Research Watch: mental health services supporting social inclusion
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/MHSI-08-2019-0022 |
| Pages | 149-155 |
| Published date | 01 November 2019 |
| Date | 01 November 2019 |
| Author | Sue Holttum |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Mental health,Social inclusion |
Research Watch: mental health services
supporting social inclusion
Sue Holttum
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to examine three recent papers on mental health services and
social inclusion.
Design/methodology/approach –A search was carried out for recent papers on mental health and social
inclusion. The author selected three papers that each spoke to a similar theme, from slightly differentangles,
and that seemed to advance understanding of how social inclusion might be supported to a greater degree in
mental health services.
Findings –One paper vividly describes some of the blocks to social inclusion, and what that can feel like from
a service user perspective, and also points to ways for peer workers to support service users’social inclusion.
A second paper illustrates how mental health professionals and peer workers can choose to stand up for
people’s human rights despite lack of organisational support for such actions. The third paper describes
pioneering co-designed work to build dedicated support for social inclusion alongside mental health services.
Originality/value –All three papers highlight the ongoing need for better support for social inclusion in
mental health services across different countries. They also show how such support can be implemented and
even made more mainstream. This raises hope for wider progress in mental health services becoming real
enablers of social inclusion.
Keywords Mental health, Social inclusion, Human rights, Co-design
Paper type Viewpoint
In this paper, I wanted to focus on how mental health services can support people’s inclusion in
the kind of ordinary life that many take for granted, things that are the focus of this journal: such
as having a job we want to get out of bed for; having friends we can help out and who can help us
in times of need, or just to do things we enjoy with; access to transport to go where we want or
need to go, when we want to; and having a voice about things important to us and having that
voice heard. I discuss three recently published papers that speak to this topic. Stewart (2019)
writes in this journal about her experience as a mental health service user and peer support
worker in Quebec, Canada, and describes the lack of support for real inclusion. Hamer et al.
(2019, p. 303) describe how mental health professionals and peer workers in Connecticut, USA
can “buck the system”in order to uphold service users’human rights, because it is “the right
thing to do”(p. 297). Finally, Bertram (2019) describes gradually building co-designed services in
London, England, to supplement deficiencies in standard mental health care that is not designed
to support social inclusion.
Being “ghettoized”
Stewart (2019, p. 53) uses the term “ghettoized”to explain her experience in Quebec when she
was a mental health service user and then a peer worker with a community treatment team. She,
and then other service users she worked with as a peer worker, was offered only a few activities
for occupational health: “art workshops, cooking and computer classes”(Stewart, 2019, p. 55),
and these were only with other service users. Whilst Stewart recognises that service users can
draw strength from each other, there seemed to be almost no thinking within the mental health
system about how to support people to make a broader range of connections or to engage in
other activities of ordinary life that they might find fulfilling.
Sue Holttum is based at th e
Salomons Institute for
Applied Psychology,
Canterbury Christ Church
University, Canterb ury, UK.
DOI 10.1108/MHSI-08-2019-0022 VOL. 23 NO. 4 2019, pp. 149-155, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2042-8308
j
MENTALHEALTH AND SOCIAL INCLUSION
j
PAG E 14 9
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