What barriers might there be to equal treatment and protection under the law?

What barriers might there be to equal treatment and protection under the law?

Human Dignity and WorthIf the social work profession holds that every human being has unique worthand is entitled to wellbeing self fulfilment and self determination (consistentwith the rights of others) then the interplay of these must be consideredwhen working with those experiencing mental health issues (AASW 2002p.8).What would you do?Imagine you are working in a Job Network agency with a woman in her 50s who recentlyseparated from a partner of 30 years after many years of abuse. She has been unable toattend interviews for positions due to feelings of lethargy and sadness and is in danger ofhaving her Government benefit cut off.She does not wish to accept her GPs recommendation for anti-depressants stating that shebelieves her sadness to be natural and healthy given her life experience. How would youbegin to balance your agency mandate and the needs of the woman concerned?Issues to consider include: how might you maintain the dignity and respect ofpeople accessing your service? Are basic human rights according to theUnited Nations Universal declaration of Human Rights being maintained?Are you able to support individual autonomy and a sense of personalresponsibility when working with someone with a mental health concern?Can the collective needs of the community be enhanced by your practicewith a vulnerable member of that community? What are your ethicalrequirements?Social JusticeHow can social workers consider principles of social justice in relation topeople with mental health issues?What would you do?Imagine a young man whom medical experts have diagnosed with schizophrenia. He iscurrently in the Townsville lock up after committing an armed offence awaiting Courtappearance. You have worked with this young man in your capacity as a youth worker for theVietnamese community. What might be some of his basic human needs? Are there areaswhere an equitable distribution of resources to meet his needs might be called in to question?Does he have fair access to public services and benefits to achieve human potential? Why orwhy not? What barriers might there be to equal treatment and protection under the law?This principle asks social workers to reduce barriers and expand choices forall with a special regard for those disadvantaged vulnerable oppressed orwith special needs (AASW 2002 p.8). Action to advocate for change is usedto challenge social structures that maintain inequalities and injustice. Socialworkers are asked to work towards the elimination of violations of humanrights. Can you think of policies or processes that may require advocacy inorder to support this young mans needs? What systems might require moresignificant action in to ensure dignity safety and fairness for this youngman?Service to HumanityAccording to the Code of Ethics service to humanity is a primary objective ofour work and involves placing the interests of human wellbeing and socialjustice before a workers individual aims views or objectives (AASW 2002p.9)What would you do?You have recently begun working as the overnight worker in a womens crisis accommodationservice. During the handover meeting with colleagues you are informed the youngestresident Talia aged 19 is renowned her skills in manipulating new workers. The otherworker tells you Talia was diagnosed with Borderline Personality disorder and suggests youignore any histrionic behaviour. At 3 a.m. you are contacted by Talia stating that she issuicidal and that the Mental Health Service refused to see her.What do you think may be important to consider with Talia to enable her tomanage personal and social difficulties and in order to obtain essentialresources and services? What needs of your own might be in conflict withthe needs of Talia at this point? How would you use your power andauthority as a worker in ways that serve humanity in this circumstance? Inwhat way would your response be recognising and respecting individual andcollective goals responsibilities and differences?Do you know what borderline personality disorder is? Do you think it matterswhether you know what it means? If yes you think it matters where mightyou go to get some information about this? Why might it be important or notimportant to do this?IntegrityWorking with integrity includes honesty reliability and impartiality (AASW2002 p.9). When putting this value into practice you are expected toensure your conduct in the work place is responsible and of a high qualitypromotes the principles of social work and is impartial. Reflective practiceprovides an opportunity to check out that you are not imposing your ownvalues views and preferences on the people with whom you work.What would you do?You are working as a community development worker in your local government. Recently theState Government has relocated a man who was convicted of child sex offences and murder.The man was assessed by forensic psychiatrists as having a mental illness and he has spentmany years serving out his conviction in a prison psychiatric ward. After ongoing treatmentand careful evaluation he has now been released. The media has publicised his newlocation. The community is distressed and angry.Your task is to work with the community to find some way of balancing this mans right tosecure accommodation with the communitys concern for safety. You have two small childrenand are unsure yourself deep inside about how you feel about living in the same area as thisman.CompetenceThe final value outlined in the AASW Code of Ethics assumes that it is notenough to merely have a commitment to social work principles; you areexpected to continue to develop competence through out your career(AASW 2002 p. 10). Learning doesnt end when tertiary qualifications areattained. Instead workers are expected to continue professional educationto use supervision in order to identify training needs and to in turn contributeto the information and training of other social workers.What would you do?Hooray! Not only have you completed your studies graduated and rediscovered life withoutassessments hanging over your head youve scored the position of your dreams. This is thejob you imagined yourself doing the one that kept you going during those days (weeks?Months? Years?) you wanted to throw the towel in. Of course you feel a little out of yourdepth but it looks like your manager is pretty supportive about you continuing your training.She has asked you to jot down some suggestions for training youd like to do during your firstyear out. You know that returning to Uni is not an option right now youd rather chew offyour left arm than write another essay just yet. And your partner/children/friends might leavehome. What other training options might there be? What are the areas youd like to developonce you are in the workforce? How might you go about seeking these out?In relation to your mental health practice this value suggests that you remainopen to analysing the nature of the needs of the community in relation towellbeing consider innovative strategies and techniques and continue todevelop a personal philosophy of practice.The AASW developed specific standards for competency in relation tomental health social workers guiding professional skills and self reflectionregarding areas of strength and areas requiring further work. You will find theAASW (2004) Final Report on the development of Competency Standardsfor Mental Health Social Workers (2nd edn) in the Book of Readings for thissubject.iv. Tensions between social work and the mental health sectorAt times you may notice a certain tension between some areas of the mental healthsector and a social work concept of the social and contextual position on mentalhealth and mental illness. An acknowledgement of tension is not intended todenigrate different beliefs and practices underlying different professional responsesto mental health. As is the case with many sectors of work in the human servicesfield a diversity of response may offer greater choice for an individual seekingsupport in relation to mental health issues.Tension is often an outcome of the different values of a medical model view ofmental health/mental illness and the social model of mental health/mental illness.Again many health professionals who embrace a medical model of mental healthwould argue that the past 30 years has brought significant changes to their practiceand that social factors impacting on mental health are often considered during amental health assessment Remember Larissas journal entry (pp.13-14)? Shefound the visiting psychiatrist was as sociologically aware as social workers.Similarly you will find mental health workers who would describe themselves ashaving a sociological model of mental health and yet facilitate a response to theissue of mental health that focuses on bio-chemical change. It is useful to rememberthere are no absolutes and making assumptions about another persons practice isnot a useful way to build relationships across disciplines.Perhaps it might be convenient to return to the concept of a continuum with thesociological model of mental health on one end considering the role of contextvalues and beliefs; and on the other a pure form of the medical model where mentalillness is considered on an individual level as a result of a biochemistry problem thatrequires fixing. The values and principles from both the AASW Code of Ethics andMental Health Competency Standards suggest that social workers will practice inways that acknowledge the socio-environmental context even when working within aservice that is influenced by the medical model. So what does this mean in practice?iv. So what can a social work role involve?In order to consider different ways of working we will look at a particular practiceexample: young men living with depression and attracted to other young men.Social workers celebrate difference: in this case rather than assumingeveryone should be similar behave in the same way to the same set of rulesbased on the dominant culture a social worker might honour the manyvariations between young men. The knowledge that same-sex attracted youngpeople are at a higher risk of completed suicide than other young peoplecould be another area of considerations in the first contacts with individuals orgroups.Living in a world that is hetero-centric the absence of images of others insame sex relationships can contribute to feelings of isolation and difference.Our world is dominated by pictures media images TV shows movies andresources for young people that show only heterosexual relationships. Inaddition the social judgements and stigma about being attracted to other mencan have a powerful effect.With this in mind a worker might focus on finding strategies resources andimages that see difference as a good thing rather than cause for censure. Onan individual level workers can support young men on a journey ofacceptance around difference. At an organisational level there are manyopportunities to consider how your work place contributes to the assumptionthat people are heterosexual. Are there posters or resources with same sexcouples? Do intake forms assume young people have a mother and a fatherrather than two dads or two mums? At a community level you may advocatefor change in community assumptions and consider challenging mediamessages or social expectations that not only assume heterosexuality butpromote homophobia.Social Workers are interested in choice for consumers their family and thecommunity in relation to mental health: Rather than assume there is one rightway to treat mental illness social workers aim to support the individuals orcommunity to identify the solution that best works for them. It may be thatsome young men choose to use street theatre to raise awareness of theneeds of young people who are same sex attracted and become involved in apeer support network considering strategies to promote wellbeing and mentalhealth. In order to facilitate change social workers are expected to advocatefor self determination to be upheld. Advocacy may occur within amultidisciplinary team (advocating the needs of a particular young man with amedical professional on team) at a systems level (challenging hetero-sexismand homophobia within services to young people) or at a societal level(becoming involved in human rights activism for all people who are same sexattracted).In keeping with the principles of respect social workers are aware of theimpact of language. You will notice in this package and in the readings thatcare is now taken in avoiding where possible language that is labelling or thattotalises the person. For instance it is generally accepted that describingsomeone by their mental health issue e.g. a schizophrenic or adepressive is not appropriate. Continuing the practice example care istaken with the way the mental health issue is described and with the sexualityof young men. Rather than describe the young men as depressive the termliving with depression is used.In relation to sexual preference it is useful to remember that the terms gay orhomosexual or bisexual just dont fit for all. Most workers choose to beguided by the person or group involved as to their preference if a word is to beused to describe a sexual preference. It may sound convoluted or confusingbut care with language is simply another strategy to introduce an alternativeway for the young men to think about how they might prefer to describethemselves. And language can act as a form of social action: refusing toassume that we know how others see themselves.Social workers seek to facilitate participation: In this case it could involveinviting young men who are attracted to other young men and experiencingdepression to be involved in the development of appropriate responses totheir particular community and to young people in general. Participation ismore than simply asking a group about their thoughts on an issue. It is aboutensuring an environment that is safe respectful and truly responsive to theopinions of community members. Participation of consumers in mental healthservices has been a key platform of State and Federal social policy responsesto mental health and you will find discussions on participation throughout thesubject.Social workers are working towards social change: rather than stay focussedon issues at an individual level social workers consider how change canoccur in order to address the broader contextual issues that impact on mentalhealth. Again this is a responsibility that is not always expected of thepsychologist mental health nurse medial practitioners or other professional inthe mental health sector. For these professionals work may finish when theconsumer/ client/ patient is better. The social worker however continues toexplore strategies for addressing issues that get in the way of health &wellbeing for all.Reflection TaskConsider the practice example used in this unit: working with young men livingwith depression and attracted to other young men. What particular issues ofsocial justice would you want to keep foremost in your mind? What are some ofthe social justice/injustice issues experienced by these young men? How mightyou respond as a worker to the needs of this particular community?Review QuestionsTen marks out of fifty for Assessment 1 relate to an understanding of how mentalhealth and mental illness can impact on human rights and social justice. You mightwant to consider how the ideas from this unit can relate to the issue ofhomelessness.a) What is different about a social work role on a multidisciplinary team? Whatare the underlying principles that guide social work? Are these really anydifferent to other professions in the mental health arena? Why or why not?Housing services may comprise of multidisciplinary teams too; positions maybe filled by staff from nursing youth work psychology and other disciplines.b) Stating the importance of human rights and social justice is relatively easy;the challenge is applying these concepts to practice. How might you begin tolook at the human rights implications of service delivery in a particularagency? If you have had no contact with accommodation services and dontknow where to begin a critical analysis consider starting a thread on thediscussion board of LearnJCU asking for more information from otherstudents.c) The idea of participation is raised in the AASW Competency Standards and inyour second reading. Why is participation so important to social workpractice? Could the idea of participation be included in your assignment?

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