Values and Ethics in
Mental Health Practice
Other books in this series
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Values and Ethics in Mental Health Practice
DAISY BOGG
Series Editor: Keith Brown
First published in 2010 by Learning Matters Ltd
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from Learning Matters Ltd.
2010 Daisy Bogg
The right of Daisy Bogg to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Crown Copyright material is reproduced with the permission of HMSO.
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ISBN: 978 1 84445 375 7
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Kindle ISBN: 978 0 85725 028 5
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Contents
Foreword to the Post-Qualifying Social Work Practice series
All the texts in the Post-Qualifying Social Work Practice series have been written by people with a passion for excellence in social work practice. They are primarily written for social workers who are undertaking post-qualifying social work awards, but will also be useful to any social worker who wants to consider up-to-date practice issues.
The books in this series are also of value to social work students as they are written to inform, inspire and develop social work practice.
Professor Keith Brown
Series Editor
Centre for Post-Qualifying Social Work, Bournemouth
About the author
A social worker by background, Daisy has spent a large part of her career working in integrated health and social care environments, looking at how to develop and implement more seamless service provision across the two agendas. She most recently held the role of Executive Director of Social Care and Specialist Services for Bedfordshire and Luton Partnership NHS Trust, which she left in March 2010 to become an independent consultant specialising in social approaches to mental health, providing training, development and interim management services within mental health services. Daisy is an executive committee member of the Social Perspectives Network (SPN), a national organisation made up of professionals, academics and service users who specialise in promoting the social perspective within mental health policy and provision across the UK. She has worked within mental health and addiction services for the last fifteen years, both for the NHS and also for voluntary sector organisations.
Acknowledgements
As always, a big thank you is due to my husband, Terry, for being my human thesaurus and live-in grammar checker.
Thanks also to Lauren and Luke for their support and comments throughout this project. Writing something like this can be an isolating process, and being able to get feedback at each stage helps to keep things going in the right direction (and convinces me Im not just making things up). Thanks also to Keith Brown and Rob Goeman for their comments and feedback, and to Alleyn for sharing her experiences.
There are a few people out there who remind me why Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP) practice is so important, and so to Wendy and Claire (and this years cohort of students who sat through my dual diagnosis rants), thanks are also due to all of you.
Introduction
This book considers the development of the value base associated with mental health practice and considers both approved mental health practice and best interest assessment. By considering the range of social, policy and legislative frameworks, as well as the evidence base for mental health treatment, and applying these to ethical and value-based practice, this book aims to discuss some of the dilemmas faced by professionals in the practice environment.
A number of areas are covered, the aim being to provide a detailed context in which practice occurs and provide a theoretical foundation for practitioners to understand and develop their skills and knowledge.
The areas considered include:
- Professional values and ethics.
- Historical perspectives on mental health law and practice.
- The role of social values in shaping value-based practice.
- Human rights issues and practice within this framework.
- Complex and multiple needs and identities.
- Ethical dilemmas facing practitioners.
- Power relationships and the impact of decision making on both service users and practitioners.
- The impact of the guiding principles and code of practice in statutory roles.
The study of values and ethics is not an exact science, and there are a range of influences that shape decisions and interventions; as such, the aim here is not to provide concrete solutions but rather to highlight some of the dilemmas and debates evident in current practice and encourage practitioner reflection.
The book is in three parts. Chapters 14 provide the background and context in which mental health services are developed and delivered. Chapters 57 concentrate on particular human rights and how these are applied within practice, and Chapters 8 and 9 look at particular issues that practitioners may face in the course of their work. All three parts encourage professional reflection as a core part of value-based practice, and the final chapter attempts to draw together all of the discussions to promote an overall approach based on values and ethics in practice.
The development of the social work and mental health value bases
This chapter considers the development of value-based practice both within social work and in wider mental health practice.
Ethics, social values and mental health treatment
Social values are considered in more detail in this chapter. Issues such as societal responses to mental health, and how these shaped the development of the value base and practice framework, are the main focus of the discussion.
