Case Study: The Occupational Therapist

Enter/ Initiate: Ben is a 46 year old man who has a long history of schizophrenia. The Occupational Therapist (OT), who is part of the Community Mental Health Team, has been referred to Ben by a consultant psychiatrist. Bens mother, Jan, has previously sought help from the community mental health team and is concerned about her sons mental and physical wellbeing. The OT will review Bens referral and documentation to establish whether or not the referral is appropriate and to determine if Ben will benefit from the service. The OT will also gather useful information on Bens past medical history, social situation and employment history (Bryant et al., 2014). This process of infromation gathering is important and will provide the foundation.
During this stage, the OT will also interview Ben using an individualised outcome measure such as the COPM (law et al, 1994). By administering the COPM to Ben, The OT will gain a clearer undertsanding of Bens occupational performance problems along with the areas that he would like to address during the course of his work with the OT (Duncan). After completing the COPM, Ben identifies a number of occupational issues in his life, such as social withdrawal, isolation from his family and professional support, his difficulty eating healthily and also his increased smoking to date. Ben then identifies areas that he would like to work on or address throughout intervention. At this point, after recognising isolation as Bens main occupational problem, The OT would recommend a variety of different support groups that are run by the community mental health team that would facilitate socialisation and communication among those suffering from mental health difficulties in the
Objectives and Plan:
Bens priority occupational issues could include isolation from his friends, recent weight gain along with spending an increased amount of time in bed, which indicates that he may have abandoned his love for painting, previously mentioned in the video.
By setting goals in collaboration with Ben, he will be able to change vague ideas of what he wishes to achieve to into more concrete ways into managing his problems and achieving change (McCullough, 2014). Both long and short term goals could be set with Ben.
Short term goals:
• In 1 week, Ben will choose and attend a task based group in his community
• In 3 weeks, Ben will have prepared and cooked a healthy meal without assitance using recipie cards provided by the OT.
• By week 5 Ben will have learned and practiced the various CBT techniques with help from the OT.
Long Term Goals:
• In 3 months, Ben will cook a healthy meal five days a week.
• In 6 months, Ben will be able to manage his unhelpful thoughts using CBT techniques without prompting from the