developing work
This activity is aimed at restoration of specific physical and mental functions (speech, motor, cognitive habits) which were lost as a result of a stroke. Rehabilitation is achieved by using compensation mechanism, while the particular brain’s parts take on the functions of ones which were damaged.
This can become possible if opportune, stage-by-stage, versatile correctional-developing post stroke work is carried out.
Our composite rehabilitation program of correctional-developing work has several directions and forms:
– Intensive bodily practice experience for developing of mental abilities-sensory and motor correction,
– Cognitive workshop,
– Health workshop: gymnastics for joints,
– Speech workshop: we are restoring speech together,
– Art workshop “Art to live”,
– Movement and dance workshop ’’Joy of Movement’’.
5. Consultative activity
Individual psychologists’ consultations are run, first of all, at the initial stage, while the individual priority needs, interests and post stroke physical and mental impairments are studied at the same time.
In addition, consultations are used to summarize the stroke survivor’s individual restoration experience (see Library of courage) and to reveal the inner resources in order to help the patient to achieve personal goals (at the request of patient).
6. Research
Research involves carrying out:
– extensive examinations (enlisting a large number of public), linked with the field of our interests,
– express poll, aimed at finding out the public understanding, opinions on different matters (for example: what is the meaning of ‘’to support’’). You can study the results of above mentioned work on our website.
7. Methodical work
We are faced, first of all, with a task to develop the activity model to provide the psychological support and rehabilitation. That is because stroke survivors, as a rule, are entitled to the state medical rehabilitation system, and psychological rehabilitation usually is just a little addition to it.
Besides, the relatives of stroke survivors do need psychological help, and our aim is to develop such a system of support.
The model’s creation assumes definition of necessary work‘s trends and relevant forms and methods of work, which can provide the recovery of the mental health and activation of rehabilitation compensatory mechanisms.
To achieve that task, our psychologists appointed the main work principles (above mentioned), based on which, the correcting- explicating target programs are developed.
To educate all interested individuals and those who are not able to participate in our program personally, we develop the serious of thematic booklets and create this website, which is focused on the characteristics of stroke survivors’ and their relatives’ psychological rehabilitation.
Today, thanks to Renaissances psychological support centre for families, the system of methodical work assistance for volunteer’s team is created, which includes:
Supervision, support team, individual consultations, team gathering for club’s meetings arrangement, ‘round tables’- led by workshops leaders.
8. Charity organization
Big thanks to Ms Lozovskaya L.V. – the director of the psychological support centre for families, who insured that the funds’ share (donations from the arranging the Renaissance themed balls) is transferred to run the charity events (Vigor society members, who suffered a stroke are able to have special medical treatment for health restoration).
Perhaps, in the long term, there will be new charity events, to support the volunteers programme.
