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Effective interprofessional collaboration among healthcare providers is crucial for delivering optimal care to individuals undergoing involuntary treatment. By working together, healthcare professionals can ensure consumers receive high-quality care, minimize restrictive interventions, and promote recovery. Various levels of evidence highlight the benefits of staff training, shared decision-making interventions, and integrated care approaches in reducing coercive treatment in mental health services.[10] The strongest evidence supports staff training to reduce the use of restraints and shared decision-making with consumers. Shared Understanding and Communication Common goal: Healthcare providers should establish a shared, consumer-centered understanding of the purpose of involuntary treatment, which is to support the individual during acute distress and facilitate their recovery. Consumer-centered language: Healthcare providers should use a language that prioritizes the individual's needs and well-being rather than focusing on legal or bureaucratic requirements. Effective communication: Healthcare professionals must ensure clear and open communication to facilitate coordinated and effective care. Safe and Therapeutic Environment Respect and dignity: Healthcare providers should treat every person with respect and dignity. Protecting the consumer: Healthcare professionals must protect the consumer from exposure to other individuals with emotional and behavioral disturbances. Exposure to unpleasant, distressing, or fearful situations without the option to flee can be traumatic. Minimizing isolation: Healthcare providers should minimize the time consumers spend alone, preventing them from ruminating on unhealthy coping strategies or feeling worthless and imprisoned. Shared decision-making: Healthcare providers should allow individuals to make decisions whenever possible, respecting their autonomy and preferences. Autonomy: Healthcare providers should offer opportunities for choice and control within the limits of involuntary treatment, such as allowing the individual to select meals, choose activities, and determine visitation preferences, as well as, where possible, choose treatment providers.

Shared decision-making: Healthcare providers should allow individuals to make decisions whenever possible, respecting their autonomy and preferences. Autonomy: Healthcare providers should offer opportunities for choice and control within the limits of involuntary treatment, such as allowing the individual to select meals, choose activities, and determine visitation preferences, as well as, where possible, choose treatment providers. Positive reinforcement: Individuals undergoing involuntary treatment often have a history of interpersonal trauma, which can affect their self-perception, emotional and behavioral regulation, and social skills. Treatment should prioritize preventing further harm while fostering a supportive and caring environment. Reinforcing positive behaviors can help individuals develop better behavioral regulation in a safe and nurturing setting. Strategies for Providing Support During Distress Empathy and validation: Healthcare providers should demonstrate empathy and understanding for the individual's feelings and experiences. Therapeutic relationship building: Healthcare providers should develop therapeutic relationships based on trust, respect, and care. Crisis support: Healthcare providers should respond to emotional and behavioral problems with empathy and care while minimizing restrictive interventions. Coping planning: Healthcare providers should assist consumers in identifying and using healthy coping strategies that have worked for them in the past. Pain management: Healthcare providers should address physical and psychological pain by providing appropriate treatment and support for recovery. Interdisciplinary Collaboration Regular communication: Healthcare professionals should maintain open and regular communication with other team members, including general practitioners, psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and occupational therapists, to ensure the consumer receives a seamless continuum of care. Shared goals: Healthcare providers should develop shared goals for consumer care and create coordinated treatment plans, involving the consumer to the extent possible at each stage of their care. Social Support

Regular communication: Healthcare professionals should maintain open and regular communication with other team members, including general practitioners, psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and occupational therapists, to ensure the consumer receives a seamless continuum of care. Shared goals: Healthcare providers should develop shared goals for consumer care and create coordinated treatment plans, involving the consumer to the extent possible at each stage of their care. Social Support Social support is crucial in helping individuals manage unpleasant emotions and prevent them from becoming overwhelmed. Access to quality social support can vary among individuals. When possible and desired by the consumer, incorporating social support into the treatment plan can enhance treatment outcomes. A few interventions to incorporate social support into the care plan are listed below. Identifying supportive individuals: Consumers should be encouraged to identify their social supports, such as family, friends, or community members. Clarifying roles: Consumers should be asked whether (and with whom) they would like to discuss their information regarding socially supportive individuals. Facilitating communication: Healthcare providers should facilitate communication between consumers and their social supports, whenever possible and in accordance with the consumers' preferences. Minimizing intermediary roles: Healthcare providers should act as intermediaries only when necessary and gradually phase out this role to enable the consumer to manage their communication. Respecting patient privacy: Healthcare providers should respect consumer privacy and confidentiality when communicating with other stakeholders. Supporting social connections: Healthcare providers should encourage social activities and connections within the treatment setting and community. Discharge Planning A well-structured discharge plan is essential for ensuring a smooth transition from involuntary treatment to community-based care. The plan should provide a continuum of care that supports the consumer's recovery and helps prevent relapse. Collaborative planning: Healthcare providers should collaborate with the consumer to develop a personalized discharge plan. The consumer may choose to involve social and professional support in the planning process.

A well-structured discharge plan is essential for ensuring a smooth transition from involuntary treatment to community-based care. The plan should provide a continuum of care that supports the consumer's recovery and helps prevent relapse. Collaborative planning: Healthcare providers should collaborate with the consumer to develop a personalized discharge plan. The consumer may choose to involve social and professional support in the planning process. Identifying strengths and building on them: Healthcare providers should identify the consumer's strengths and skills, such as problem-solving abilities, healthy coping strategies, and social connections. These strengths can be leveraged to develop new skills. For example, if the consumer has strong social connections, providers can help them utilize these relationships for additional support. Facilitating community connections: Healthcare providers should connect consumers with appropriate community resources, such as community treatment providers and housing services, to support their recovery and reintegration. Continuing treatment: Healthcare providers should ensure that the consumer understands and agrees with their treatment plan and has access to the necessary resources to continue treatment after discharge. Scheduling follow-up care: Healthcare providers should schedule regular follow-up appointments to provide support, monitor recovery, and address any consumer concerns. Coping planning: Healthcare providers should provide the consumer with a copy of their coping plan for reference strategies that have proven helpful in managing unpleasant emotions in the past. Empowering the consumer: Healthcare providers should restore the consumer's ability to manage their recovery by providing the necessary tools and resources for success. Consumer-centered healthcare enhances the treatment experience and improves outcomes, even in the context of involuntary treatment.