Helen Spandler and Mick McKeown
This paper is an author’s reply to the article by Cresswell (2017) critiquing the original piece by Spandler and McKeown (2017) on truth and reconciliation (T&R) in psychiatry…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper is an author’s reply to the article by Cresswell (2017) critiquing the original piece by Spandler and McKeown (2017) on truth and reconciliation (T&R) in psychiatry. The paper aims to discuss this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
It continues the dialogue about the nature of reconciliation in mental health services and reflects on distinctions between the nature of historical abuses within the asylum system and the need to understand and prevent further harm within contemporary services.
Findings
Whilst the authors acknowledge the tension between reconciliation and democratic debate they suggest that the process does not have to mean agreement or acquiescence. They reaffirm their optimistic belief that better mental health services are possible and appreciate that true reconciliation is a process that will require both debate and the building of constructive alliances.
Originality/value
A grassroots T&R process might be a form of transitional justice which does not negate the need for wider social and policy changes, but may actually help achieve it.
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Helen Spandler and Mick McKeown
The purpose of this paper is to explore the case for a truth and reconciliation (T&R) process in the context of mental health services.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the case for a truth and reconciliation (T&R) process in the context of mental health services.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach is a conceptual review of T&R approaches; a consideration of why they are important; and how they might be applied in the context of mental health services and psychiatry. First, the paper sets out a case for T&R in psychiatry, giving some recent examples of how this might work in practice. Then it outlines potential objections which complicate any simplistic adoption of T&R in this context.
Findings
In the absence of an officially sanctioned T&R process a grassroots reparative initiative in mental health services may be an innovative bottom-up approach to transitional justice. This would bring together service users, survivors and refusers of services, with staff who work/ed in them, to begin the work of healing the hurtful effects of experiences in the system.
Originality/value
This is the first paper in a peer-reviewed journal to explore the case for T&R in mental health services. The authors describe an innovative T&R process as an important transitional step towards accomplishing reparation and justice by acknowledging the breadth and depth of service user and survivor grievances. This may be a precondition for effective alliances between workers and service users/survivors. As a result, new forms of dialogic communication and horizontal democracy might emerge that could sustain future alliances and prefigure the social relations necessary for more humane mental health services.
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Helen Spandler, Jenny Secker, Sue Hacking and Jo Shenton
Helen Spandler and colleagues report on the first phase of a project to map arts and mental health projects in England and evaluate their benefits in terms of participants' mental…
Abstract
Helen Spandler and colleagues report on the first phase of a project to map arts and mental health projects in England and evaluate their benefits in terms of participants' mental health and how well they promote social inclusion, both in promoting peer friendships and networks and in supporting the development of links with the wider community.
The purpose of this paper is to critique Spandler and McKeown’s recent advocacy of a truth and reconciliation (T&R) process in psychiatry.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to critique Spandler and McKeown’s recent advocacy of a truth and reconciliation (T&R) process in psychiatry.
Design/methodology/approach
A critique of a recent paper in Mental Health Review Journal.
Findings
That Spandler and McKeown’s advocacy of a T&R process in psychiatry can be criticised from a number of inter-related practical, political and ethical perspectives.
Originality/value
The present critique contributes to the ongoing debate about the desirability of a T&R process in psychiatry.
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Jenny Secker, Helen Spandler, Sue Hacking, Lyn Kent and Jo Shenton
Empowerment has been described as the ‘holy grail’ of health promotion. This article describes an evaluation of arts participation for people with mental health needs that both…
Abstract
Empowerment has been described as the ‘holy grail’ of health promotion. This article describes an evaluation of arts participation for people with mental health needs that both measured empowerment outcomes and explored the processes by which positive outcomes were achieved, through six qualitative case studies. For the outcomes study, 62 arts and mental health project participants returned a questionnaire, including a measure of empowerment, soon after joining their project and again six months later. The follow‐up questionnaire asked participants to rate the impact of their arts involvement on the issues addressed in the measure. Six diverse arts and mental health projects took part in the case studies. Interviews with project participants explored what they saw as the benefits of arts involvement and how these came about. Results from the outcomes study showed significant improvements in empowerment and were suggestive of a strong causal link with arts participation. Analysis of the case study interviews revealed five processes through which benefits relating to empowerment were brought about. We argue that psychological empowerment is in itself important for people with mental health needs. In addition, our case studies indicate that some arts and mental health projects do empower participants at a social as well as individual level.
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In the UK the concept of social exclusion came into widespread use in mental health following the publication of an influential Social Exclusion Unit report in 2004. Based on a…
Abstract
In the UK the concept of social exclusion came into widespread use in mental health following the publication of an influential Social Exclusion Unit report in 2004. Based on a comparison of ways of defining social exclusion with the mental health literature, this article begins by outlining a social systems approach to understanding social exclusion. The approach is later used to examine the position of people with mental health needs in the UK. First, however, a common assumption that social inclusion constitutes the opposite of social exclusion is addressed and an alternative way of thinking about the two concepts is put forward. A further assumption that social inclusion is self‐evidently desirable is also critiqued from political and service user perspectives before drawing conclusions from the evidence reviewed. These concern a need for policy initiatives to focus on tackling the structural barriers that work to exclude people with mental health needs, as well as on challenging the deep‐rooted prejudice and stigmatisation that reinforce those barriers; and a need to be mindful of the context in which inclusion policies are implemented, the assumptions that become implicit within these policies, and the possible consequences of their adoption as a moral imperative.
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Peter Campbell and Andrew Roberts
Veterans of the user‐survivor movement, Peter Campbell and Andrew Roberts, profile the Survivors' History Group, a network of approximately 100 members across the UK and Ireland…
Abstract
Veterans of the user‐survivor movement, Peter Campbell and Andrew Roberts, profile the Survivors' History Group, a network of approximately 100 members across the UK and Ireland, who believe that the history of individual and collective action by service users/survivors is both interesting and important, and worthy of preservation.
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This index covers all issues between February 2005 (Volume 9, Issue 1) and November 2008 (Volume 12, Issue 4). Numbers in bold refer to yolume, numbers in brackets refer to issue…
Abstract
This index covers all issues between February 2005 (Volume 9, Issue 1) and November 2008 (Volume 12, Issue 4). Numbers in bold refer to yolume, numbers in brackets refer to issue, with subsequent numbers to pages.