Anti-oppressive Practice in Mental Health

Abstract

This article identifies the challenges to incorporating an anti-oppressive practice approach in the field of mental health, which has traditionally utilized a discourse and perspectives of a bio-medical model. Schools of Social Work often teach anti-oppressive and social justice approaches which make it difficult for students to link theory and practice in fields such as mental health. In this article, seven principles of practice are presented as a framework for working with people with disabling conditions of mental health. Specific strategies for implementing these principles are presented.

Mad Students in the Social Work Classroom? Notes From the Beginnings of an Inquiry

“…Yet, given our experience in a school in which we often stand alone in our madness and have to correct our peers when they freely use the word crazy, she was not particularly surprised. Indeed, Larson's (2008) article is rare; silence continues to surround mental health in Canadian anti-oppressive spaces, and ignorance of how to change it and lack of interest in sensitizing each other to the effects of continuing on this path are problems.…”

“…Yet we had to start somewhere, taking the first steps toward more participation, more research, and more action, both internally and in the field. Taking up Larson's (2008) challenge, our first foray found that in our anti-oppressive school of social work, language and discourse are not always respectful, egalitarian and empowering when it comes to mental health. This includes, but is not limited to, the way madness is framed as a character deficiency as opposed to a group of people who, historically, have been marginalized.…”

“…The student reported that after that he found her to be "a lot more careful in her language" (Participant 4). All our participants felt more education was needed for mental health language and discourse to become more respectful, egalitarian, and empowering in the social work classroom (Larson, 2008).…”

“…We have also seen that such alternatives need to be based in more equal working and writing relationships between mad professors and mad students as well as anti-oppressive mental health education for all. Working toward "inviting service users to be full participants in all aspects of mental health" as well as "embracing diversity" (Larson, 2008), we also found the foundation for a longitudinal participatory research project that would delve into these issues with the mad for the mad and include an analysis of how racism, sexism, ageism, and other oppressions intersect with and impact on madness in the social work academy.…”

The long sleep-over: the lived experience of teenagers, parents and staff in an adolescent psychiatric unit

“…They further argue that a phenomenological reflexivity is essential not only for social work practitioners understanding these domains, but also for the wider -albeit controversial issue -of establishing a science of social work (p.512). I do acknowledge that reflexivity itself is not a panacea for either research or practice (Pillow, 2003), but it does encourage the practitioner to consider what hegemonic discourses are being produced and their impact on mental health practice (Larson, 2008;Morley, 2003).…”