Mental Health Policies and Service

This course will cover the various mental health services and programs for adults, children, and youth, and the roles that social workers perform. Promotion, prevention, treatment and rehabilitation services to the mentally ill, developmentally disabled, learning disabled, and substance abuse populations will be surveyed. Contemporary policy issues, legislation, ethical issues, controversies, social movements, and trends affecting services to those with mental illness and mental disorders will be discussed. The historical context of services and how the mentally ill have been historically stigmatized and conceptualized will be reviewed, so that students will be able to develop critical thinking about mental health services. The impact of differences in the key diversity dimensions such as ability, age, class, color, culture, ethnicity, family structure, gender (including gender identity and gender expression) marital status, national origin, race, religion or spirituality, sex, and sexual orientation will be examined , as these relate to various mental health policies and services. This course will also survey the various self-help, mutual aid, and natural/informal helping systems.