Londiwe Moyo

Acute Care Team - Rockhampton QLD - Locum April 2023 -December 2023

Achievements and responsibilities working in the Acute Care Community Mental Health teams with youths and adults:

• Performing current comprehensive mental state examinations with both youths and adults upon presentation to the emergency department or mental health service . With consideration of the precipitating and perpetuating factors contributing to their presenting symptoms and implementing the biopsychosocial model.
• This includes performing assessments and providing treatment to young people and adults presenting with complex mental health needs using evidence approaches. This is undertaken in a multidisciplinary team adhering to the Mental Health Act (2007)
• Assessing risks including suicide, self harm, harm to others or harm from others.
• Considering protective factors and formulating safety plans with youths and adults with their carers or care givers.
• Formulating, ensuring continuity of care plans and providing a range of clinical therapeutic interventions in a community setting with patients, carers/family, GP, psychologist, school counsellors and other professionals involved in their care.
• Performing routine assessments of patients mental state through follow ups during their care, reviewing care plans, referrals to individual or group programs as required.
• Liaising with family/carers, GPs, psychologist, other professional involved in patient care and providing appropriate clinical advice as necessary using effective commination with continued development of interpersonal skills. Ensuring patient confidentiality.
• Conducting home visits to assess the patient's well being in their home environment and ensure safety of home environment with consideration own safety as a mental health clinician before undertaking same.
• Advocating for patients and ensuring they are receiving appropriate care
• Educating patients and cares/family about diagnoses, medication and other treatments

Additional achievements and responsibilities working in the Mental Health inpatient unit

• Formulating consumer wellness plans with patients
• Discussing daily goals with patients and ensuring achievements of same to promote empowerment and taking charge of their mental health
• Discussing and encouraging engagement with appropriate services in the community to achieve long term goals
• Participating in primary care nursing, following and guiding patient through their patient journey whilst working closely with the multidisciplinary team.
• Applying de-escalation techniques when needed
• Identifying early warning signs for change in mental state in patients or agitation and implementing appropriate problem solving skills to manage patient condition before they escalate. Utilizing tools like the DASA
• Encouraging use of sensory modulation to optimize patient outcomes
• Working with acutely unwell patients in both High dependency and Low dependency unit and developing therapeutic relationships with them
• Assessing patient risks and ensuring patient safety
• Continuous development through attending education sessions and implementing new care strategies learnt when working with patients
• Completing outcome measures including the HONOS
• Working well in a multidisciplinary team with patients, family/cares, allied health, doctors and other involved in patient care with consideration of CORE values
• Coordinating patient care involving the patient and liaising with treating team and other members of the multidisciplinary team to ensure best possible patient health outcomes
• Ensuring all patient information is up to date in the patient flow portal
• Ensuring efficient handovers to staff for optimal patient care and satisfaction with clear and concise progress notes.
• Medication administration
• Vital observations
• Assessing patient mental state every shift
• Working around 7 day roster including holidays and night duty

Other responsibilities working in the Drug and Alcohol service.

• Administering methadone and buvidal injections
• Patient follow up with client to ensure medication dose is helping them and escalating it to psychiatrist and NUM 1 during clinical review if not working.
• Working collaboratively with mental health, pharmacies, pathology centres, GP and other services involved in patient care.

Roles and responsibilities

• Traveling around Australia educating youths in High School and Universities on mental health and mental illnesses.
• Empowering youths to speak up and take charge of their mental health by sharing personal stories as speakers.
• Responsibilities also include delivering speeches in a safe and compelling way, encouraging help seeking from mental health professionals, promoting benefits of seeking help, promoting advantages of taking charge of one's mental health, providing ideas of how to take charge of one's mental health and fighting the stigma against mental health and mental illness in society.

Roles and Responsibilities:

• Providing a safe space for children and youth of all cultural backgrounds to express themselves and relax e.g. organizing field gatherings with trampolines, food, games, music, sports, face painting etc
• Attending regular meetings to discuss and formulate new ideas on hoiw to improve youth mental and physical wellbeing e.g. providing free gym session, organizing for mental health speakers like Batyr to speak at schools, and hiking for the duke of edinburg award.
• Presenting the youths concerns and ideas on how to improve their quality of life to the council and mayor
• Openly listening to youths, in a respectful non judgment way .
• Being honest, reliable and communicating with youths regularly

Roles and Responsibilities involved:

• Working with children from abusive and poverty stricken homes
• Providing a safe space for children and youths to express themselves
• Participating in bonding activities with the children and youths e.g music, art, bowling and home work club to inspire them to aim to achieve greater in life to live a better life e.g. furthering their education to have a career in the future
• Ensuring the maintenance of professional boundaries, creating therapeutic relationships
• Providing a safe non-judgmental space for children and youths to open up
• Maintaining respect and confidentiality
• Reporting issues reported by the children and youths to the senior mentor if they are at risk of harm from others or to themselves

Roles and Responsibilities:

• Working collaboratively with a team of people from different walks of life to develop ideas on ways fight the stigma against mental health.
• Developing ideas on how to promote improvements in youth mental health.
• Developing ideas on how to promote and encourage youths to seek help from mental health services or professionals
• Being open minded, respectful and non-judgmental to other's ideas and perspectives.