APPLYING A SOCIAL JUSTICE LENS TO MENTAL HEALTH BY JIM MORTON, SOCIAL JUSTICE COMMITTEE CHAIR
We know that the first step toward change is speaking up. In late 2017 and early 2018, many social workers from across Nova Scotia contacted the College to communicate concerns about the state of mental health and addiction services in our province. The issues they raised included an over-reliance on the medical model, underfunding, and an approach to services that largely ignores client-centred care and the context in which individuals live. Social workers also spoke with frustration about prioritizing late-stage treatment while downplaying critical issues like early childhood adversity, poverty, prevention and early intervention. They also expressed a sense of alienation.
Social workers know they have a vital perspective, and yet experience a sense of being devalued in the mental health workplace.
In response to these alarming concerns, the College asked the Social Justice Committee to take a close look at mental health, with a view to developing an advocacy strategy informed by social work values and focused on improving mental health in Nova Scotia. The committee eagerly adopted the challenge. As a first step it organized a symposium in Halifax in April 2018. That event brought together about fifty people - social workers, those with first voice experience and other professionals who were given the task of identifying what it would take to achieve optimal mental health in Nova Scotia. Their hard work surfaced five important principles:
20 Connection | Spring 2019
1. Prioritize funding for mental wellness, bringing it without delay to 10% of overall health spending in Nova Scotia. This would bring investment in line with the recommendations of the World Health Organization. 2. Take action to address social inequities and the social determinants of health. Social workers know that mental health is about much more than medications, hospital beds and treatment sessions. It is sustained by access to nutritious food, family support, quality housing, adequate incomes and strong, healthy communities. 3. Found mental health and addictions programming and services on authentic community collaboration. People know what they need. Consultation must guide action, not platitudinous public relations exercises. 4. Ensure mental health policies, programs and services are client and family-centred. Health and illnesses are shaped by social context. Placing the client and family at the centre is good customer service, but is also the crucible for diagnostic work, treatment planning, and service development. 5. Understand mental wellness as a life-long journey, fostered by healthy communities. Wellness is not an end; there is never a fix. We need communities that sustain us as we draw our first breath and stand with us throughout the unpredictable ups and downs of life. The College, guided by the symposium experience, prepared a working document on mental health and, with Social Justice Committee support, is using it to commission research designed to build foundational evidence for an advocacy strategy. This research will look at the need for strengthening investment in mental wellness. It will explore social work’s value in the planning and delivery of mental health and addiction services. The research will also offer insights on how the evidence of our systemic connections – our social,
