The Discourses Of Care, Control And Protection Essay

The mental health act is an act design to protect people with mental illness. It was originally written in 1983 and reformed in 2007. It sets out clear guidance for a health professional when a person may need to be taken into compulsorily detained in a hospital. This is known as sectioning. This helps carers who are unable to cope without help. People can be sectioned if the health care profession thinks they are a danger to themselves, they are a danger to another person or in danger of abuse from another person. The health professionals have a duty of care to the patient who is mentally ill. They must provide get the right treatment and to give them and their families the right information. The act gives rights to

It is important that the strategy has to draw on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives, understanding what they need and provide the most effective way to reduce the mental illness and suicide prevention (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2009). According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfares, “Closing the gap” is a continuing national program which to help closing the gap of mental health of ATSI people. In the area of improving the mental health of Indigenous people, one strategy under the program is the National Action Plan on Mental Health 2006-2011. This plan elaborates that health practitioners who working in Indigenous community are being trained to identify and address mental illness, as well as other associated issues among indigenous people and make referrals for their treatment. In addition, the national plan also highlights that develop the capacity of health practitioner, local community and community organisation, provide better professional support and resources to enable Indigenous people to improve their mental health and develop cultural awareness and suicide prevention training for local health practitioner in mainstream

The NSW Mental Health Act 2007 lays down the foundation in the proper provision and facilitation of care and treatment to persons with mental health disorders and promote their recovery while protecting the rights of these persons. One of the provisions of the Act uplifting this objective is in the involvement of family and nominated carers of patients. As defined by the Act, designated carers may represent from the person’s guardians; the parent

The lack of treatment for mental illnesses — due partly from the stigma with which it is associated with — comes with a number of public issues: economically,

You should discuss your concerns with your manager, a named or designated professional or a designated member of staff. Such as; school staff (both teaching and non-teaching), concerns should be reported via the schools’ or colleges’ designated safeguarding lead. The safeguarding lead will usually decide whether to make a referral to children’s social care; for early years practitioners, the Early Years Foundation Stage sets out that providers should ensure that they have a practitioner who is designated to take a lead responsibility for safeguarding children who should liaise with local statutory children’s services agencies. Child minder’s should take that responsibility themselves and should notify children’s social care (and, in emergencies, the police) if they have concerns about the safety or welfare of a child; for health practitioners, all providers of NHS funded health services should identify a named doctor and a named nurse (and a named midwife if the organisation provides maternity services) for safeguarding. GP practices should

Crazy by Pete Earley and a series of class videos highlight the tension between access to care and the right of refusal for mental illness patients. Core themes and patterns in the material show the difficulties between state governments and local resources. Each film and book explores the availability of voluntary community-based treatments; personal and professional ethics regarding the individual choice to refuse treatment; and community demands for consumer safety and others.

The mental health act was created in 1983 to make society as fair as possible but it also has had some negative areas. The act says about the ‘removal’ of people with mental disorders. This could be seen as discrimination e.g. marginalisation because you would be making someone feel isolated from society and feel as if they could not be part of that certain part of the community. This act is purely to help and protect those with mental health issues and safeguard those around them. This act was updated from 2001 and finalised in 2007 because the language used in the act was changed. Also issues, treatments on different conditions

As being diagnosed as mentally ill creates a use of label’s which help us to understand and accept the behaviours that they are displaying within a patient centred environment where the individual will not be held in charge for their actions. However, this use of terms will generate empathy and accepting the attitudes of those who are suffering from the mental health issue/ disorder. In some cases, this type of language is seen as a control by professionals which shows off the power that they have over the service user. In some cases, the label’s give some form of relief to service users and individuals for example they will find out that the illness that they have has a name and reassures the service users in a way because they can receive a more adapted way of getting treatment and information of their illness. The findings that we have on labelling provides us with the evidence which we can use to argue that labelling empowers people and raises individual’s self-esteem which in a way can make their wellbeing better, but this is supported throughout the service users opinions once they’ve been diagnosed some individuals become aware of the illness that they have and they gain an understanding of the behaviours that they are displaying or showing. The mental capacity act 2005 says that choices are made but are made

“Single or repeated act or lack of appropriate action occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust which causes harm or distress including physical, emotional, verbal, financial, sexual, racial abuse, neglect and abuse through misapplication of drugs.”

mental health and social care. Politicians face severe pressure from the media, service users and

2. The Mental Health Act 1983 (amended in 2007) –this act outlines the definition of ‘Mental Disorder’ but also states that someone cannot be detained unless appropriate treatment is available. This again links to nursing because appropriate treatment should be available almost any time. (Wikipedia)

Mental illnesses have always been treated differently than physical illnesses. Physical illnesses are given more importance than mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety. While those with physical injuries are told to seek help immediately, so often the only advice those who suffer from mental illnesses receive are to “get over it”. The mentally ill deserve just as much help and attention as those physically ill. Furthermore, it is wrong to incarcerate the mentally ill in prisons because they do not receive the sufficient amount of help that they need there.

Most people with mental health illness feels diminished, devalued, and fearful because of the prejudicial attitudes and discriminatory behaviours that society held towards them. The stigma associated with mental health illness often marginalized and disenfranchises the affected individuals and families in the society, which means that they “may experience discrimination in areas of health care, employment, education, justice, and housing”(1). The feeling of fear to be discriminated against limited the affected individuals and families to seek help and access benefit, which leading to poverty and unhealthy coping strategies such as substance abuse.

Policies have an important role in regulating and shaping the values in a society. The issues related to mental health are not only considered as personal but also affecting the relationships with significant others. The stigma and discrimination faced by people with mental health can be traced to the lack of legislation and protection of rights (Rodriguez del Barrio et al., 2014). The policy makers in mental health have a challenging task to protect the rights of individuals as well as the public (Swigger & Heinmiller, 2014). Therefore, it is essential to analyse the current mental health policies. In Canada, provinces adopt their own Mental Health Acts (MHA) to implement mental health services. As of January 15, 2016, there are 13 mental health acts in Canada (Gray, Hastings, Love, & O’Reilly, 2016). The key elements, despite the differences in laws, are “(1) involuntary admission criteria, (2) the right to refuse treatment, and (3) who has the authority to authorize treatment” (Browne, 2010). The current act in Ontario is Mental Health Act, 1990.

Mental health is defined as an individual’s optimal care in managing the stress of everyday life, through their own unique approach and can efficiently and successfully make vital contribution within the community they live in (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, 2013). Since a break in a person’s optimal mental state affects not only the individual but society, it is important to understand what it means to have a break in one’s state of mental health and the different categories that is associated with mental illness. Focus will also be paid to why there is a need for the reformation of the mental health act in Canada; the social determinants that is associated with mental health and their contribution to society’s health’s. Finally, focus also need to be placed on how mental health is being promoted to society the stigma generally associated with it.