Noel Renouf

Recovery from mental illness as an emergent concept and practice in Australia and the UK

The language of recovery is now widely used in mental health policy, services, and research. Yet the term has disparate antecedents, and is used in a variety of ways. Some of the history of the use of the term recovery is surveyed, with particular attention to the new meaning of the term, especially as identified by service users, supported and taken up to various degrees by research and in the professional literature. Policy and practice in two countries – Australia and the United Kingdom – are examined to determine the manner and extent to which the concept of recovery is evident. In its new meaning, the concept of recovery has the potential to bring about profound and needed changes in mental health theory and practice. It is being taken up differently in different settings. It is clear that – at least in Australia and the United Kingdom – there are promising new recovery models and practices that support recovery, but the widespread use of recovery language is not enough to ensure that the core principles of the recovery model are implemented.

Navigating stormy waters: Challenges and opportunities for social work in mental health

The reforms driven by the National Mental Health Strategy have created both opportunities and challenges for social work as a profession. This paper examines the rapidly changing context for practice in mental health, including policy change, and developments in the education and training of the mental health workforce. Key practice issues identified for social work include: (i) the need to establish a viable paradigm for practice; (ii) a more positive response to the challenge of evidence-based practice models; (iii) a national agenda for education and training; and (iv) the importance of working collaboratively with consumers and families in a way that values their human rights and the lived experience of mental illness.

Belief, Optimism and Caring : Findings from a Cross-national Study of Expertise in Mental Health Social Work.

What characterizes expertise in mental health social work? This article attempts to answer this question by reporting on the findings of a cross-national Australian and American study of social work practice expertise in mental health settings, particularly in working with people with long-term serious mental illness. The study identified expert practitioners through a peer-nomination process and asked each of them to describe a memorable practice situation in focus groups. These group interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using a constant comparative method. In the face of often complex and demanding work situations, these social workers demonstrated qualities specific to mental health social work that were designated as belief, optimism and caring. These three qualities are delineated and discussed in this article, as well as the implications for social work practice and education

The Rediscovered Concept of Recovery in Mental Illness: A Multicountry Comparison of Policy and Practice

Recovery has recently reemerged in many countries as a key concept in mental health. Several long-term outcome studies have highlighted much higher recovery rates than previously assumed for persons with long-term mental illness. Service users (consumers) and professionals are now promoting this approach, and for users, recovery is about taking control over their own lives and introducing improvements which may or may not be related to clinical indicators of recovery. This approach also requires that professionals work with consumers in a much more collaborative fashion then in the past. Australia, Canada, England, and Israel have all formally accepted recovery as the cornerstone of their mental health policies and are currently in various phases of implementation. This paper describes these developments and identifies the implications for mental health social work.

Social work and the mental health team

Objective: The contributions of social work to the interdisciplinary team are described, along with opportunities for, and barriers to, effective teamwork. Conclusions: Social work is concerned with the social context and consequences of mental illness on the individual, family and community. Social work serves to connect the treatment team to the broader issues of family welfare, housing, income security, and community and sense of belonging. This broader focus and the social justice framework for social work can create tension between social work and other disciplines. Both undergraduate and postgraduate education for social workers remain a challenge, given the complexity and demands of the mental health workplace.

Social work practice in mental health : an introduction.

This second edition of Social Work Practice in Mental Health remains an introductory text, focusing on generic practice with people with mental health problems rather than addressing key specialist areas of practice in depth. It continues to emphasise a view of social work in mental health as embracing both scientific and relational dimensions of practices that was found to be central to the successful first edition of the book published in 2005.

Watching the Experts: Findings from an Australian Study of Expertise in Mental Health Social Work

Summary: What characterizes the practice of expert mental health social workers? An observational study of social workers in a public mental health network in Melbourne, Australia sought to answer this question and the findings are reported in this article. As part of a larger study of mental health social work expertise, direct observation was done of the work of six practitioners engaged in a range of activities about which they were subsequently interviewed. Findings: In the first stage based on group interviews, six themes were identified. These were termed: 1) ‘The Knowledge’; 2) ‘A lot of hard grind’; 3) ‘We are here for the clients’; 4) ‘The complicated and the difficult’; 5) ‘The stone in the shoe’; and 6) ‘Going ten rounds with the system’. In this second stage observational study, evidence was found for all of these six themes, plus two additional ones relating to supervision and the emotive content of the work. Applications: Development of expertise consists of three elements: 1) a personality predisposition and personal capacity; 2) education; and 3) a conducive workplace environment. The application of the findings lies in developing the conditions for these elements to emerge.

Conditions Necessary for Best Practice in Interdisciplinary Teamwork

Interdisciplinary teamwork requires not only participation, but also commitment. We are required to sign off on a common mission, on a comfort with accountability, on an awareness that it is control that gets us into trouble, and on the commitment to engage in service. Paul McDonald [1]

Doing It Well : An Empirical Study of Expertise in Mental Health Social Work

SUMMARY Social workers are being challenged internationally to be accountable by defining competency standards at beginning and advanced levels. The study that is the subject of this article will develop the work of one of the authors, which involved a 5-year longitudinal study of beginning social workers and another of experienced social workers. These studies resulted in a book on professional expertise (Fook, Ryan, & Hawkins, 2000). The present study furthered that work and subjected this theory of professional expertise to further testing by examining the work of a sample of expert (rather than experienced) social workers in the mental health field in Melbourne, Australia. Data was collected from a selected sample of mental health social workers by the use of focus group interview. This article reports on the studys findings and discusses their significance and application.