Mental health policy discussion in Auckland

Mental health policy discussion in Auckland

Mental health policy and practice in New Zealand and the influence of the recovery approach and trauma-informed care will be discussed at a mental health and social justice symposium next week.

The Second Mental Health and Social Justice Symposium on Monday and Tuesday is hosted by the University of Auckland’s Centre for Mental Health Research at the Grafton Campus.

Following the success of the first symposium of this kind in 2011, the Second Mental Health and Social Justice Symposium aims to foster in-depth discussion and promote long-term networking among researchers in the field.

One of the keynote speakers will be Professor Bernadette McSherry, Foundation Director of the Melbourne Social Equity Institute at the University of Melbourne and an Adjunct Professor in the Melbourne Law School and the Faculty of Law, at Monash University.

In a public address on the first evening of the symposium, Professor McSherry will talk about risk, recovery and human rights, and the tensions in mental health law, policy and practice.

Professor McSherry says mental health policy and practice in New Zealand and Australia have become increasingly influenced by the tenets of the recovery approach and trauma-informed care.

At the same time, human rights are playing a key role in mental health law reform.

She says the concept of risk is still central to laws that enable treatment without consent, while effective risk management is an integral part of mental health care.

“The inevitable corollary of advocating for recovery and human rights is that individuals with severe mental health problems must be afforded greater responsibility for their own lives,” she says.

Her presentation on Monday night will pose the question whether this is possible in a risk-averse society.

“Through an exploration of two situations relating to harm to self and others, it will be suggested that the maxim ‘hard cases make bad law’ can be applied to the mental health sector,” she says.

“It is argued that while risk remains central to law, policy and practice, any shift away from coercive care and the use of restrictive interventions such as seclusion and restraint will be slow and incremental,” says Professor McSherry.

“It is suggested that one approach to combatting current tensions in mental health law, policy and practice is to use the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to advocate for “positive” rights, particularly the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of mental health and the right to independent living.”

Two New Zealand keynote speakers are; Anne Helm, a consumer consultant, activist, educator and tireless worker for social justice, and a part-time consultant to Addiction Services in Canterbury; and Associate Professor Hinemoa Elder, an internationally recognised leader in child and adolescent psychiatry, indigenous issues pertaining to psychiatry, neuropsychiatry and youth forensic psychiatry.

ENDS

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