Int J Ment Health Nurs. 2012 Dec;21(6):504-12. doi: 10.1111/j.1447-0349.2012.00817.x. Epub 2012 May 29.
International journal of mental health nursing
Eamon Shanley, Maureen Jubb-Shanley
PMID: 22640173 DOI: 10.1111/j.1447-0349.2012.00817.x
The aim of this paper was to describe a newly-developed system of mental health nurse counselling (coping focus counselling (CFC)) for people with serious and complex mental health needs. The system is based on the recovery alliance theory (RAT) of mental health nursing. The paper identifies shortcomings in current practices in psychotherapy and counselling in the exclusive use of techniques from a single approach, for example, cognitive behaviour therapy, client-centred therapy, attachment theory, or Gestalt theory. It also discusses the opposite dangers of the use of many techniques from different approaches, without a clear rationale for their selection. CFC was developed to avoid these practices. It accommodates the selective use of techniques from different approaches. Techniques selected are viewed as deriving their meanings from the theoretical framework into which they are assimilated, namely RAT, and no longer take the same meaning from the theory from which they originated. Central to this integrative process is the use of the concept of coping. Other distinguishing features of CFC are the use of everyday language in using the system and the reaffirmation of the nurse-client relationship within a working alliance as the basis in which the CFC operates.
© 2012 The Authors. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing © 2012 Australian College of Mental Health Nurses Inc.
