The Rise of Social Work in Public Mental Health through Aftercare of People with Serious Mental Illness

Abstract

In the early years of the 20th century, social work's practice boundaries expanded to include direct work with people with the most serious mental illnesses through the function of aftercare. Using complementary and mutually reinforcing efforts to promote social reform in the care of people with mental illness and then to provide that care directly, the young social work profession established its presence in the emerging public mental health field and significantly broadened prevailing standards of acceptable care. This article presents a historical case analysis of the early events contributing to the identification of social work with aftercare and illustrates processes of creating professional "place" while influencing public perception of social needs relevant for the profession's continued growth and influence in the current reconfiguration of human services systems.

Living in the Shadows: A Canadian Experience of Mental Health Social Work

“…The shift from institutionally based practice to community-based practice has been well documented elsewhere (Aviram, 2002;Bransford & Bakken, 2002;Ryan, et al, 2004;Vourlekis, et al, 1998). The findings from the current study confirm that mental health social work practice in Ontario reflects the prevalence of community-based practice.…”

“…Current trends across jurisdictions in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, include an emphasis on community-based practice (Aviram, 2002;Center for Health Workforce Studies, 2006;Newhill & Kore, 2004;Ryan et al, 2004;Vourlekis et al, 1998), the need for social workers to be more engaged with clients with serious mental illnesses (Newhill & Kore, 2004;Renouf & Bland, 2005), issues with inter-professional practice (Ray et al, 2008;Renouf & Bland, 2005;Steiner et al, 2008), the identification of approaches that empower clients and their families (Aviram, 2002;Carpenter, 2002;Proctor, 2004;Ray et al, 2008;Renouf & Bland, 2005), and ethical issues associated with increasing trends toward mandated treatment (Campbell et al, 2006;Taylor & Bentley, 2005;Wilson, 2007). Also consistent across jurisdictions is the trend toward implementing more coercive interventions such as mandatory outpatient treatment in the United States and Community Treatment Orders in the United Kingdom, Australia, and parts of Canada (Campbell et al, 2006;Taylor & Bentley, 2005;Wilson, 2007).…”

Helping Community Partners Build Capacity within Integrated Behavioral Health

“…Within these two systems, both mental health and physical health providers routinely work with other health care professionals. Social workers are currently the largest group of mental health care providers in the U.S. (Heisler, 2018) and have been practicing collaboratively for over a century in the mental health system (Vourlekis et al, 1998).…”

Social Work and Deliverance Practice: The Pentecostal Experience

“…Social work has long advocated for effective aftercare models (Vourlekis, Edinburg, & Knee, 1998). Moreover, it is important for discharge planning to insure that clients receive proper aftercare (Belcher, 1997).…”