Mental health - distress framework for collaboration: multi-agency partnership approach

2. Definitions

A theme raised when developing this framework was the need for consistency in the language we use and what these terms mean.

The following definitions are included to provide a common understanding and consistency that can be shared across agencies and services. These definitions have been taken from a range of sources including the Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy and the Mental Health Unscheduled Care Network, and will hopefully ensure that with common understanding, services are best able to meet a person’s mental health and wellbeing needs.

• Mental wellbeing is a person’s internal positive view that they are coping well psychologically with the everyday stresses of life and can work productively and fruitfully. Good mental wellbeing means a person will feel happy and live their life the way they choose.
• Distress can be described as a sudden change in wellbeing from regular behaviour patterns with expressions of intense emotions (e.g. anxiety, hopelessness, loneliness). It is an emotional pain which may have led the person to seek help, and which does not require further emergency service involvement.
• Mental illness is a health condition that affects emotions, thinking and behaviour, which substantially interferes with or limits our life. If left untreated, mental illnesses can significantly impact daily living, including our ability to work, care for family, and relate and interact with others. Mental illness is a term used to cover several conditions (e.g. depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia) with different symptoms and impacts for varying lengths of time for each person. Mental illnesses can range from mild through to severe illnesses that can be lifelong.
• Crisis is a state where a person is unable to cope and they may be a risk to themselves or others. They are likely to require urgent help from others to manage their mental health risks.
• Mental wellbeing, mental health and mental illness are linked to a combination of factors covering biology (e.g. genetics, health and neurodiversity), psychology (e.g. thoughts, emotions and beliefs) and social factors (e.g. culture, poverty and discrimination). These three areas combine with a person’s life experiences to impact the state of mind. This impact varies over time, does not progress in a straight line and is specific to an individual.
• Unscheduled Care is unanticipated, so presentations are unplanned to the services (i.e. where a person did not arrange an appointment). Unscheduled care incidents cannot reasonably be foreseen or planned in advance of contact with relevant services.
• Urgent Care is an illness, distress or injury that requires urgent attention but is not necessarily life or limb-threatening. There is an expectation that urgent care is time sensitive to mitigate risk or to prevent the situation from escalating (e.g. a person displaying signs of impaired decision making).