Main description:

There is a healthy development in the human service professions these days. At community clinics, private practices, and universities around the country mental health professionals and service providers are working with increased awareness of the toxic effects of social inequities in the lives of people they aim to help. Quietly, by acting out their beliefs on justice and equality, clinicians are redressing the balance between professing our craft as clinicians and professing our humanity as citizens.

Advancing Social Justice Through Clinical Practice is a comprehensive volume that bridges the gap between the psychosocial realities of clients and the dominant clinical practices. It offers an array of conceptual and practical innovations to address both individual suffering and social inequities fueling this suffering. This is an empowering tool and a must read for mental health professionals. The accessible writing style also makes it ideal for teachers and students in the field.

The book opens with a discussion of the historical, ethical, and experiential foundations for the development of social justice-based practice. Parts II and III present conceptual frameworks, strategies, and techniques used by social justice oriented practitioners. The final section discusses various ways to develop the skills and competencies required of mental health professionals aspiring to be both agents of individual and social transformation. Filled with hope, critical analysis, and uncommon clinical wisdom, this is a book like no other in the field.

Contents:

Part I: Steps Toward a Social Justice Therapeutic Practice. Rekindling the Reformist Spirit in the Mental Health Professions. Counseling for Wellness and Justice: Foundations and Ethical Dilemmas. Social Justice Concerns and Clinical Practice. Part II: Liberating Visions of Clinical Practice. Radical Psychiatry: An Approach to Personal and Political Change. Ethnopolitical Psychology: Healing and Transformation. Gay and Lesbian Couples in Therapy: A Social Justice Perspective. Risk Reduction and the Micropolitics of Social Justice in Mental Health Care. Foundation Concepts for Social Justice-Based Therapy: Critical Consciousness, Accountability, and Empowerment. Narrative Practice and Culture. Part III: Community Building for Wellness and Justice. Families and Therapists as Citizens: The Families and Democracy Project. The Practice of Community Family Therapy. Applying Feminist Theory to Community Practice: A Multilevel Empowerment Intervention for Low-Income Women with Depression. Toward a Community Psychology of Liberation. Striving for Social Justice Through Interprofessional University-School Collaboration. The Psychology of Working and the Advancement of Social Justice. Mental Health Policy and Social Justice. Part IV: Teaching and Training for Social Action. Advocacy, Outreach, and Prevention: Integrating Social Action Roles in Professional Training. Grounding Clinical Training and Supervision in an Empowerment Model. Applying Principles of Multicultural Competencies, Social Justice, and Leadership in Training and Supervision. Educating for Social Change in the Human Service Professions.