Critical thinking is the mental process of analyzing and evaluating information. Critical things enable the assessment of the roles of stakeholders and the consequences of any actions in any given situation. It is an intellectually disciplined process involving the actual active and skillful conceptualization, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of decoded information from experience, observation, reflection, reasoning, or communication as a yardstick and condition for belief and action. Critical thinking helps people make better decisions in their private and professional lives. The adoption and application of critical thinking skills enable objectivity by weighing the pros and cons of different options and conditions, looking at the different options, considering the consequences and implications of our decisions, and helping us to avoid fallacies and emotional influences.

Critical thinking is a creative learning process and a continuum that consists basically of four elements: inquiring, generating, analyzing, and reflecting. Some of these critical thinking processes may include formulating the query, gathering relevant information on the subject matter, analyzing the information gathered by the application, considering the implications, and exploring other available options that could yield the best results.

Generally, individuals involved in critical thinking will

A young first-time mother receives at-home nurse visits as part of a community outreach program. A weekly clinic targeting high diabetes rates helps a struggling man with diabetes gain nutritional control and reduce symptoms. These success stories illustrate how improving the quality of life in communities is an essential part of public health. The public health worker’s goal in community-focused care is to enhance healthcare services and patient outcomes in targeted populations. By applying public health theory on a local, personalized level, community health providers can cater services to a specific demographic and bring a sense of wellness to communities that would otherwise lack proper access to care.

Community health programs address disparities by ensuring equitable access to health resources. Such disparities include living in an isolated rural area with limited healthcare providers or being unable to afford health insurance. Community health centers often serve as the primary care providers in communities where health equity is limited by socioeconomic factors. Those seeking to apply public health principles to address a local population’s needs must understand the area’s unique characteristics. This allows them to interact dynamically with community members and create a lasting positive impact on the population.

What is Community Health?

Community health is the collective well-being of community members. In addition to living in the same neighbourhood or region, these populations often share health characteristics, ethnicities, and socioeconomic conditions.

For instance, some low-income communities might experience high obesity rates due to the limited availability of nutritious foods in local grocery stores. This places them in an area commonly known as a food desert.

In addition, a population might be exposed to contaminants from a nearby plant or waste facility. Community health programs improve access to preventive health care services, engage citizens in care decisions, and seek out lower medical costs.

Community Health Elements

Public health professionals engaged in community health identify how variables related to socioeconomic status—such as income levels, nutrition, crime, and transportation resources—impact people. They also determine how the community’s medical and educational resources contribute to residents’ lifestyles and what improvements are called for. Key elements of community health include:

• Identifying top public health concerns within the specific geographic area, such as environmental and social factors that affect healthy life choices,
• Developing an intervention plan to address resource gaps in the community, such as establishing community health centers, mobile clinics, and outreach programs,
• Educating residents on the benefits of preventive care and healthy behaviors to facilitate life changes
• Providing essential services such as screenings, social support, and counselling.
• Helping residents gain access to resources such as affordable medical, dental, and mental health care services; insurance (Medicare or Medicaid enrolment); translation and transportation services; or housing, food, and education.
• Reducing the need for expensive emergency care and hospitalizations.
• Advocating for improved care for at-risk populations to state and federal policymakers.
• Working with other community agencies to address the areas mental, physical, cultural, and social characteristics, including nutrition, housing, and transportation.

Community Health Goals

The goal of a community health provider is to offer comprehensive services that grant communities direct and immediate access to essential resources, including medical, dental, pharmacy, and mental health care. By educating area residents on what resources are available and giving them the tools to access care, public health workers empower people to take control of their own health.

Community public health initiatives focus on identifying specific geographic areas with high levels of need and helping those communities overcome barriers to living healthier lives. Community members’ average lifespans can differ by 20 to 30 years based on inequities that restrict access to healthy food, affordable health care, and mental health support, according to the American Public Health Association.

Community health professionals form strong bonds with citizens, as well as area health care and social services providers. This enables them to complete essential tasks, such as uncovering regional health risks, educating local residents on healthy behaviors, or establishing community health resources to close gaps in care.

Community health differs from the similar concept of population health management, which considers a population’s health outcomes based on a wider range of factors beyond just geography. Hospitals use population health management tactics to improve chronic disease management or to avoid readmissions.

Why Community Health is Important

About half of Americans suffer from chronic health conditions. Many do not get proper care due to socioeconomic factors beyond their control. An elderly diabetic without a driver’s license and no family nearby, a pregnant woman with toxemia living more than 50 miles from a hospital—both are at high risk in a medical emergency. This makes community health resources all the more important.

Methods for Addressing Health Disparities

Healthcare disparities can be especially prevalent in rural and low-income communities where hospitals have closed down and physician shortages exist. More than 7,000 primary care, 6,000 dental, and 5,500 mental health shortage areas currently exist in the U.S., according to the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).

These populations may be exposed to higher levels of poverty, homelessness, substance abuse, and other risk factors. When a community health system that takes the community’s unique characteristics into account is put into place to address unmet needs, the community’s overall quality of care can be vastly improved.

Community health is an important element of health reform efforts that aim to lower national healthcare expenses. The cost of healthcare in the U.S. represents more than 17 percent of GDP, a much higher percentage than in any other industrialized nation, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development. About one-third of this spending goes toward hospital care, so costs might drop if the U.S. model of care shifts toward more affordable outpatient care facilities such as community health clinics.

Community health providers operate under a patient-centered care model, involving patients in care decisions. This model allows providers to steer patients away from costly trips to the emergency room and help them avoid relapses.

Enacting Public Health Initiatives

Community health resources have become essential assets in public health initiatives such as combating the opioid crisis and stemming the HIV epidemic. Opioid deaths in the U.S. have surpassed homicides and traffic fatalities, and community health centers are on the front lines of federal efforts to reduce preventable drug overdose deaths.

These clinics are also working to decrease the estimated 38,000 preventable HIV infections that occur in the U.S. each year. The holistic model of community care allows practitioners to treat and prevent a multitude of conditions simultaneously.

Community Health Services and Resources

Community health services providers want to change the model of care from treating illness to maintaining wellness. This challenge is addressed by tackling patients’ well-being in a comprehensive way and not just band-aiding ailments that will soon resurface without proper preventive and maintenance care.

By combining medical, oral health, mental health, substance abuse, and pharmacy care with support services including health education, transportation to appointments, and bilingual staff, community health resource providers make sure that access to care is not restricted by geographic, economic, or cultural barriers, according to the HRSA.

Community Health Centers

Federally funded community health centers (CHCs) provide affordable healthcare options to more than 28 million people in towns and cities across the U.S. The clinics are designed to improve access to primary care services regardless of whether patients have insurance, speak languages other than English, or live in remote areas.

These centers often target groups facing health disparities and limited care resources, including patients living in poverty, rural residents, veterans, and the homeless. Clinics typically use a sliding scale for fees and provide care even when patients cannot pay.

Typical services include

• Preventive and primary care services (including medical and dental checkups and condition management)
• Disease prevention (vaccinations, anti-smoking programs, and obesity screenings)
• Patient education (nutritional counseling, injury prevention, and disease information)
• Mental health services (screenings and counseling)
• Substance abuse treatment

By providing comprehensive preventive care and helping patients monitor chronic conditions, CHCs serve to lower medical costs by reducing expensive emergency department visits and hospital stays. Many of these clinics operate as patient-centered medical homes (PCMHs). According to the National Association of Community Health Centers, some 1,400 CHC organizations (operating 12,000 sites) generate $24 billion in savings for the U.S. healthcare system each year.

Most CHCs receive federal grant funding under the Health Center Program, which aims to improve health care for vulnerable populations. Many CHCs also receive funding and operational support from state agencies and nonprofit charitable organizations.

Public Outreach Programs

Public outreach campaigns include direct medical care programs along with educational materials, advertisements, and social media posts that encourage healthy lifestyles. Some organizations operate mobile and pop-up clinics that offer disease prevention programs within the community. To extend public education into all aspects of the community, health workers will often partner with local political systems, social work agencies, and schools.

Community Mental Health Centers

What is community mental health? In the U.S., mental health disorders often go untreated. Community health centers are providing frontline services in the behavioral health arena. The demand for behavioral health-focused community clinics is strong. Substance-abuse treatment centers are also being established at a growing rate as many regions across the nation struggle to reduce overdose deaths.

A Medicare-designated community mental health center is defined as providing screening, outpatient therapy, rehabilitation, day treatment, and 24-hour emergency services to chronically ill patients or those recently discharged from inpatient care. States also oversee mental health resources.

Careers in Community Health

Public health workers are engaged in a broad scope of activities, including research, education, program development, program management, medical care, and charitable aid. Roles can range from leadership positions to frontline caregivers. Professionals seeking careers in community health might work in medical, educational, government, corporate, or non-profit settings.

Community Health Worker

A community health worker is defined by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) as someone who assists communities and individuals in adopting healthy behaviors. Job duties include outreach on behalf of medical organizations and implementing community health programs. Community health workers are also involved in basic medical screenings or care; informal counseling; research; and health education and advocacy.

Community health professionals serve as a bridge between community members and medical and social service providers and often live in the community. To promote healthy behaviors, a community health worker might focus on helping people get better access to not only medical resources but also to transportation, housing, and nutrition as well.

In addition, a community health worker develops cultural sensitivity and establishes relationships with local residents to create trust. Such workers also need to balance activities in client advocacy, public education, and medical service provision.

The occupational category of health educators and community health workers is expected to grow 11 percent between 2018 and 2028, according to the BLS. This is faster than the average of all occupations.

The BLS also reports that the median annual salary of a community health worker is about $44,000. Other job titles for this role might include outreach educator, peer health promoter, and community health representative, advisor, or advocate, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Scientific evidence for treating mental illness and improving mood

Counselors use a myriad of techniques and approaches to improve the mental health and wellbeing of clients. [1] Reviewed 15 outcome studies regarding the efficacy of solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) for depression, anxiety, parenting skills, psychosocial adjustment, antisocial behaviors, alcohol use, and family conflict. Five of the studies were tightly controlled, and all of them found SFBT to be significantly better than no treatment.

Depression is one of the most common mental health conditions in the world. It is a chronic condition that hinders quality of life and involves sleep problems, appetite changes, and feelings of guilt or apathy [2]. The three types of depression that can be effectively treated with counseling include:

• Major depressive disorder
• Seasonal affective disorder
• Dysthymia

A systematic review of 30 studies examining the effectiveness of counseling and therapy treatments found that psychological treatment of depression was more effective than traditional treatment (pharmacological) or no treatment at all [3].

All studies in the meta-analysis were randomized, controlled trials of depressed adults in primary care. The research found that cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) was particularly effective in both short- and long-term treatment trials.

Anxiety is another common mental health condition, affecting approximately 19% of the U.S. population [4]. Clinical anxiety is chronic and often debilitating for people.

The three main types of anxiety are:

• Generalized anxiety
• Social anxiety
• Phobias

Many forms of counseling have been found to treat anxiety effectively, relieve uncomfortable symptoms, and adjust maladaptive behaviors.

While CBT consistently demonstrates the most effective results at relieving symptoms of anxiety, acceptance and commitment therapy, mindfulness, and talk therapy have also been used as counseling techniques to effectively reduce anxiety [5].

Another form of anxiety: Counseling for OCD

Several theories came forward in the 1940s that explained the fear/anxiety and avoidance of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), where the fear of a stimulus is avoided to reduce anxiety, and the behavioral avoidance results in repeated compulsive rituals [6].

Once OCD was seen as an anxiety disorder, early behavioral therapy such as aversion therapy and exposure therapy were developed to treat the condition.

Today, there are over 40 years of research to support a consensus among researchers and counseling professionals that CBT is an effective treatment for OCD. Exposure-based treatments have the largest pool of evidence to support efficacy, and about 80% of patients respond to some form of therapy for OCD [7].

Counseling can reduce medical costs

There is a direct link between physical and mental health. Often, when individuals treat underlying mental health conditions or receive counseling to help regulate emotions and improve mood, physical health improves as well.

One study found that psychological treatment among individuals with chronic physical conditions in small group settings decreased medical care costs by $10 for every $1 spent [8]. This shows the significant physical and financial benefits counseling can offer.

Counseling can provide education and teach skills

Psychoeducation is the process of explaining mental health conditions, diagnoses, services, and treatment options.

Many people who come to counseling know that they are suffering but understand nothing about the underlying causes, specific conditions, or how certain techniques can address presenting problems.

Psychoeducation can help normalize problems, decrease stigma, and increase compliance with treatment plans. It is a large component of many trauma treatments. Among individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia, psychoeducation was found to reduce rehospitalization rates and reduce the number of days a patient was hospitalized [9].

Various techniques are used in counseling to teach and practice skills that provide both short- and long-term relief. Clients learn general skills like self-awareness, active listening, and communication skills, as well as specific mindfulness and behavior change skills.

As an example, CBT skills teach clients how to identify and reframe faulty thought patterns that lead to distressing emotions. This Positive Replacement Thoughts worksheet is a typical example. Learning and practicing these skills in counseling sessions can change long-term patterns of negative thoughts and behaviors.

Counseling can promote factors of resilience

Resilience factors include [10]:

• Having meaning or purpose in life
• Experiencing positive emotions
• Hardiness
• Self-esteem
• Active coping
• Self-efficacy
• Optimism
• Cognitive flexibility

While there are specific resilience-training programs focused on improving these factors, many forms of counseling increase these aspects of resilience too.

Through discussion, role-play, practical exercises, and homework, various counseling procedures offer a basis for teaching and strengthening resilience. For example, “stress inoculation therapy” designed for anxiety has also improved measures of resilience [11].

Stress inoculation therapy is a form of positive CBT that can teach individuals more adaptive patterns of thinking and emotional and behavioral responses. Most clients come to counseling looking for help with one specific area of their lives, but they can leave therapy with new insights and tools that provide meaning, positive emotions, coping skills, and a healthier sense of self-worth.

3 Reasons Why Career Counseling is Important

Career counseling is important for employees, employers, and organizations.

According to the National Career Development Association, a career counselor is someone educated, trained, and experienced in helping employees overcome career obstacles and achieve their highest career aspirations through assessment, performance improvement, career transition, career planning, workplace, and work-life balance situations [12].

The counsellors’ perspectives on critical thinking and mental health

1. Career counselors can help employees find potential employers.

Career counseling can help individuals create specific career paths based on their knowledge, skills, abilities, and experience. Counselors explore options and prepare employees for job searches, help with resume preparation, practice interviewing, and suggest ways to build networking experience.

Most career counselors can identify alternative career options for people in transition to capitalize on their skills, knowledge, and profiles.

2. Career counseling maximizes person-job-organization fit.

Career counseling includes the administration of assessments and inventories to assess the work values, interests, skills, and competencies of potential employees. Career counseling services may help employers and organizations find the best candidates for the job by helping recruiters or hiring managers identify individuals that can fill specific needs.

3. Career counseling helps organizations and employers.

People often think that career counselors are only helpful for individuals seeking employment. However, the field of career counseling helps provide unbiased, objective interventions, mediation, and facilitation for people experiencing job stress and for organizations that may be transitioning through mergers or downsizing. They can also create career development plans to help employees and managers grow, using executive coaching, and learn within an organization, which helps both the employer and employee. Counselors use a variety of empirically validated techniques to improve mood, mental health, relationships, careers, student behavior, and education.

These professional counselors offer a range of services, including consultation and collaboration with teachers and administrators, educational planning services, developmental classroom guidance, peer mediation, and comprehensive school counseling programs.

The effectiveness of this broad range of services has been empirically studied and has consistently shown higher achievement scores, improved attendance, lower rates of dropouts, and fewer delinquent behaviors among students [13].

Developmental guidance for social and emotional skills for the mental health

Counselors have also effectively used activities to promote healthy emotional development as well as social development, taught through a variety of methods. These involve activities such as music, drawing, stories, games, worksheets, role-play, puppets, and videos. Using these methods in empirically validated ways has shown efficacy in addressing personal and emotional issues, improving school attitude and behavior, and developing self-management skills [12].

They are found in a variety of settings in all parts of the world. From guidance to education, assessment and collaboration, diagnosing and treating, entering the counseling arena is full of possibilities and rewards.

There is a wealth of valid, scientifically backed research to support the effectiveness of counseling in a wide range of areas. From treating mental health conditions to helping entire communities thrive, counseling offers hope, healing, and health to anyone willing to try it.

Since much of the empirical evidence supporting the effectiveness of counseling involves techniques of CBT, this Functional Analysis worksheet can help clients and therapists identify triggers, behaviors, and consequences that lead to depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues.

Mindfulness is another useful tool counselors use to reach outcome goals in therapy. This simple guide to mindfulness provides practical steps to teach and apply the skill.

Counseling can address major issues within relationships and help individuals within a family system by working with multiple members at once. Creating strong relationships and families is important not only for the specific clients involved but also for the community and society at large.

Responsive services for personal situations

Responsive services shift immediate attention and intervention to respond to problems that arise in the school setting but stem from personal situations.

Individual and group counseling has been found to be effective at teaching students to relax and treating a wide range of school-based behaviors, such as discipline problems, adjustment to divorce, and learning disabilities [14].

The importance of counseling families on mental health

The family is the first and primary place of development, learning, and attachment for individuals as they enter the world. Family therapy and couples counseling are important to help both the family unit and individual members within it.

Family and couples counseling can help with:

• Communication problems
• Stressful life events such as divorce, job loss, career transition, moves, loss of a family member
• Mental health issues including substance abuse
• Traumatic events such as high-jacking, school shootings, terrorism
• Psychoeducation for parents, couples, and children
• Academic and behavior problems
• Setting goals, making future plans, and solving problems

Families and couples who seek counseling can improve communication, decrease the likelihood of divorce, and strengthen child–parent bonds in as few as eight sessions [15].

The Benefits of Counseling the Society at Large on Mental Health

The impact that counselors have on individuals does not occur in a vacuum. Counseling settings include mental health agencies, hospitals, shelters, prisons, and colleges. As counseling improves the mental health, resilience, educational, and work outcomes of individuals, general society reaps the benefits through economic and physical wellbeing and relational improvement.

Adverse childhood experiences and mental health counseling

One example of how counseling can benefit communities and society at large is through research on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). ACEs have systematically been found to impact future physical, mental, emotional, and economic health outcomes [16].

ACEs include abuse, neglect, witnessing violence, having a caregiver or loved one experience prolonged illness, having a loved one die by suicide, being separated from biological parents, being in the foster care system, and having a loved one engage in substance or alcohol abuse.

Original ACE research was conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [17] between 1995 and 1997 and concluded that those who had experienced four or more ACEs were more likely to have increased health risks for alcoholism, drug abuse, depression and suicide, poor physical health, sexually transmitted diseases, obesity, and smoking.

Evidence shows that counseling individuals and families helps provide safe, stable, nurturing relationships that can prevent ACEs [18]. Public health efforts to prevent and immediately address situations that lead to ACEs can help improve community and societal health. Early intervention in trauma treatment can build more resilient and flourishing communities.

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