Comfort Plan: Collaborative Creation Guidelines

Introduction to client:

Fill out the comfort plan: 

For “when a challenge happens…what it looks like/feels like” discuss how emotions are on a spectrum. A crisis/trauma happens when emotions are so strong that the emotion goes outside the window of tolerance and may feel unmanageable
For “when a challenge happens…what to do/how others can help” make use of the Comfort Plan Guide (Fig. 2)  for ideas

Discuss use of the comfort plan:

Wrap up:

Thank you for filling out your comfort plan. Remember this is for you to help you feel more comfortable and safe. If it isn’t working, just let us know so that we can find strategies that do work

Example procedure for an acute inpatient psychiatric setting:

The Two-Step Comfort Toolkit is part of the primary nurse admission checklist, to be initiated during orientation to the unit if the client is settled. If the client is not able to participate at admission (e.g., admitted into seclusion, or sedated from medications), initiation of the Two-Step Comfort Toolkit is postponed until next earliest opportunity. Although primary nursing initiates the Comfort Toolkit, all disciplines are encouraged to contribute, including Psychology, Social Work, Occupational Therapy, and Psychiatry. Throughout a client’s stay, the Comfort Plan is updated, and the Comfort Kit is reviewed and utilized. Sample Comfort Kits are kept on each unit, and clients may use them with a clinician or on their own (after instruction has been provided). Following discharge, the Community Team takes over in maintaining the Comfort Plan and encouraging the client to create his/her own individualized Comfort Kit.

Technology Plan

Patient & Family Engagement

The inclusion of a patient’s family and/or support persons (friends, religious leaders, private mental health clinician etc.) in a patient’s care planning while in hospital is vital to providing complete care for the patient. We have identified the involvement of family and other supports as a key factor in promoting optimal patient outcomes, and propose to: