Contemporary Therapeutic Relationship for a Professional Practitioner Essay

Contemporary Therapeutic Relationship for a Professional Practitioner - Essay Example The five components of effective nurse-client relationships have been identified as â€Å"trust, respect, professional intimacy, empathy and power† (College of Nurses of Ontario, 2009, p. 3). Nurses who work as catalytic agents of change should have good interpersonal skills and a thorough knowledge regarding the dynamics of the therapeutic relationship. While maintaining effective and healthy therapeutic alliances they should also be able to maintain professional boundaries distinguishing their personal or social relationships from that of the therapeutic relationships. Patients or clients in the mental health care are more likely to suffer from feelings of alienation, isolation, and seclusion. Similarly, they come across many crises, troubles, doubts, difficulties, frustrations or concerns in their lives which cannot be tackled without the assistance of a competent therapist or counselor. It is a fact that many of these patients in the mental health care do not receive any s uch positive support or care from their family members or relatives. As such, it is imperative that the nurses offer them ‘unconditional positive regard, accurate empathy, and genuineness’ which are very much essential for the therapeutic relationship and its progress (Egan, 2010, p. 36). It is also important that the negative attitudes and behavior patterns of the clients are addressed at the earliest and that they are assisted to convert these into positive attitudes and behaviors. In a therapeutic relationship, the values, thoughts, and feelings of the nurses interact with those of the clients and therefore it is very much essential that the nurses maintain professional boundaries and stick to the ethical guidelines of professional nursing practice. This paper seeks to explore the significance of maintaining effective and meaningful therapeutic relationships in the mental healthcare setting. Literature Review Critical analysis Many researchers and psychologists have pointed out the importance of therapeutic relationships in mental health care. Researchers such as Elder, Evans, and Nizette (2009, p. 2) regard developing therapeutic relationships as the key to effective mental health nursing and for them, therapeutic alliances are very much necessary for the growth and recovery of patients in the mental health care. The authors also highlight the need to maintain professional boundaries during the therapeutic alliance. Similarly, they also hold that mental health nurses should have a thorough knowledge of not only human and biological sciences; they also are trained to develop effective therapeutic relationships with the patients.