Publications from ODSW Social Insights: Letters by DSW (Vol 2) | Page 66

Working with Various Client Groups
The need to have family focused practice is well acknowledged as we
often salvage and reinstate family relationships torn by the challenges and
dynamics of family life. The social perspective acknowledges the importance
of the service users’ own expertise about their experiences and needs. It
involves working closely alongside people, as well as, using empathy and
relationship-building skills to hear and see through the eyes of service users,
their families and friends in their non-crisis state. It is also necessary to focus
on the contribution and needs of carers in mental health, including young
carers who take on roles because the adults are either absent or unable to
fulfil the responsibility.
Individuals and families often open up when they experience the following
qualities in those who are helping them: warmth, respect, trust, reliability,
being non-judgemental, being quick to listen, being treated with equality
and having good information about how they could be helped.

Building community capacity
One of the better social inclusion strategies includes working with groups
and networks of citizens to foster mutual support in order to develop
greater acceptance of mental health issues. It is also important to develop
knowledge of diverse communities and their networks, and to engage
people from young about the subject of mental health and wellbeing.
To achieve this, social service practitioners need to use advanced relationshipbased skills, and work in partnership with service users, carers and the wider
community. They should tap on social networks and community dynamics
to reach out to those who need support. It is good to help agencies and
people to contribute to better coordination of the delivery of services and
value-add to solving problems. To do this, the community at the regional
level may be best able to bring agencies together to solve problems,
form their own networks, provide peer support and learning, re-organise
processes and service delivery, and deal with stigma and discrimination as
they surface.
Almost every community has its constituents of diverse needs and
challenges. Mental health issues are among the categories that tend to have
an ambiguous goal, outcome and ownership. Crisis situations tend to dictate
the public, agency and professional response for intervention. There is often
weak follow through post crisis which implies a less than optimal investment
of resources. The aim of the work on mental health issues must therefore
focus on enabling a stronger commitment to supporting individuals and
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