Engaging with Transformative Paradigms in Mental Health

Louise Whitaker, Fiona L. Smith, Catherine Brasier, Melissa Petrakis and Lisa Brophy
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Louise Whitaker: Faculty of Health, Southern Cross University, Coolangatta, QLD 4225, Australia
Fiona L. Smith: Department of Occupational Therapy, Social Work and Social Policy, School of Allied Health, Human Services and Sport, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC 3083, Australia
Catherine Brasier: Department of Occupational Therapy, Social Work and Social Policy, School of Allied Health, Human Services and Sport, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC 3083, Australia
Melissa Petrakis: Department of Social Work, School of Primary & Allied Health Care, Monash University, Caulfield East, VIC 3145, Australia
Lisa Brophy: Department of Occupational Therapy, Social Work and Social Policy, School of Allied Health, Human Services and Sport, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC 3083, Australia

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 18, 1-12

Abstract: When graduates of Australian social work courses embark on a career in mental health, the systems they enter are complex, fragmented and evolving. Emerging practitioners will commonly be confronted by the loneliness, social exclusion, poverty and prejudice experienced by people living with mental distress; however, social work practice may not be focused on these factors. Instead, in accordance with the dominant biomedical perspective, symptom and risk management may predominate. Frustration with the limitations evident in this approach has seen the United Nations call for the transformation of mental health service delivery. Recognising paradigmatic influences on mental health social work may lead to a more considered enactment of person centred, recovery and rights-based approaches. This paper compares and contrasts influences of neo-liberalism, critical theory, human rights and post-structuralism on mental health social work practice. In preparing social work practitioners to recognise the influence of, and work more creatively with, intersecting paradigms, social work educators strive to foster a transformative approach to mental health practice that straddles discourses.

Keywords: mental health; social work education; transformative education; professional education; critical practice; mental health social work; pedagogy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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