Department of Applied Social Studies, National University of Ireland, W23F2H6 Maynooth, Ireland.
School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT71HL, UK.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Jul 27;20(15):6460. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20156460.
Recovery within mental health service delivery is no longer a new consideration in the Western world. However, it is well-documented how challenging its implementation and translation to practice and reality have been in contemporary mental health systems. In conjunction with this, mental health social work is continuously being challenged and debated in relation to its role, responsibilities, and identity in service delivery. This is largely the consequence of the continued dominance of the biomedical model in relation to service delivery. Yet, if we critically reflect on the philosophy and ethos of recovery, it becomes very clear that social work should be the key profession to lead the development and improvement of recovery-orientated services across the globe. To illustrate this argument, the authors first draw on empirical research undertaken by the lead author within the Republic of Ireland on how recovery is socially constructed within mental health service delivery. The key stakeholders involved in the Irish study included professionals, service users, family members, and policy influencers, with participants taking part in semi-structured interviews. Secondly, the authors reflect on some of the findings from this Irish study, presenting an argument for not only a more significant role for social work in an Irish mental health context but also making comparisons from an international perspective. This includes exploring the role of critical social work traditions for supporting services to move beyond a philosophy of recovery that has, to date, overlooked the intersectional injustices and inequalities faced by hard-to-reach populations. Finally, the authors conclude by providing some possibilities for how the paradigms of social work and recovery can and should continue to converge towards each other, opening a space for social work to become a more dominant perspective within mental health systems worldwide.
在西方世界，精神卫生服务领域的康复理念早已不再新鲜。然而，将其付诸实践和应用于现实情况却极具挑战性，这一点在当代精神卫生系统中得到了充分印证。除此之外，精神健康社会工作在其服务提供中的角色、责任和身份也不断受到质疑和争论。这在很大程度上是由于生物医学模式在服务提供方面的持续主导地位所致。然而，如果我们批判性地反思康复理念的哲学和精神，就会清楚地认识到，社会工作应该成为引领全球康复导向服务发展和改进的关键专业。为了说明这一观点，作者首先借鉴了首席作者在爱尔兰共和国进行的关于精神卫生服务中如何构建康复理念的实证研究。爱尔兰研究涉及的主要利益相关者包括专业人员、服务使用者、家庭成员和政策影响者，参与者参与了半结构化访谈。其次，作者反思了这项爱尔兰研究的部分发现，提出了一个论点，即社会工作不仅在爱尔兰精神卫生领域应该扮演更重要的角色，而且还应该从国际视角进行比较。这包括探索批判社会工作传统的作用，以支持服务超越迄今为止忽视难以接触人群所面临的交叉性不公正和不平等的康复理念。最后，作者通过提供一些可能性来结束本文，即社会工作和康复的范式如何能够而且应该继续相互融合，为社会工作在全球精神卫生系统中成为更主导的视角开辟空间。
