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Social welfare according to social work
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Community Mental Health Service Use - A Critical Analysis Introduction Historically, health sector is an important social service sector in Canada and it is publicly funded. However, studies shows that the standard of utilization of health system especially community mental health services are varied in each province (Tiwari, & JianLi, 2008). There are many factors associated with the use of community mental health system among various ethnic immigrant groups. In Canada, non-European immigrants tend to under utilize the community mental health services due to various factors (Whitley, Kirmayer, & Groleau, 2006) From my experience as a community development worker in India, I encountered numerous challenges to link people those who are facing mental health issues to the health service system. This paper explains my experiences as an outreach health support worker in the context of Canadian and Indian social work; also I intend to articulate the acquisition of my new learning about Canadian social work practice. I argue that socio-cultural, economical and geographical factors are influencing the use of community mental health services (Whitley et al., 2006). An anti-oppressive social work practice can influence perception of the people about community mental health services in Canada (Larson, 2008). This research paper illustrates …show more content…
India is a multicultural traditional society and the population is predominantly rural (Khandelwal, Jhinga, Ramesh, Gupta, & Srivastava, 2004). Compare to other similar countries, India is having a strong primary health care service system. Mental health service in India is a part of general health service. Community mental health in India is a three tier service sector consists of public, private and nonprofits (Padmavati,
In Canada, access to health care is ‘universal’ to its citizens under the Canadian Health Care Act and this system is considered to the one of the best in the world (Laurel & Richard, 2002). Access to health care is assumed on the strong social value of equality and is defined as the distribution of services to all those in need and for the common good and health of all residents (Fierlbeck, 2011). Equitable access to health care does not mean that all citizens are subjected to receive the same number of services but rather that wherever the service is provided it is based on need. Therefore, not all Canadians have equal access to health services. The Aboriginal peoples in Canada in particular are a population that is overlooked and underserved
Definition: Mental health has become a pressing issue in Indigenous communities. Often, a combination of trauma, a lack of accessible health resources, substance abuse, violence, and socioeconomic situations lead to high rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidality in Indigenous Peoples. This crisis is especially apparent in Indigenous youth, where there is a growing suicide epidemic but little mental health support and resources are provided. The increase in stigmatized and untreated mental illness has continued as trauma and systemic injustices remain unaddressed. Indigenous groups, governmental parties, and health organizations are involved.
... To provide Indigenous people with adequate health care, emphasis needs to be placed on understanding indigenous beliefs and the social detriments Indigenous communities are faced with. Applying a suitable model of health to each individual situation will provide the best outcome. This was evident in the case study discussed in the essay. Rodney’s experiences within the medical world ended with a positive and desirable result, but if the appropriate transcultural care was not given, that positive result would have created a negative outcome, which could have been detrimental to Rodney’s future health.
Health care inequities can be elucidated by the research that identifies the social, economic and political ideologies that reflect aspects of cultural safety (Crandon, 1986; O’Neil, 1989 as cited in Browne & Fiske, 2001). There are various factors that affect the mistreatment of aboriginal peoples as they access health care in local health care facilities such as hospitals and clinics. Aboriginal women face many barriers and are discriminated against as a result based on their visible minority status such as race, gender and class (Gerber, 1990; Dion Stout, 1996; Voyageur, 1996 as cited in Browne & Fiske, 2001). A study done on Aboriginal peoples in Northern B.C. showed high rates of unemployment, underemployment and dependency on social welfare monies (Browne & Fiske, 2001). This continued political economic marginalisation of aboriginal peoples widens the gap between the colonizers and the colonized. The existence of racial profiling of aboriginal peoples by “Indian status” often fuels more stigmatization of these people because other Canadians who do not see the benefits of compensations received with having this status often can be resentful in what they may perceive is another compensation to aboriginal peoples. The re...
YURKOVICH, E.E. and LATTERGRASS, I. (2008) Defining Health and Unhealthiness: Perceptions held by Native American-Indians with Persistent Mental Illness Mental Health, Religion and Culture [online]. 11(5), pp. 437-459 [Accessed 10 January 2011] Available at:
Health care services are important to all, but what happens when our First Nations are allowed to those services but they themselves don’t always use it? In Canada, the health care system is supposed to be a ‘discrimination-free envornment’ (Tang, 2008) but that is not always the case. The right to an adequate health is all ours, but then for many nurses and physicians ethnic groups such as Aboriginal people are victims of racial gestures. Therefore, the health of the Aboriginal population is much worse than the non-Aboriginal people.
Guerin, B. & Guerin, P. 2012, 'Re-thinking mental health for indigenous Australian communities: communities as context for mental health', Community Development Journal, vol. 47, no. 4, pp. 555-70.
Yellow Bird, M., Chenault, V., (1999). The Role of Social Work in Advancing the Practice of Indigenous Education: Obstacles and Promices in Empowerment-Oriented Social Work Practice. In Next Steps: Research and Practice To Advance Indian Education (pp. 201-229)
It is important to include cultural issues in the helping process to be more effective. We also need cultural competence because the U.S. is becoming more diverse. Therefore with diversity comes different beliefs, norms, and values. Eurocentric values dominate sciences and began cultural universals which puts the clash of dominate and non-dominate cultural behaviors in motion. In 1996 the NASW Code of Ethics increased the recognition of cultural competence. It is important to know diversity exist within ethnic and cultural groups because social workers need to know that relationships between helping professionals and clients may be strained. This happens because of the distrust between groups. Another important aspect is that the professional realizes their own values, biases, and beliefs. The reason for this is because they must value diversity to start with and understand the dynamics of difference. Culturally competent practitioners have to go through developmental process of using their own culture as a starting point to meet all behaviors. Striving for cultural competence is a long term process of development. The literature on cultural competence is theoretical and conceptual. They have not been evaluated in a systematic way. Roughly there are 2 million Native americans in the U.S. Which survive decimating disease, over-repressed in child welfare system, suffer from health problems, and are among the poorest people in the United States. Working with them clearly falls within the social work clearly mandate to serve vulnerable and oppressed clients. However, we do not know how many people from this group is actually receiving help from social workers. Even though it is important to train social workers to provide care in th...
According to the World Health Organization, the relationship between mental health and poverty is particularly important: the poor and the deprived have a higher prevalence of disorders, including substance abuse. Society does not take well to poverty especially to individuals living in poverty that have a mental illness. In some instances, mental illness can be a cause for individuals living in poverty. When individuals cannot afford health insurance how are they going to afford medication for the
Furthermore, over the last 20 years, a number of studies have demonstrated the importance of culture to the health and health care of Aboriginal people. The limited understanding of Aboriginal cultures by some biomedical health care professionals can result in health conditions going unrecognized, or errors occurring in diagnosis and treatment. A study based on a comparative analysis of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal hospital psychiatric admissions in North western Ontario suggested that some Aboriginal people admitted for
The societal issue that I have selected is that of community inclusion for those people suffering with mental health issue and their ability to successfully integrate into the community, after years of institutional living. Two cornerstone of community building is movement beyond problem solving toward changing conditions, and the people affected should play a major part in improving the conditions (Homan, 2011). For those who are affected by mental illness, it is key that they are given resources necessary to live and thrive in their new environment.
The large number of uninsured children and limitations to behavioral health care coverage are problems that public policy in the United States have attempted to fix because “traditionally, insurers and employers have covered treatment for mental health conditions differently than treatment for physical conditions” (Goodell, 2014). There is a major shortage of health care professionals around the world, not just in countries like India that Patel mentions in his speech, and since the majority of mental health care professionals are in urban, high-income areas “the lack of mental health care providers in rural areas as well as in pediatrics has been well documented” (Goodell, 2014). One advantage to this all-involved health care is that there will be more access to those who are in rural areas, minorities, or children with disabilities. These are the groups that fall into the gap between the need for health care and the actual providing of effective care that go into practice in the community (MacKinnon-Lewis, 2016). Another advantage is that those who fall into this gap could experience less stigma if there are people in the community actively doing something to provide effective
Samarasekara, N., Davies, M. L. M., & Siribaddana, S. (2012). The stigma of mental illness in Sri Lanka: the perspectives of community mental health workers. Stigma Research and Action, 2(2). doi:10.5463/sra.v1i3.48.
Since the beginning of deinstitutionalization in the mid twentieth century, there has been a significant need for community mental health care, which was recognized after long term institutional care was considered ineffective. One concept that arose during the community mental health movement was case management. An important goal of the community mental health movement was to create full time mental health centers throughout the United States, and case management was to provide outpatient care to those who suffered from severe mental illness. Case management is still widely recognized today, and continues to be effective in providing care to clients who suffer from mental illness. Case management is a fundamental solution to the advocacy, recruitment, treatment, and care of both the disadvantaged and mentally disabled individuals.