2020-21

SOW5010-B Mental Distress

Assessment: 2500 Word Essay
(70% of total module mark)

Please choose ONE of the following topics for your assignment:
Critically explore the concept of ‘recovery’ and discuss its relevance for social work when working with adults experiencing mental distress

What can a social perspective contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of mental distress when undertaking mental health social work with ONE of the following:
Children who have experienced abuse or trauma
Older people with dementia
Adults experiencing psychosis
Families where a parent experiences mental distress
Refugees and asylum seekers

In a recent (2017) document, Special Rapporteur to the United Nations Human Rights Council, Danius Pūras, wrote:
The psychosocial model has emerged as an evidence-based response to the biomedical paradigm. It looks beyond (without excluding) biological factors, understanding psychological and social experiences as risk factors contributing to poor mental health and as positive contributors to well-being.
Critically discuss the implications of this statement for social work practice

Address ONE of the following:
Current mental health strategy claims that ‘mental health is everyone’s business’, and there is ‘no health without mental health’ (HM Government 2011). Critically explore what these two phrases mean for social work practice when working with people experiencing mental distress.

The executive summary of the Five Year View for Mental Health (Mental Health Taskforce 2016:4) begins with the following statement:
The NHS needs a far more proactive and preventative approach to reduce the long term impact for people experiencing mental health problems and for their families, and to reduce costs for the NHS and emergency services
Critically assess the contribution that a social perspective could make to this approach

What challenges and innovations might the impact of Covid-19 bring to professional social work practice with people experiencing mental distress?

References
Pūras, D. (2017) Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. Human Rights Council.

HM Government (2011) No heath without mental health: a cross-government mental health outcomes strategy for people of all ages. HM Government.

Mental Health Taskforce (2016) Five year view for mental health. NHS England