The Tidal Model

Dr. Phil Barker started in the healthcare industry as a nursing assistant in the late 1960’s. He took the job in order to pay off debts not knowing that it would become his life’s work. He fell in love with healthcare, taking a special interest in mental health, where he worked as a nurse for over thirty-five years. After receiving his PhD in psychiatric nursing, Barker became the first professor of psychiatric nursing practice in the United Kingdom. Dr. Barker, alongside his wife Poppy Buchanan-Barker, fashioned the Tidal Wave Model to promote mental health. Since the early 2000’s, the Tidal Model has been utilized in the United Kingdom and several other international settings (WhyIWantToBeANurse.org, 2011).
The Tidal Model is a highly metaphysical …show more content…
The objective is to help guide the shipwrecked vessel back out to sea by constructing specific goals for the patient with the nurse so he or she can set sail again; rather than by controlling the symptoms the person is undergoing in response to a harrowing experience (WhyIWantToBeANurse.org, 2011). Dr. Barker’s model also turns emphasis to faith that the patient is the ultimate key to his or her own recovery and he or she has the wisdom necessary for what will hasten the healing …show more content…
Canada has embraced the model in the Royal Ottawa Hospital’s curriculum and it is currently implemented, primarily, for people in substance abuse programs (WhyIWantToBeANurse.org, 2011). New Zealand was the first country to practice the theory for forensic care (WhyIWantToBeANurse.org, 2011). Australia is practicing the Tidal Model for the palliative care population to help provide the circumstances necessary for one to live a virtuous life until death occurs (WhyIWantToBeANurse.org, 2011). Pacific Islanders have strong philosophies with regard to storytelling and its influence on overall wellness; because of this, they have welcomed the Tidal Model into their healthcare customs (WhyIWantToBeANurse.org,