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	''Please add any other citations to the use of NVC in Mental Health Settings to this page. If you experience difficulty in adding to this page directly , please  [mailto:support@dreamsharing.info e-mail] the submission to [[User:JohnM | John Mudie]] directly.''		''Please add any other citations to the use of NVC in Mental Health Settings to this page. If you experience difficulty in adding to this page directly , please  [mailto:support@dreamsharing.info e-mail] the submission to [[User:JohnM | John Mudie]] directly.''
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Revision as of 05:10, 20 June 2009

Reference Books

Melanie Sears has published two books about the use of NVC in Mental Health settings. One is Choose your words, a book describing how NVC is used in a mental health system. The other is Humanizing Health Care with NVC, a book describing how the use of NVC can improve the delivery of mental health services.

NVC in an Intensive Treatment Unit

Reimer,D. and Corwin C (2007) discuss the introduction of NVC into the intensive Treatment Unit (ITU) ,at Mendota Mental Health Institute (MMHI) in Madison, Wisconsin , a 21 bed medium security forensic unit. Reimer introduced a number of changes on the unit that added structure and calmness and utilizing a treatment team approach that facilitates partnership with the patient rather than control. They reduced the need for Seclusion and Restraints by using core strategies which included teaching patients how to meet their needs using therapeutic Nonviolent Communication (NVC) skills. Role playing, a NVC technique, was a major part of the staff education and training.

The use of these strategies, which included teaching NVC to patients and staff reduced the number of hours of seclusion and restraint from 92 hrs to 4 hrs over a four year period. It also reduced the number of seclusion and restraint incidents from 33 per yr to 2.0 per yr over the same four year period.

Management and Treatment Unit at Mendota Mental Health Institute

The Management and Treatment Unit (MTU)is a 14 bed unit that provides treatment to the most acutely civil and forensic male patients in need of maximum security at the Mendota Mental Health Institute in Madison Wisconsin . In Aug 2007 the MTU team Decided to revise its ways of treatment to reduce violence. The first step was to achieve a common agreement as to the meaning of the word “violence”. The meaning was extended to include passive and non verbal violence in addition to the usual verbal and physical violence . It was finally defined to mean “behavior that increased the acuity of the unit’s environment and threatens sanctuary”. Training was given initially to staff and eventually all in the use of NVC and de-esc alation plans developed and the concept of a Sanctuary introduced based on the ideas of an organization devoted to “Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment” (PAVE) After the patients and staff mutually developed their concept of sanctuary, it was implemented basically basically using the methodology of NVC. Reimier (2009 reports that the violence indicators dropped dramatically over a two year period.

Not only was their a reduction of forcible restraints for the patients, the staff also experienced an increase in safety too. The number of lost staff days and light staff days as a result of patient violence went down too.

THIS SECTION IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Atascadero State Hospital

Kathi Aichner has written a report on the use of NVC at Atascadero State Hospital which showed that the patients were very enthusiastic about its use.

Recommendations

Professionals interested in participating in the development of NVC programs under the aegis of Innovative programs under the Mental Health Services Act might contact the MHSA department of their County Mental Health Departments for more information on how to submit proposals for programs introducing NVC into their local Mental Health Delivery systems.

References

Aichner,K. NVC at Atascadero State Hospital, personal communication, 2008
Reimer,D. Corwin C. Application of Core Strategies: Reducing Seclusion & Restraint Use, On The Edge, 13(3) (2007)
Reimer, D. Creating Sanctuary: Reducing Violence in a Maximum Security Forensic Psychiatric Hospital Unit, On The Edge - Spring 2009
Sears, M. Choose your words, CareInAction (2007)
Sears M.,Humanizing Health Care with NVC, iUniverse, Lincoln Ne, (2006)

Please add any other citations to the use of NVC in Mental Health Settings to this page. If you experience difficulty in adding to this page directly , please e-mail the submission to John Mudie directly.