NZQA Expiring unit standard
13429 version 6
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Title
Describe mental health and illness, and approaches to treatment of
mental illness
Level
4
Purpose
Credits
9
This is a theory unit standard for people entering or engaged in
mental health support work.
People credited with this unit standard are able to describe the
major ways of understanding mental health and mental illness,
and describe the major types of treatments and therapies and
their contributions to recovery.
Classification
Mental Health > Support of Mental Health Consumers/Tangata
Whai Ora
Available grade
Achieved
Explanatory notes
1
Glossary
Disability is the loss or limitation of opportunities to take part in the normal life of the
community on an equal level with others due to physical and social barriers. Source:
Disabled Persons International 1982. ‘Disability is not something individuals have.
What individuals have are impairments. They may be physical, sensory,
neurological, psychiatric, intellectual or other impairments. Disability is the process
which happens when one group of people create barriers by designing a world only
for their way of living, taking no account of the impairments other people have.’
Source: New Zealand Disability Strategy 2001.
World Health Organisation definition of health and wellness – ‘Health is a state of
complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of
disease or infirmity.’ World Health Organisation (WHO) 1946.
Mental health support work is defined as supportive work with people who have been
or are experiencing mental illness. It is part of a range of services that is available to
consumers/tangata whai ora, some of whom are living with disabilities resulting from
long term experience of mental illness. Mental health support work is carried out
within the terms of a recovery plan developed, managed, and owned by the
consumer/tangata whai ora. It should be provided in a co-operative and co-ordinated
way with other services the consumer/tangata whai ora may be receiving. Mental
health support workers work in a collaborative manner alongside consumers/tangata
whai ora (and sometimes with their families or whānau) who are living with their
family or whānau, in the community in their own or rented homes, or in supported
accommodation, or in mental health facilities, to assist them to achieve their life goals
and objectives.
Mental health support workers may include but are not limited to: caregivers, support
people, consumers who operate as providers of services, Māori health workers,
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Pacific people's health workers, and health workers from other ethnic groups.
The recovery principles may be expressed in a range of ways, but for the purposes of
this unit standard, they are defined as follows:
a
Recovery is based on the fact that people can recover from mental illness.
b
Recovery is born out of hope.
c
Recovery is a journey defined by the individual.
d
Recovery needs a supportive environment to thrive.
e
Recovery involves individuals redefining who they are in the presence of a
psychiatric label.
f
Recovery is an active and ongoing process.
g
Recovery is a non-linear journey.
h
Recovery skills can be learnt.
i
Recovery involves a person educating themself about their illness.
j
Recovery involves dealing with both internalised and external stigma and
discrimination.
Recognised code of conduct refers to a code of conduct established by a mental
health service provider, or a code of ethics of a professional association related to
mental health service provision.
Service provider guidelines may include but are not limited to: service provider
strategic plans, kaupapa, legislation, kawa, tikanga, staff manuals, service provider
protocols.
2
Resources may include but are not limited to
a
American Psychiatric Association Task Force on DSM-IV. c1994. Diagnostic
and statistical manual of mental disorders – DSM-IV. 4th Edition. Washington,
DC: American Psychiatric Association.
b
Durie, Mason. 1998 (2nd Ed). Whaiora: Maori health development. Auckland:
Oxford University Press.
c
Heron, Madeleine. 2003. The service user experience: Implications for the
National Certificate in Mental Health (Mental Health Support Work). Wellington:
Mental Health Support Worker Advisory Group.
Copies of this paper are available from the Community Support Services
Industry Training Organisation.
d
Mental Health Commission. 2001. Recovery competencies for New Zealand
mental health workers. Wellington: Mental Health Commission (in particular
Recovery Competencies 1 and 3).
e
World Health Organisation. 1992. The ICD-10 classification of mental and
behavioural disorders: clinical descriptions and diagnostic guidelines. Geneva:
World Health Organisation.
Note: the above editions were current at the time of registration of this unit
standard. New editions of resources a and e are published from time to time. It
is recommended that assessors and candidates use the editions that are
current when candidates are preparing for assessment against this unit
standard.
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Sources for the recovery approach include
a
Mental Health Commission. 2001. Recovery competencies for New Zealand
mental health workers. Wellington: Mental Health Commission.
b
http://www.mentalhealthrecovery.com/
Note particular attention should be paid to publications by Mary Ellen Copeland
and Charles Rapp that are either included on or referenced by this web page, or
in the Recovery competencies for New Zealand mental health support workers
(op. cit.).
Outcomes and evidence requirements
Outcome 1
Describe the major ways of understanding mental health and mental illness.
Evidence requirements
1.1
Mental health is described in holistic terms according to a recognised model of
wellness.
Range
recognised models of wellness include – Māori model of mental
health, Pacific people's model of mental health, World Health
Organisation definition of health and wellness.
1.2
A personal definition of wellness is described in relation to the model of
wellness described in evidence requirement 1.1.
1.3
Different explanations for mental illness are outlined.
Range
biological, psychological, sociological, spiritual/moral.
1.4
The social model of disability is explained in terms of its application to mental
illness.
1.5
Different cultural responses to mental illness are outlined.
Range
1.6
Western historical responses to mental illness are described.
Range
1.7
different cultural responses may include but are not limited to –
Māori, Pākehā, Pacific peoples, Asian.
Evidence is required of Māori and one other.
Western historical responses to mental illness – pre-asylum;
asylum; community care; classification of mental illness according
to behaviours; medicalisation.
Mental illness is described in terms of the different ways in which it impacts on
consumers/tangata whai ora, families/whānau, and communities.
Range
evidence is required of three ways.
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The consumer/tangata whai ora experience of mental illness is described in
terms of the resource listed at explanatory note 2 c.
Outcome 2
Describe the major types of treatments and therapies and their contributions to recovery.
Evidence requirements
2.1
Recovery is explained in terms of its definition, recovery principles, and other
explanations provided by relevant sources.
Range
relevant sources include but are not limited to – the definition
given in the resource listed in explanatory note 3 a; recovery
principles listed in the Glossary; articles obtained from the website
listed at explanatory note 3 b.
2.2
Biological treatments are outlined in terms of their contributions to recovery.
2.3
Psychotherapeutic approaches are outlined in terms of their contributions to
recovery.
2.4
Self help approaches are outlined in terms of their contributions to recovery.
2.5
Māori traditional healing approaches are outlined in terms of their contributions
to recovery.
2.6
Pacific people's traditional healing approaches are outlined in terms of their
contributions to recovery.
2.7
Alternative and complementary treatments are outlined in terms of their
contributions to recovery.
Range
alternative and complementary treatments may include but are not
limited to – acupuncture, herbal medicine, homeopathy, massage.
This unit standard is expiring. Assessment against the standard must take place by
the last date for assessment set out below.
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NZQA Expiring unit standard
13429 version 6
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Status information and last date for assessment for superseded versions
Process
Version Date
Last Date for Assessment
Registration
1
11 February 1998
31 December 2014
Revision
2
16 December 2002
31 December 2014
Review
3
26 October 2005
31 December 2014
Review
4
18 March 2011
31 December 2014
Rollover
5
17 November 2011
31 December 2014
Republished
5
13 March 2012
31 December 2014
Rollover
6
24 October 2014
31 December 2016
Consent and Moderation Requirements (CMR) reference
0150
This CMR can be accessed at http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/framework/search/index.do.
Please note
Providers must be granted consent to assess against standards (accredited) by NZQA,
before they can report credits from assessment against unit standards or deliver courses
of study leading to that assessment.
Industry Training Organisations must be granted consent to assess against standards by
NZQA before they can register credits from assessment against unit standards.
Providers and Industry Training Organisations, which have been granted consent and
which are assessing against unit standards must engage with the moderation system that
applies to those standards.
Requirements for consent to assess and an outline of the moderation system that applies
to this standard are outlined in the Consent and Moderation Requirements (CMR). The
CMR also includes useful information about special requirements for organisations wishing
to develop education and training programmes, such as minimum qualifications for tutors
and assessors, and special resource requirements.
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 New Zealand Qualifications Authority 2016