The 'Tricky Dance' of Advocacy: A Study of Non-legal Mental Health Advocacy

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Authors
Bennetts, W
Maylea, C
McKenna, B
Makregiorgos, H
Supervisor
Item type
Journal Article
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Publisher
Northumbria University Library
Abstract

Advocacy in compulsory mental health settings is complex and contested, incorporating legal, non-legal, representational and best interests advocacy. This paper presents an approach to non-legal representational advocacy used by Independent Mental Health Advocacy (IMHA), in Victoria, Australia, drawing on in-depth qualitative interviews with advocates and other key stakeholders. After outlining the Victorian context and the IMHA model, this paper shows how IMHA privileges the consumer voice using representational advocacy, which is rights-based and works for systemic change. Using a supported decision-making model, the paper highlights the enablers and challenges which exist, before discussing the implications in terms of rights, power, capacity building and systemic change. The participants saw IMHA as working to address one of the most troubling tensions in mental health care, between the perceived need for coercion and the need to support people to make their own decisions. Representational advocacy provides a clear, easily transferable and tested framework for engaging in supported decision-making processes with people in the mental health system.

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Keywords
IMHA; Independent Mental Health Advocacy; Mental health; Advocacy; Victoria Australia; Non-legal advocacy; Compulsory treatment; Involuntary treatment; Supported decision-making
Source
International Journal of Mental Health and Capacity Law, 2018(24), 12-31. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.19164/ijmhcl.v2018i24.746
Rights statement
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.