SWB207 pop quiz

What are three examples of competing discourses in the mental health field?

• Recovery

• Trauma informed

• Strength-based

• (Developmental discourse)

What are some key assumptions of a white, western approach to mental health?

• The concept of mental health is based on a more individual notion - that we can be mentally well by doing these individual strategies.

• This does not fit with the notion of wellbeing that is only possible though connection to country, people and culture).

• White, western notions of personal recovery focus on the person self-determining their individual, non-linear journey to find a preferred identity and ways of living despite the impacts of their mental health diagnosis.

• In comparison, recovery may only be referred to in First Nation Literature when discussing the recovery of traditional language, culture, knowledge, and healing practices from the trauma and harm caused by colonisation (community and cultural recovery)

What are five examples of coercive practice used in the mental health system?

• Involuntary treatment

• Guardianship and administration orders

• Compulsory treatment orders

• Forms of coercion - physical restraint, chemical restraint, electroconvulsive therapy, seclusion, threats, legal forms (e.g. involuntary treatment orders)

What are four practice principles social workers could enact when working with young people experiencing psychosis?

• Listening to and elevating lived experience

• Resisting diagnostic interpretations

• Attending to power in relationships

• Making visible socio-political contexts (bring the macro into our conversations)

From week 5, if we were going to attend to power in our work with children and young people what are four things we need to be aware of?

• How the referral may be written in a problem-saturated way

• Not assuming what the presenting concern is

• The child and or young person may have not chosen to come, or may not be aware of why they are attending a mental health service

• The power in a room of the child and adult and being aware of the power we occupy as professionals

_______________

• How the referral was written - what are the concerns of the child? Who wrote it? Be critical - the child may have not chosen to be here. Do not assume the presenting concern.

• Power in the room - adult and child. Asking - what are we going to be doing together? What’s going to be helpful'/not helpful? Is it accessible for the YP to work with? Are there any language concerns, or developmental changes/delays? How do you position yourself in the room, the room layout…

• Use of self - Consider our role, own culture, appearance, body language towards the YP…Be clear about your intentions and what you want to talk about. Don’t try to act cool. Don’t ‘accidently’ abuse your power (e.g. being old, white), SHARE power. Your positionality is important, and being aware of this is crucial.

• Relationship building & minimal problem talk - you want to get to know them in a strengths-based and non-problem saturated way. What makes them happy? What is their favourite subject at school?

What are five understandings about families, social workers can bring when working with families

• Families are doing what they can, working under pressure

• Taking time to understanding THEIR experiences - with curiosity and humility (in an appropriate and respectful way)

• Understand the role of family and how they are often ignored

• Relationships can break down - often due to stigma, isolation and lack of self-care; not because of love or care, there is no doubt about intentions to support but about their capacity to continue care).

• Giving advice - giving them more resources is not good enough (e.g. read this book, this needs to be done), it’s about asking what makes it difficult for carers being more involved, effective and looking at the future. Ask: “how can I be a help for you, what are you looking looking for, I get your surroundings and how it can be hard. I know you are doing what you can…“.

Why is family inclusive practice important in the mental health field?

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What are four potential benefits of group/community work in the mental health field?

From week 8, how do we foster the conditions for epistemic justice when working with children and young people?

What are environmental and cultural causes of eating issues for children and young people?

As a social worker how would you work with the family who are supporting their child with an eating issue?

What are some challenges social workers face when working with children with eating issues in a clinical context?

What is critical social work in mental health, and how does it differ from a biomedical approach?

A young person experiencing anxiety is referred to a mental health service. Compare how a biomedical practitioner and a critical social worker might understand and respond to their situation.

Explain how colonialism and whiteness can influence understandings of mental health and mental health service delivery.

What is epistemic injustice, and how might children and young people experiencing mental distress encounter it within mental health systems?

What is involved in advocacy? Give an example of how you would do this with young people?

• Building working relationships within multi-discipline teams

• Ensuring the child or young person’s voice is heard

• Reframing what the presenting concern is within a broader context

• Inviting further reflection regarding the implications of a diagnosis for the reflection

How might relationship with land, community, and the more-than-human world contribute to wellbeing?

What is outdoor adventure therapy, and how might it support the wellbeing of young people? Provide one example of its use in practice?

What is green prescription and how would you support a young person to develop their own green prescription?

Why is it important for social workers to examine the social, political, and structural causes of mental distress rather than focusing only on individual symptoms?

What are the implications of adopting a human rights framework in mental health practice?

How do power relations influence what knowledge is accepted as legitimate within mental health systems?

Explain how a trauma-informed approach and a critical social work approach differ in their understanding of self-harm. How could these approaches complement one another?

A young person tells a social worker: “cutting helps me get through everything. It’s the only thing that works”. Using a critical mental health perspective:

• What assumptions might a biomedical model make about this statement?

• How might a critical social worker understand the statement differently?

Identify three social or structural factors that may contribute to young people’s distress and experience of self-harm.

What is meant by “the young person is the expert in their own experience”? How might this principle influence social work responses to self-harm?

What are some key critical theories that could be applied in practice

• Post-structuralism

• Feminism

• Critical race theory

• Critical systems theory

List four benefits of group and community work approaches