Mental Health: Critical and Radical Debates in Social Work

Debates on mental health social work have recently come to an impasse. There has been considerable emphasis on the social roots of mental distress, which has resulted in more holistic approaches to social work practice. Nonetheless the dominant approach to mental health continues to be a medical one, which excludes social workers from new initiatives. In this book, Jeremy Weinstein draws on case studies and his own experiences as a mental health social worker to navigate these conflicting facets of the field. Ultimately, he develops a model of practice that is sensitive to issues of alienation, discrimination, and the need for both workers and service users to find adequate room to breathe in an environment increasingly shaped by managerialism and marketization.