A Critical Approach to Pedagogy in Mental Health

In the current global era, social work educators struggle with the notions of mental health and illness as they are configured in western conceptions of psychiatry. Committed to social justice, human rights, and multiple perspectives, the authors resist the idea that individual pathology alone constitutes an adequate framework for understanding and working with mental illness. Given that social work has a predominant presence in the mental health system, this issue has serious repercussion for the profession. Educators are charged with the preparation of practitioners to take up distinctive and meaningful roles in the mental health system that reflect the profession's value base and contribute to its mission. In the US, the social work contribution has often required adoption of a medicalized focus as its own. This paper will explore the development of a pedagogical approach that supports a uniquely social work voice in mental health. It both teaches and critiques the most widely used contemporary approaches in US-oriented mental health services, their assumptions, and the applicability of these models to people who experience marginalization and assault through oppression, violence, and social disruption-and who typically are social work clients.