Social Work in the Mental Health Field: From Power Analysis to Practice

This book provides a contemporary and practical resource for exploring critical social work practices in mental health. It explores how a power analysis can be enacted, through a variety of skills and actions, in order to navigate complex organisational and social contexts and make a difference in the mental health field.

Mental health social work is contested and complex. While it is widely accepted that social workers should bring a social justice lens to their practice, it is often unclear how an analysis of power influences and is applied in the minutiae of everyday practice.  Social workers might settle into complacency, making rhetorical commitments to ‘person-centred’ and ‘trauma-informed’ approaches that are not meaningfully connected to actions, or they might find themselves complying with dominant colonial and biomedical agendas in an attempt to gain professional legitimacy within healthcare teams.

Beyond naming the tensions and competing values faced by social workers in mental health contexts, the book explores concrete examples of working towards justice in solidarity with people and communities experiencing distress. Through a collaboration between three social work researchers and six social workers currently working in the field, the book offers a unique perspective. Areas covered include: the complexities of working in biomedical and neoliberal environments; noticing and responding to epistemic injustices; multidisciplinary teamwork; systemic advocacy; the politics of language; elevating socio-political contexts and lived experience knowledges; navigating risk paradigms; and addressing White privilege.

Social Work in the Mental Health Field: From Power Analysis to Practice is relevant to social work students and educators, as it moves beyond micro-macro binary thinking, through exploring how social workers have aimed to enact practices that are informed by a power analysis in mental health settings. Examples are provided across the contexts of individual direct practice, groupwork, community work, systems change, and private practice. The book is pertinent to new and experienced social workers who are seeking an accessible and contemporary resource to reflect on their practice and to explore ways of working toward social justice in the mental health field.

Louise Whitaker, PhD, MSW, BSW, is an Associate Professor of Social Work at Southern Cross University, Australia.

Katherine Reid, PhD, BSW, BA, GradDipNT, is a Senior Lecturer in social work at Queensland University of Technology, Australia. 

Emma Tseris, PhD, BSW, BA, is an Associate Professor in social work and policy studies at the University of Sydney, Australia.  

Hollie Ballingall is a Yuin woman, raised on Dharawal Country, now living and working on Gadigal Land. She is an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker who holds a Bachelor of Arts (Psychology), Master of Social Work (Qualifying) & Graduate Certificate in Youth Mental Health.  

Ashlea Borg, BSW, Diploma of Community Services, is a critical social worker with experience working in community and government contexts.  

Binti Jones, MSW, BA, is a casual academic with Southern Cross University, Australia, and a social worker with several years of experience in community services work across social housing, homelessness, mental health and family services.  

Alex Olsen, BA, BSW, has held a variety of social work positions within non-government and government organisations both in Australia and the UK. 

Aimee Pitt, BSW, BA, is a social worker whose work has supported individuals, groups and communities navigating distress and marginalisation. 

Lisa Thorpy, MSW, BA, is a casual academic with Southern Cross University, Australia, who has worked in a variety of social work and policy positions in mental health and violence abuse and neglect.