Role of Social Workers for Maintaining Mental Health

This literature review discusses the need for social workers to be prepared in dealing with mental health issues in Australia and explores alternative approaches to conventional social work practice.

Running head: ROLE OF SOCIAL WORKERS FOR MAINTAINING MENTAL HEALTH
Role of Social Workers for Maintaining Mental Health
Name of the student
Name of the University
Author note

1ROLE OF SOCIAL WORKERS FOR MAINTAINING MENTAL HEALTH
Introduction
Mental illness is indicative of different kinds of the mental health conditions and the
disorders that have an effect on the thinking and the behaviour of an individual. Mental
illness has been found to very common within Australia. It has been found that the one out of
the five Australians who belong to the age group of 16-85 suffer from some kind of mental
illness within a year (Farrer et al. 2018). The various kinds of mental illness that is found in
Australia is in relation to depression and the substance use disorder. The mental illness in
Australia mostly affects the Australian youth who are of the age group of 18-24. It has been
found that these group has highest prevalence of the mental illness when compared to the
other age groups. There has been extensive research on the occurrence of mental illness
among the people in Australia. The literature talks about the causes that paves the path for the
mental illness among the population of Australia. There exists a gap regarding how the social
workers can prepare themselves so that they can successfully deal with the issue of the
mental illness in Australia. This literature review talks about the need of the workers for the
mental health preparation in Australia. This review throws light on how the social workers
can be prepared that can help in successfully dealing with the problem of the mental health in
Australia. The review also sheds light on the criticism of that of the conventional social work
practice and the approaches that can be undertaken that can help them in successfully dealing
with the patients of the mental health.
Mental health of people in Australia
There are various kinds of mental illness like the depression, schizophrenia, anxiety
disorder along with the eating disorders. According to Bailey et al. (2016), a concern
pertaining to mental health assumes the dimensions of mental illness in the event of the
symptoms of an individual causing frequent stress for a person. Mental illness can have a

2ROLE OF SOCIAL WORKERS FOR MAINTAINING MENTAL HEALTH
negative effect on the daily life of an individual. The mental illness that afflicts the
Australians are substance use disorders, anxiety disorders along with the depressive
disorders. It has been found that 54 % of the people in Australia having mental illness does
not take recourse to any kind of treatment that deteriorates their mental health condition. It
has been argued by Vigo, Thornicroft and Atun (2016), that the mental health of the people in
Australia are worsened owing to serious problems pertaining to detection and the accurate
diagnosis. It has been found that the proportion of the people having mental illness and
getting access to the treatment has been found to be half as compared to the people having the
physical disorders. It can be said that the access to the treatment can be said to be essential as
75 % of the people who are admitted to the public sector undergo improvements in their
mental health (Health.gov.au 2019).
The mental health care services play an important role in Australia in addressing the
signs of the mental illness. It has been found that in each day, there are six Australians who
die on account of suicide. Suicide accounts to be the leading cause of the death among the
people. The Australians have more chances of dying by suicide as compared to the skin
cancer. The men in Australia are at a greater risk of committing the suicide and they have
lesser chances of asking for help. It has been found in that year 2011, 76 % of the deaths were
from suicide among the Australian men (Aph.gov.au 2019). It has been found that there are
72 % of the males who do not ask for help in the case of a mental disorder. The groups that
face risks in relation to mental health are the indigenous Australians. The indigenous
Australians has rate of the suicide which is more than the double as compared to the non-
indigenous Australians. The LGBTI community in Australia attempts the suicide that is four
times higher when compared to those people who are straight (Bogo 2015). The attempted
suicide has been found to be an important issue and it has been found that around 65,300
people in a year want to take their lives.

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Need of the mental health preparation
The social workers should be prepared that can help them in dealing with the patients
of the mental health. The social workers should be prepared on account of the factor of
stigma. Stigma has been found to encompass the knowledge, attitudes along with the
behaviour of an individual. It has been found that three out of the four people having the
mental illness experiences some kind of stigma. According to Thompson (2015), the stigma
can prove to be harmful for an individual as it brings out the negative feelings in a person like
the shame, hopelessness along with the distress. The stigma that an individual faces also be
misrepresented in the form of the truth. Common stigma that is associated with the people
having the mental health is that the people are violent along with being unpredictable. It is of
increasing importance that the professionals who work with the people having the mental
illness should be capable of understanding the stigma that can greatly help the people
suffering from the issues of the mental health (Dieterich et al. 2017). Being knowledge able
regarding stigma can help in enhancing positive relationship in between the social worker and
the client.
The persons who have psychosocial disabilities have to face stigma along with
discrimination as there are misconceptions in the society regarding cause and the nature of
the mental health condition. It has been stated by Grinnell, Gabor and Unrau (2015), that the
patients feel vulnerable and hence it is important that the mental health workers should know
how to deal with the patients. The social workers should be trained that can help in properly
dealing with the issues in relation to mental health. The training can help the social workers
in offer therapeutic support to the patients. It can prove to be useful in the arena of psychiatric
evaluation that can help the social worker in understanding the case history of the patient. It
is important that the social workers are clinically trained that can help them in serving the
needs of the people who face mental health issues. The social workers should be prepared

4ROLE OF SOCIAL WORKERS FOR MAINTAINING MENTAL HEALTH
that can help them in the area of crisis intervention along with the advocacy. The social
worker should have the extensive knowledge of the human behaviour that can help them in
successfully dealing with that of the mental health patients. According to Rubin and Babbie
(2016), the social workers should possess the professional degree that can help them in
knowing about the skills of the problem solving. It can imbibe the organizational skills in
them that can help them in catering to the needs of the mental health patients. The social
workers being properly prepared can help them in reaching out to the people who are in need
of support.
Preparing the social workers for dealing with mental health patients
The social workers carry out the work in a direct manner with the individuals having
mental illness and their families. The social workers are responsible for helping the clients
deal with the problems that can help them in regaining their mental condition. It has been
argued by Levine (2017), the social workers provide the family along with the group
counselling that can help them in dealing in an effective manner with the patients of the
mental health. The social workers can prepare themselves with the help of the act of
volunteering. The social workers can undertake the volunteer opportunities in the mental
health hospital that can help them in dealing with that of the mental health patients. The act of
volunteering can help the social workers in meeting people from diverse areas that can help
them in dealing with the stress that the social care workers have to experience. It can provide
the individuals with relevant experience that can help in reducing the incidence of burn out of
the social workers. According to Bernard (2017), the social workers can take recourse to
social work licensing that can help in ensuring safe professional practice of the social
workers. The social work degrees can greatly help the social workers in understanding the
needs of the patients who have mental health disorders. The non-clinical social work

5ROLE OF SOCIAL WORKERS FOR MAINTAINING MENTAL HEALTH
experience can help them in getting ideas about the problems of the mental health patients
that can greatly help them in their professional development.
The social worker can contact the non-profit organization that can help them in
gaining useful experience that can greatly help them in their work. It can help in building the
professional strengths of the social worker that can help them in offering extensive help to the
patients having mental health diseases. The training should focus on the case scenarios along
with the role play activities that can be useful for the social worker. The training should focus
on the practical experience that can be delivered to the social workers with the help of the
therapy sessions.
Criticism of the conventional social work practice
The conventional practice relating to social work can be criticized on various grounds.
The social workers are prone to making mistakes that acts as a hurdle in the way of their
delivery of their service. The social workers do not have the skills that can help them in
providing proper care to the mental health patients. According to Stanhope et al. (2015), the
social workers are not imbibed with the principles that can help them in providing treatment
to the patients. The errors are committed by the social workers that causes them to make
mistakes. The social workers are not acquainted with the Code of the Ethics that acts as a
barrier in the path of the social workers. It has been argued by Rooney and Mirick (2018) ,
that the social workers should know about the process of gaining consent from the clients that
can help them in working along the ethical lines. The social workers receive the complaints
due to the fact that they are not acquainted with the principles of the social work practice. The
social work prevalent in the present age can be criticised owing to the fact that they are not
held accountable pertaining to their bad practice.

6ROLE OF SOCIAL WORKERS FOR MAINTAINING MENTAL HEALTH
According to Thompson (2015), the social workers should get the professional
supervision that can help them in helping the mental health patients. It has been found that
supervisor and supervisee do not share the responsibility that can help in effective treatment
of that of the patients. The social workers within the society are responsible for interacting in
a frequent manner with the vulnerable people in the society. The social workers do not want
to know about the specific problem that the clients are facing that raises difficulty for the
clients. The social workers in the present age do not value the aspect of openness along with
partnership that creates problem for that of the social workers. It lacks the element of
transparency that can help in solving the plight of the mental health patients of Australia. The
social worker are not accountable to the professional bodies that comes in the way of success
of their profession. According to Lawrence (2016), the social workers does not work on the
lines of the legislative framework of Australia that impedes the work of the social workers
treating mental health patients. The social workers do not work on the basis of the Human
Rights Act that can hamper the work of these kinds of workers. The social workers do not
abide by the National Care Standards of Australia that can be of great help for them in
dealing with the distress and the suffering of the mental health patients.
Alternative approaches of the practice
The social workers should make use of the principle and the practice of the diagnosis
that can help them in providing proper treatment to the patients of the mental health. The
social worker should select the comprehensive assessment intervention that can help them in
the area of the treatment planning. The social worker should know how to use the diagnostic
tools that can help in description of symptoms of the mental health patients. The social
worker should have solid knowledge pertaining to psychology and the therapy that can help
them in acting as a strong support in relation to the mental health patients. The social workers
can make use of holistic therapy that can help them in serving the patients of the mental

7ROLE OF SOCIAL WORKERS FOR MAINTAINING MENTAL HEALTH
health. It can integrate the different elements of many theories that can help people in
emerging to be successful practitioners (Dieterich et al. 2017). The social worker can use the
psychotherapy tools that can help in suiting the specific problems of the clients. This can act
as an alternative approach that can be helpful in understanding the demands of the patients
having mental health.
The client centered therapy can help them in addressing the specific problems of the
clients. The social workers should be genuine with the feedback that can greatly help that of
the mental health patients. The social worker can create professional relationship with the
client that can greatly act to the benefit of patients suffering from the mental health. The
social worker can make use of open-ended questions that can encourage the people to reveal
their mental problems. The social worker should be capable of building the atmosphere of
trustworthiness that can make the patient feel that the social worker can be trusted upon
(Farrer et al. 2018). The social workers can use technique of the capping that can help in
changing the direction of the conversation that can help in alleviating the suffering of that of
the mental health patient. The social worker can take recourse to proxemics that can help
them in studying spatial movement of the patients.
Conclusion
Mental health includes the various kind of mental health conditions that has
repercussions on the behaviour of an individual. Mental illness has become a common
occurrence within Australia. Research has found the fact that one of the five Australians
belonging to age group of that of 16-85 suffer that of mental illness disorder. There exists 54
% of the people who do not use the treatment that causes the decline of the mental condition
in relation to the patients. The inaccurate diagnosis complicates the situation for the patient
that makes them suffer for a prolonged period of time. The professionals should understand

8ROLE OF SOCIAL WORKERS FOR MAINTAINING MENTAL HEALTH
stigma that can be of benefit for the people having mental health problems. Social workers
being not acquainted with that of Code of Ethics that throws a challenge for that of the social
workers. Social workers can select assessment interventions that can help them in providing
proper treatment to patients. Social worker should properly use the diagnostic tools that can
help them in understanding symptoms of the patients.

9ROLE OF SOCIAL WORKERS FOR MAINTAINING MENTAL HEALTH
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