Main description:

Mental health practices and programs around the world face growing criticism from policymakers, consumers, and service providers for being ineffective, overly reliant on treatment by professionals, and overly focused on symptoms. Many have called for new paradigms of mental health and new practices that can better support recovery, community integration, and adaptive functioning for persons diagnosed with psychiatric disabilities. While there has recently been much
discourse about transformation and recovery, there has yet to be a critical and systematic review that unpacks the concept of mental health systems transformation or that examines strategies for how to create transformative change in mental health.

Community Psychology and Community Mental Health provides empirical justification and a conceptual foundation for transformative change in mental health, based on community psychology values and principles of ecology, collaboration, empowerment, and social justice. Chapters provide strategies for making changes at the level of society, policy, organizations, community settings, and mental health practices. The editors and authors draw from experience in different countries in
recognition of the need to tailor change strategies to different contexts. The common experiences of the international perspectives represented underscore the importance and the need for a new paradigm while demonstrating that there are many alternatives and opportunities for pursuing transformative change. This
book will be of interest to community mental health professionals, researchers, and students, as well as policymakers, administrators, and those with lived experience of mental health issues.

Contents:

Foreword by Julian Rappaport ; Part I. Overview of Community Psychology, Community Mental Health, and Transformative Change ; Chapter 1. Transformative Change in Community Mental Health: A Community Psychology Framework ; Geoffrey Nelson, Bret Kloos, and Jose Ornelas ; Part II. Theoretical Perspectives on Transformative Change ; Chapter 2. Drawing Upon Community Psychology History and Theory as Resources for Transformative Change in Mental Health ; Bret Kloos, Jose Ornelas, and Geoffrey Nelson ; Chapter 3. Perspectives on Transformative Change in Community Mental Health ; John Sylvestre ; Chapter 4. The Capabilities Approach to Transformative Change in Mental Health ; Marybeth Shinn ; Part III. Transformative Change and Consumer Participation ; Chapter 5. Transforming Mental Health Care through the Participation of the Recovery Community ; Larry Davidson, Priscilla Ridgway, Maria O'Connell, and Thomas A. Kirk, Jr. ; Chapter 6. The Impact of Mental Health Consumer-Run Organizations on Transformative Change ; Louis D. Brown and Susan Rogers ; Part IV. Transformative Change in Services and Practices ; Chapter 7. Wellness Recovery Action Planning: The Role of Wellness Promotion in a New Paradigm of Community Mental Health ; Mary Ellen Copeland and Jessica A. Jonikas ; Chapter 8. Defining the Competencies of Different Stakeholders in a Transformed Mental Health System ; Tim Aubry and Mary O'Hagan ; Chapter 9. Planning Transformative Change for Mental Health Services for Cultural-linguistic Communities ; Geoffrey Nelson, Hsiao d'Ailly, Joanna Ochocka, Rich Janzen, Sarah Maiter, and Nora Jacobson ; Part V. Transformative Community Change ; Chapter 10. Recovering Community in Mental Health: The Contributions and Challenges of Community Psychology ; Bret Kloos, Greg Townley, Victoria Chien, Betsy Davis, Laura Kurzban, and David Asiamah ; Chapter 11. Who Is John?: Community Integration as a Paradigm for Transformative Change in Community Mental Health ; Mark Salzer and Richard C. Baron ; Part VI. Transformative Change of Social Conditions ; Chapter 12. Transformative Organizational Change in Community Mental Health ; Jose Ornelas, Teresa Duarte, and Maria Fatima Jorge-Monteiro ; Chapter 13. Housing First and System/Community Transformation ; Paula Goering and Sam Tsemberis ; Chapter 14. Supported Education as a Vehicle for Transformative Change in Mental Health Treatment Philosophy ; Karen Unger ; Part VII. Transformative Policy Change ; Chapter 15. Beginning to Take Control: Ontario's Consumer/Survivor Development Initiative ; John Trainor and David Reville ; Chapter 16. Recovery-oriented Mental Health Policies: Implications for Transformative ; Change in Five Nations ; Myra Piat and Lauren Polvere ; Part VIII. Conclusion ; Chapter 17. Transforming Research for Transformative Change in Mental Health: Towards the Future ; Nev Jones, Lauren Munro, Jay Harrison, Rita Aguiar ; Chapter 18. Transformative Change in Community Mental Health: Future Directions ; Geoffrey Nelson, Bret Kloos, and Jose Ornelas