Definitions of Mental Health Services - Part 3
Introduction and Definitions of Mental Health Services - From Counselling (Stroke) to Youth Development
Beyond general counselling and assessments, there are specialized therapies and support services tailored to specific needs and conditions. From dealing with trauma to enhancing emotional intelligence, this section explores these specialized services to help you find the most appropriate form of care.
Definitions - Part 1 Adoption to Assessment (Medico-Legal) | Part 2 Assessment (Neuropsychological) to Counselling (Spiritual) | Part 3 Counselling (Stroke) to Youth Development
Part 3: Specialized Therapies and Support Services
Content:
- Counselling (Stroke)
- Court Services
- Custody
- Day Centre
- Youth Development
Counselling (Stroke)
Counselling and guidance by a professional aimed at stroke survivors and their families. The focus usually lies on providing psychoeducation and rehabilitation and aims to return the client to the most independent state possible.
Counselling (Trauma)
Includes a range of techniques to address the impact and effects of experiencing traumatic life events.
Court Services
The provision of assistance and guidance by a professional for all parties involved in a court matter. This includes mental well-being and legal and financial services.
Custody
Services relating to the protective and financial care or guardianship of someone or something, usually relating to the custodianship of children following a divorce, neglect or parental loss situation.
Day Centre
Daytime care for people with special needs (physical or emotional) who cannot be fully independent. May also include day centres providing services to individuals and groups struggling with emotional difficulties.
Disability (Medico-Legal)
Services relating to the inability to perform normally on any aspect of functioning, including functioning at work.
Drama Therapy
The use of drama or theatre as a psychotherapeutic tool to help clients process emotions and identify and resolve psychological difficulties.
Dream Analysis
The analysis of dreams to investigate and diagnose a patient's mental state and unconscious mind.
Drug and Alcohol Counselling (Abuse, Addiction and Recovery)
Counselling and guidance aimed at patients who are abusing, addicted to or recovering from drug or alcohol addiction. The focus usually lies on overcoming the cycle of addiction.
Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)
The procedure conducted under general anaesthesia, in which a small electric current is passed through the brain, intentionally triggering a brief seizure to reverse symptoms of certain mental illnesses.
Emotional Intelligence
Services relating to the development of one's ability to be aware of, control and express one's emotions and to manage interpersonal relationships thoughtfully and empathetically.
Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)
An employee benefits programme offered by the employer and intended to help employees deal with personal problems that might negatively impact job performance, health and well-being. Usually refers to the provision of a limited number of counselling sessions.
Employee Wellness Programme
A coordinated and inclusive set of health promotion and protection training applied at the work site. It includes programmes, policies, benefits, environmental supports and links to the surrounding community, and is designed to encourage the health and safety of all employees.
Epidemiology
The branch of medical science dealing with the incidence, distribution and control of disease in a population, but can also refer to the sum of the factors controlling the presence or absence of a disease or pathogen.
Ethics
Services related to working with ethical dilemmas and the promotion of ethical practices. Ethics refers to the moral principles governing a person's or group's behaviour.
Gambling Compulsion Counselling
Counselling and guidance are aimed at patients with an uncontrollable urge to gamble. Counselling is usually directed at assisting patients in understanding their addiction and learning to manage their urge to gamble in new, sustainable ways.
Grief Counselling
Counselling and guidance for patients who have lost a loved one or experienced major life changes, triggering feelings of grief. Counselling aims to provide support and help the patient adjust to their new life.
Home(s)
Services related to the provision of housing.
Hypnosis
The induction of a state of consciousness in which the client is highly responsive to suggestion or direction that assists the modification of behaviour and processing of unresolved emotions.
Information/Resource Service
A service provider whose function is to supply persons with the necessary information and psychoeducation to enable them to make informed decisions, get adequate healthcare and be knowledgeable about their well-being issues.
Inpatient Services
A hospital or institution offering patients overnight emotional and/or physical care.
Jungian Analysis
A method of psychotherapy that draws on the theories developed by C. G. Jung. Emphasis is on the individual psyche, the collective unconscious and the unconscious, the persona, the archetype, the ego, the complex, the shadow, the anima and animus, the self and individuation.
Mediation
Coordinated intervention in a dispute to assist in the resolution and arbitration of two or more parties by providing an objective perspective to all parties.
Mental Health Nursing
A registered nurse provides psychiatric or mental health care, aimed at people of all ages with mental illness or distress.
Music Therapy
A type of psychotherapy that uses music and the playing of musical instruments to further the individual's social, cognitive, emotional and physical development.
Occupational Health and Safety (OHS)
Also known as workplace health and safety (WHS) is an area concerned with the safety, health and welfare of people engaged in work or employment.
Occupational Therapy
A form of therapy for those recovering from a physical or psychological illness that encourages rehabilitation through the performance of activities required in daily life.
Online Counselling/Phone Therapy
The provision of professional mental health therapy services over a telephone or mobile phone or via email, real-time chat or video conferencing.
Outpatient Services
Medical or psychological healthcare performed in a centre without an overnight stay.
Paediatrics
The branch of medicine dealing with children and their diseases.
Pain Management
Medical and psychological interventions intended to prevent, diagnose and treat pain.
Philosophy
The academic discipline of studying the nature of knowledge, reality and existence.
Play Therapy
A type of assisted therapy in which children are encouraged to act out their fantasies and express their feelings through play.
Prevention
Interventions designed to reduce or avoid difficulties in the realm of physical and mental well-being.
Psychiatry (Adolescent)
A field of psychiatry that offers specialised diagnosis, treatment and care for adolescents, and the families of adolescents, who have emotional, thought or behavioural disorders.
Psychiatry (Adult)
A field of psychiatry that offers specialised diagnosis, treatment and care for adults, and the families of adults, with disorders of thinking, feeling, perception and behaviour.
Psychiatry (Biological)
A field of psychiatry that offers specialised diagnosis, treatment and care for individuals and is based on the premise that mental disorders result from biological dysfunction.
Psychiatry (Child)
A field of psychiatry that offers specialised diagnosis, treatment and care for children who have emotional, thought or behavioural disorders.
Psychiatry (Community)
A field of psychiatry that concentrates on the detection, prevention, early treatment and rehabilitation of patients with emotional disorders and social deviance in the community rather than focusing on individual problems.
Psychiatry (Consultation Liaison)
A branch of psychiatry that specialises in mediating the boundaries created between general medicine and psychiatry in a hospital or medical setting.
Psychiatry (Forensic)
A branch of psychiatry specialising in mediating between questions raised by the legal system and the psychiatric background of a patient.
Psychiatry (General)
A branch of psychiatry specialising in diagnosis, treatment and care using psychotherapy and medication.
Psychiatry (Neuropsychiatry)
A branch of psychiatry studying the link between mental or emotional disturbance and disordered brain function.
Psychiatry (Transcultural)
Also known as cross-cultural psychiatry, this is a branch of psychiatry studying the cultural context of mental disorders and the challenges of addressing diversity in psychiatric services.
Psychoanalysis
A form of psychotherapy that achieves its aims through a profound investigation of the interaction between conscious and unconscious elements of the mind. Techniques include using the couch, free association, analysis of resistance and dream interpretation.
Psychoeducation
Education offered to individuals and groups on topics relating to promoting mental health and living with, treating or preventing psychological distress and mental illness.
Psychological Evaluation
The assessment and testing, using a combination of techniques, of people's behaviour, personality and capabilities to inform decisions (e.g. treatment) or draw conclusions and add to research.
Psychology (Clinical)
The application of psychological knowledge and psychological techniques in assessing and treating psychological distress, mental illness and disability.
Psychology (Community)
The application of psychology in studying environmental interactions and how society affects individual and community functioning, social issues, social institutions and other settings that influence individuals, groups and organisations. Includes the promotion of community mental health and integration through community-level interventions.
Psychology (Corporate)
The application of psychological principles in organisations and the workplace; is also known as industrial and organisational psychology. This may include organisational assessments and diagnosis and developing wellness programmes and interventions to improve efficiency and effectiveness.
Psychology (Counselling)
The application of psychological knowledge and techniques in assisting patients in negotiating personal and interpersonal challenges across all developmental life stages.
Psychology (Educational)
The application of psychological knowledge and techniques in assisting children and adolescents with various problems, from education and learning struggles to social and emotional difficulties.
Psychology (Forensic)
Applying psychology to legal settings, e.g. assessing offenders to present evidence in court.
Psychology (Geriatric)
The application of psychology to the study, prevention and treatment of mental disorders in elderly people.
Psychology (Medico-Legal)
Psychological medico-legal services include those involved at the intersection between medicine and the law. An example might consist of independently conducted assessments of psychological functioning that form part of a court case seeking compensation for loss of potential future earnings.
Psychology (Neuropsychology)
Techniques and methods in psychology that study the relationship between behaviour, emotion and cognition and its correlation to brain function. These include services such as conducting neuropsychological assessments and making recommendations based on the findings.
Psychology (Sport)
An interdisciplinary psychological service that draws on knowledge from many related fields, including biomechanics, physiology, kinesiology and psychology. It involves studying how psychological factors affect performance and how participation in sports and exercise affect psychological and physical factors.
Psychology (Testing)
The administration of psychological tests and assessments carried out in an objective and standardised manner while studying a sample of behaviour. May include a broad range of subjects from psychological symptoms to intellect and personality functioning.
Psychometric Testing (Industrial)
Also known as industrial and organisational psychometric testing, it is the systematic assessment of an individual's behaviour in the workplace and the application of these findings. This can, for example, be used to try and predetermine an individual's fit with a job role.
Psychotherapy (Adolescent)
The application of psychotherapeutic principles, techniques and methods to help adolescents experiencing difficulties with their emotions or behaviour. This may include techniques like playing, drawing, building, pretending and talking to share feelings and resolve problems.
Psychotherapy (Analytic)
The branch of psychotherapy that draws on the Jungian approach to prevention, diagnosis and treatment of psychological distress and mental illness. Emphasis is on the individual psyche and the personal quest for wholeness, the collective unconscious and the unconscious, the persona, the archetype, the ego, the complex, the shadow, the anima and animus, the self, and individuation.
Psychotherapy (Child)
The application of psychotherapeutic principles and methods to help children experiencing difficulties with their emotions or behaviour. This may include techniques like playing, drawing, building and pretending to share feelings and resolve problems.
Psychotherapy (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy)
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a form of psychotherapy that was initially designed to treat depression. Considerable evidence supports the efficacy of CBT, and techniques exist to treat a growing range of psychological disorders. CBT solves current problems by helping the patient learn to apply tested techniques and change unhelpful thinking and behaviour.
Psychotherapy (Dynamic)
Usually refers to variations of psychoanalysis or the application of psychoanalytic principles in less intensive therapies, e.g. once a week face-to-face therapy vs five times weekly, lying on the couch therapy. The primary focus of these therapies remains on revealing the unconscious content of a patient's psyche.
Psychotherapy (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing)
Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a well-researched form of psychotherapy developed by Francine Shapiro that can effectively, and sometimes rapidly, relieve the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Psychotherapy (Family)
A type of psychological counselling drawing on the theories of psychotherapy (focusing on behaviour and the unconscious) that helps family members improve communication issues and resolve conflicts.
Psychotherapy (General)
The treatment of broad-ranging psychological distress and mental disorders through applying psychological theories for treatment, prevention and cure. Most of these techniques take place through talking rather than medical means.
Psychotherapy (Group)
Psychotherapy carried out with three or more people. Psychotherapy groups can consist of individuals who share something in common (e.g. a diagnosis or difficulty) or who are working towards a common goal (e.g. psychological development and growth).
Psychotherapy (Individual)
A type of psychological counselling in which the therapist and patient work face-to-face to explore and find relief from problematic feelings, beliefs or behaviours and work through difficult memories.
Psychotherapy (Jungian)
A method of psychotherapy that uses the theory developed by C. G. Jung as the basis for interpreting and working through psychological difficulties. See Psychotherapy (Analytic).
Psychotherapy (Psychoanalytic)
Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy is a talking therapy that investigates the interaction of conscious and unconscious elements of the mind and brings repressed fears and conflicts into consciousness through techniques such as free association and interpretation.
Psychotherapy (Psychodynamic)
A term sometimes used interchangeably with Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, but it may also refer to a broad range of therapies that are influenced by psychoanalytic theory and practice.
Referral Service
A service focusing on assessing a client or patient's needs before directing them to an appropriate service or professional.
Rehabilitation (Cognitive)
Programmes that aim to help brain-injured or cognitively impaired individuals restore normal functioning or compensate for cognitive deficits.
Rehabilitation (Psychosocial)
Programmes that aim to restore community integration and the well-being of a person diagnosed with mental health or emotional disorders.
Research
Services related to the systematic investigation of subjects to establish facts and reach valid new conclusions reliably.
Residential Treatment or Hospitalisation
Programmes that provide long-term (in-patient) supervision and treatment for individuals whose disordered behaviours have become abnormally destructive, habitual or addictive and who are not currently able to live independent lives out of care.
Risk Management
Forecasting and assessing risks relating to physical and mental well-being and identifying procedures to avoid or reduce their impact.
Rural Medicine
May refer to the provision of medical services in rural conditions or the interdisciplinary study and use of rural treatment methods for mental and physical well-being, including midwifery, sociology, nursing, economics and telemedicine or telehealth.
School Service (Child and Adolescent)
Services offered by the schooling system that attempt to assist in the treatment and care of children and adolescents (up to school-leaving age) with general healthcare issues or emotional, thought or behavioural disorders.
Sexual Health
Specialist services related to the relationship between sexuality and physical, mental and social well-being, e.g. men's clinics and sex therapists.
Social Activities
Organised group activities intended to facilitate social functioning and improve the quality of the lives of the population attending, e.g. adolescents, the elderly, physically challenged or mentally ill.
Social Work (General)
Care carried out by a trained professional to alleviate the conditions of less-privileged and at-risk individuals and those in need of help or welfare.
Social Work (Geriatric)
Social services dealing specifically with alleviating the conditions of less-privileged and at-risk elderly individuals in need of help or welfare.
Social Work (Medico-Legal)
Social services dealing specifically with alleviating the conditions of less-privileged and at-risk individuals and those in need of help or welfare involved with legal matters.
Social Work (Psychiatric)
Social services are provided to less-privileged and at-risk mentally ill persons and those in need of aid or welfare, also known as clinical social work.
Stress Management
Includes techniques and psychotherapies aimed at acquiring skills to be able to control a person's level of stress, especially chronic stress, typically to improve everyday functioning.
Supervision
The act of offering consultation to a psychotherapy provider to enable that provider to deliver a higher level of service, e.g. a psychotherapist might present a case to another psychotherapist to enrich the quality of their work by benefiting from the other's expertise.
Support Groups
The provision of group settings in which people who share common experiences, disorders or concerns may provide each other with comfort, understanding, encouragement and advice.
Therapy
Techniques of treatment (psychological, psychiatric or drug therapies) intended to relieve or heal a psychological and/or psychiatric disorder, disease or symptom.
Therapy (Adolescents)
A broad term for a range of specialised therapies aimed at preventing, treating and diagnosing mental illness or disorders, or problematic functioning, in adolescents.
Therapy (Child)
A broad term for a range of specialised therapies aimed at preventing, treating and diagnosing mental illness or disorders, or problem behaviours, in children.
Therapy (Family)
A broad term for a range of specialised therapies aimed at preventing, treating and diagnosing mental illness or disorders, or problematic family functioning, by improving communication and resolving conflicts.
Therapy (Imago Relationship)
A form of insight-orientated marriage therapy that emphasizes the relationship and its historical context (including each partner's early life and parental influences) rather than focusing on problem-solving specific situations.
Therapy (Individual)
A broad term for a range of specialised talking therapies aimed at preventing, treating and diagnosing mental illness or disorders, or problematic functioning, on a one-on-one and usually face-to-face basis.
Therapy (Personal Growth)
The aided process of analysing a person's life, outlook, emotional world, relationships, unfulfilled desires and dreams, and considering how they might improve themselves through increased awareness and specific changes.
Therapy (Relationship)
The counselling of two or more parties in a relationship improves how they manage and reconcile troublesome differences and negotiate stressful patterns in the relationship.
Therapy (Relaxation)
The facilitated application of techniques to promote stress reduction, eradicating tension throughout the body and attaining a peaceful state of mind.
Therapy (Schema)
A form of psychotherapy developed by Dr J. E. Young for use in the treatment of personality disorders. Schema therapy translates concepts taken from object relations theory into cognitive terms. The therapy is structured, directed and systematic.
Therapy (Sex)
The aided process of psychotherapy or counselling for psychosexual difficulties. Training Teaching persons or groups a skill or type of behaviour.
Training (Assertiveness)
Teaching individuals, or groups of people, how to act in a brave, self-confident manner.
Training (Communication Skills)
The aided process of teaching a person or group the necessary skills for healthy, effective communication.
Training (Life Skills)
The assisted process of teaching a person or group the necessary skills for dealing with the demands and challenges of everyday life in a healthy, effective manner. Wellness Interventions that are intended to promote a physical and emotional state or condition of good, well-functioning health.
Youth Development
Services that focus on positively developing children's and adolescents' capacities, especially in the context of the family, peer groups, the school and the neighbourhood or community.
Definitions - Part 1 Adoption to Assessment (Medico-Legal) | Part 2 Assessment (Neuropsychological) to Counselling (Spiritual) | Part 3 Counselling (Stroke) to Youth Development
Important:
TherapyRoute does not provide medical advice. All content is for informational purposes and cannot replace consulting a healthcare professional. If you face an emergency, please contact a local emergency service. For immediate emotional support, consider contacting a local helpline.
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