Search results for ‘Subject term:"mental health problems"’ Sort:
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The role of social work in mental health services
- Author:
- SOCIAL CARE INSTITUTE FOR EXCELLENCE
- Journal article citation:
- Community Care, 17.7.08, 2008, pp.32-33.
- Publisher:
- Reed Business Information
This article discusses the role of social workers in co-ordinating and delivering services for people with mental health problems.
A general practice
- Author:
- PRITLOVE Jeremy
- Journal article citation:
- Community Care, 10.5.90, 1990, pp.20-22.
- Publisher:
- Reed Business Information
A Leeds research team has found that social workers have to deal with a significant level of mental health clients without adequate training and support.
The context of risk management in mental health social work
- Authors:
- NOLAN Deborah, QUINN Neil
- Journal article citation:
- Practice: Social Work in Action, 24(3), 2012, pp.175-188.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
Managing risk is a central feature of mental health social work practice. There are 2 approaches to risk management: risk avoidance and risk taking. Mental health policy has been dominated by risk avoidance strategies that seek to avoid risky behaviours and minimise adverse outcomes. In contrast, risk taking approaches involve clearly planned stages of risk-taking, based upon an understanding of the choices available, possible benefits of risk-taking, strengths and perceptions of the service user, and consequences of different actions. The aim of this study was to explore the everyday practice of mental health social work professionals in managing the risks service users with mental health issues face and present. The study draws on 2010 research that undertook qualitative semi-structured interviews with 7 Mental Health Officers in a Scottish local authority. Whilst the findings showed that risk was generally constructed as relating to harm and danger, in practice a more measured approach to risk management was identified, with both approaches being employed, and a new acceptance of risk as potentially positive by organisations and practitioners was recognised. Participants illustrated how decisions are reached, without feeling inhibited by the ‘blame culture’, but clarified that this involved dilemmas and was a fraught area of practice.
The sharing of roles between a social worker and members of a self-help group for mental ex-patients in Australia
- Author:
- KAM-SHING Yip
- Journal article citation:
- Asia Pacific Journal of Social Work, 8(2), September 1998, pp.30-50.
- Publisher:
- Times Academic
Describes a qualitative study on the collaboration of social workers and the members of GROW in South Australia. By means of participant observation in two self-help groups of GROW, the author discovered that professionally trained social workers collaborated well with members in the self-help groups as they had similar backgrounds and experiences. Also, the social workers' roles in running these two groups were shared by the members who took up roles as initiators, facilitators, leaders, evaluators, organisers and problem solvers with these self-help groups. The strengths and weaknesses of this model for the rehabilitation of mental ex-patients and its implications on social work interventions are also described.
The Worcester development project: general practitioner satisfaction with a new community psychiatric service
- Author:
- BENNETT Chris
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, March 1989, pp.106-109.
- Publisher:
- Royal College of General Practitioners
Describes interviews eliciting GP's opinions of the levels of care and their relations with social services and the community psychiatric nursing services.
The social work contribution to mental health services: the future direction: report of responses to the discussion paper
- Author:
- NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR MENTAL HEALTH IN ENGLAND
- Publisher:
- National Institute for Mental Health in England
- Publication year:
- 2006
- Pagination:
- 60p.
- Place of publication:
- Leeds
This discussion paper, produced by the National Institute for Mental Health in England, is intended as a catalyst for an exchange of information, experience and ideas about the contribution of social work to mental health services. The paper aims to inform the development of action plans to support the social work contribution to mental health services both now and in the future. The discussion paper generated a debate with commissioners, employers and social workers in primary, secondary and tertiary mental health and social care services on the contribution that social workers can make to the support and recovery of people of all ages in mental distress.
Hidden trauma victims: understanding and preventing traumatic stress in mental health professionals
- Authors:
- KANNO Hanae, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Social Work in Mental Health, 15(3), 2017, pp.331-353.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
Mental health professionals, including social workers, are often exposed to the traumatic experiences of clients in their work with victims of violence, crime, and disaster. Given their empathetic engagement with traumatised victims, they may experience severe emotional reactions such as terror, grief, and rage. Empirical evidence identifies these emotional reactions as “traumatic stress” including burnout, Traumatic Countertransference (TC), Vicarious Trauma (VT), and Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS)/Compassion Fatigue (CF). In this study, the history and definition of each traumatic stress are examined, and differences among them are explored. Preventive strategies for reducing traumatic stress in mental health professionals are discussed. (Edited publisher abstract)
Consensus or contention: an exploration of multidisciplinary team functioning in an Irish mental health context
- Author:
- MADDOCK Alan
- Journal article citation:
- European Journal of Social Work, 18(2), 2015, pp.246-261.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
Multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) are conventionally recommended in mental health care literature as an important way to offer holistic treatment provision to patients. This study aims to explore multidisciplinary teamwork in contemporary mental health settings, particularly what aids and hinders the process of multidisciplinary teamworking, and the social work contribution in such teams. In order to attain an in-depth exploration of these phenomena, a single case study design was employed. Within this design, data were generated through semi-structured interviews and structured observation of a mental health MDT in Ireland. These data were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. The research highlights how the concept of mental illness is contested within this MDT, with the medical model dominant within an environment of fluid working arrangements. Professional role blurring and stereotyping were found to impact the division of labour on this team, with role negotiation found to be an integral part of retaining a professional's practice identity. This research raises concerns for social work's capacity to function within mental health MDTs in Ireland, and highlights ways in which social work educators might respond in order to empower Irish social workers to meet the challenges of mental health multidisciplinary teamworking. (Publisher abstract)
Facilitating mental health service use for caregivers: referral strategies among child welfare caseworkers
- Authors:
- BUNGER Alicia C., CHUANG Emmeline, McBEATH Bowen
- Journal article citation:
- Children and Youth Services Review, 34(4), April 2012, pp.696-703.
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
Caregivers involved with the child welfare system are disproportionately likely to have mental health needs. Child welfare caseworkers are well positioned to identify service needs and refer caregivers to treatment. The aim of this study was to examine child welfare caseworkers' use of different referral strategies and the extent to which these strategies are associated with caregivers' receipt of mental health services. The study utilised data from the second cohort of families from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being. The sample used for this study comprised 640 caregivers who were assessed by caseworkers as needing mental health services and for whom a referral was made. Analysis suggests that child welfare workers more often use informational strategies for referring caregivers, including suggesting treatment or providing information about treatment options. However, social referral strategies such as providing caregivers with direct assistance in completing applications and making and attending appointments were associated with a greater likelihood of caregivers receiving mental health services. These findings indicate that service use is facilitated by caseworkers' direct support for arranging services. Implications for research and for child welfare managers and administrators are discussed.
Mental health social work and the bureau-medicalisation of mental health care: identity in a changing world
- Authors:
- NATHAN Jack, WEBBER Martin
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Social Work Practice, 24(1), March 2010, pp.15-28.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
Social work in the United Kingdom has become increasingly specialised over the last 30 years, reinforced by the recent division of local authority social service departments into children’s and adults departments. Psychiatry seems to be moving towards ‘bureau-medicalisation’ – a combination of the medical model and organisational imperative. This article looks at the roots of these developments and one possible trajectory toward a generic mental health practitioner. The authors, providing a rationale for mental health social work (MHSW), argue against the temptation to modernise mental health care by seeing the demise of MHSW and creating a generic mental health practitioner. A case is made for the unique role of the mental health social worker, requiring a redefinition of MHSW. Because of the recent changes in the National Health Service, the authors propose that, instead of moving to the generic mental health practitioner, MHSW has a key role to play in providing a challenge to this generic model, through having an identification with both the institution it represents and representing the service users' relationship to that institution. The authors suggest that no other professional body carries this unique role.