Social Work and Mental Health - Essay Example

RUNNING HEAD: Statement of Learning Statement of Learning Social Work and Mental Health Name: Instructor: Course Unit: Date: Introduction: This chance of expressing myself in this statement of learning Social Work & Mental Health has bestowed me with the perspective to reveal what I have learned from the subject along with the process by which this has occurred and to convey my individual assessments and attitudes. It should be renowned that, while I maintain to be along the thoroughfare of all-time learning, this is an ‘exertion in full swing’ that will persist to advance. All the way through the subject development, I have come to comprehend my beliefs and values relating to Social Work & Mental Health, my contemplations on the role of social work and individuals with mental health disorders and the significance of open and constructive interaction with these individuals. Furthermore, I have come to better appreciate my beliefs relating to mental health and mental illness as they relate to social work, individuals and society as a whole. Personal Meaning and Success: Prior to involvement with the subject I had a negative attitude towards its implication as a social worker. I held mental health with negativity far much below near to what I understand of it now. I regarded the subject as another waste of time, since I portrayed that mental health was a concern of medical practitioners’. But from that time that I sat and keenly interpreted my first lecture online notes, it all acted like a spell of magic that had been cast on me by the lecturer. The broad meaning of health, mental health and mental illness was unlocked in me. Since then the subject matter trickled in me, just like a liquid through the funnel. I got and comprehended the crystal clear meaning of the reason to learn social work and mental health. This was achieved through strategies that included; identification of key ideas for the various units, which facilitated me to grasp quickly the main idea; unit learning objectives, which helped me to reflect back on what I had achieved at the end of the unit; the various discussions and commentaries also shaped my ability and eagerness of ‘digging’ deeper to understand the gist of the matter; the readings and commentaries for each unit highlighted predominantly significant and motivating aspects of the reading, thus encouraged me to toe the line of wanting to know more; the non-assessable tasks at the end of each unit assisted me to expand a better perceptive of the material being presented in the unit; the review questions were vital in that they helped me to go back and peruse through the particular unit again thus understanding even more the main concept; the provision of the further reading and resources at the end of each unit simplified my quest to pursue further. These coupled by inspirational lecturers who were very engaging, encouraged us to think outside the square. They challenged us each week and I adored that they did so, because it made me to remain focused on the subject matter. To my joy the lecturers thwarted the description of the teaching model that Berge & Collins (1995) put forward that; “traditionally, students have been told what to learn, how to learn it, when to learn it, and how to show how they know what they have learned”. I am proud that they did not make us part and parcel of that model which depicts students as ‘empty bottles’ that the lecturers ‘fill’ with facts and the volume of knowledge in the bottle is from time to time established by the ‘measuring stick’ of assessment. This is for the reason that they were instead ‘creators of learning experiences’ for us students and academic guides (Owston, 1997). Every time that I interacted with them they enthralled my thoughts, empowered and enhanced me with significant skills and acquaintance as to grant me to capture initiative and be in charge of my own learning. The tutorials again incorporated role plays.  This further enhanced my communication skills but, the case studies also improved my understanding of working with families. The various challenging assessments that we have had further shaped my understanding of mental health/illness without which I could not have discovered. Working in this region is at the present also, a likelihood for me and is something I may have kept away from if I had not completed and understood well the meaning of this subject. The knowledge that I have garnered from participating in learning this subject includes; development in awareness of the concepts of health, mental health and the mental health continuum (Lawrence & Coghlan, 2002). From this view point I have come to appreciate the meaning of health, mental health and the concepts of health, for instance I now fully acknowledge that there is no health without mental health; simply put mental health is a fundamental part of the description of health but, not just the non-existence of psychological disorders. Still on this I acknowledged that, mental health is the groundwork for well-being and successful functioning for, an individual and the society as a whole. I further gained knowledge about the Australian mental health system, and how the mental health disorders are caused, reasons to why they are within us, and their escalation within our very own society. Another knowledge that I garnered is that I have grown to be familiar with a ‘population health’ approach intended to support mental health and preclusion with early on intrusion of setbacks and disorders (Heinonen & Metteri, 2005). This has presented me with skills in whichever place I could work from, these skills include; effective suggestion of efforts to give an all-inclusive variety of expert, incorporated wellbeing promotion as well as infection care checks, while simultaneously determination to realize impartiality of wellbeing conditions, reserve allocation, in addition to easy admission and utilization to all Australian population. This also has given me an opportunity to develop an understanding of the sociological model and medical models of mental health/ mental illness. From this perspective I have come to know that mental health relates to emotions, thoughts and behaviours, this is different from what I envisaged before. I have come to know that these two perspectives of health hold an influence in some mental health and mental illness services in Australia, and that they are mostly integrated in most organizations which distinguish their retort to mental health as appropriate in an instant on a continuum involving a ‘medical’ and a ‘sociological’ understanding of mental health/mental illness. This gives me an advantage in that I will be well versed with what I am dealing with and how to exercise my conducts in these areas (WHO, 2005). The subject also has made me to gain an array of knowledge and skills in social work and mental health through exploring a social construction of mental health, including the social, economic, political & cultural influences on beliefs regarding an appropriate response to mental health issues. For instance I am now in terms with the causation of mental illness, the social inference of particular behaviours and how curative preferences differ significantly across cultures, times and communities. This has given me the skill of quickly acclimatizing myself with the community and individuals so that they can feel I am part of them (Farone, 2002). Also it has ultimately instilled in me knowledge of historical themes regarding the indulgent in, as well as reaction en route for, mental health issues. This has made to gain an understanding of the current Australian response to mental health promotion, this include such issues like policy, legislation, and practice. Other skills that I gained include, effective self-reading and researching for my assessments, effective time management, report writing and communication skills. By and large, I believe I was successful in gaining knowledge throughout the various sub units of the course. The part that enthralled and touched me most was unit 3 that involved mental health, human rights and social work. It made me to understand conceptualizations of mental health and mental illness in relation to human rights and social justice. On ‘digging’ deeper to understand the gist of the matter it revealed how inhuman we human beings sometimes can be due to our negligence and stigma myths. The Burdekin Report of the National Inquiry into the Human Rights of People with a Mental Illness 1993, made the situation worse, in that it revealed how the very government that vows to protect its citizens is instead exposing them to death. This then instilled in me the reason to why social work has a particular place within responses to people living with a mental illness, and how the underlying principles of social work can complement service response from a multidisciplinary team. Personal Learning: This subject has facilitated me to discover the ability of superior learning independence and taking more accountability for, and possession of, the entire learning. Indeed it has enabled me to discover my abilities that relate to self-regulation of learning strategies, in addition to approaches, awareness and principles related to educational performance and individual development. My strength lies in my awareness capability of thinking process, and the insatiable quest to comprehend the gist of the matter, that presented me with the ability to utilize the various learning strategies effectively thus helped me to monitor my understanding and progress. The personal quality that made me realize my achievement in this subject was self-regulation, because it assimilated the cognitive, metacognitive and motivational aspects; it ultimately accentuated the consequence of this triple association. It enabled me to victoriously make decisions of using constructive beliefs about past, present and future academic tasks and personal endeavours. This was well supported by the James Cook University aura that helped to incorporate these behaviours. This indeed has produced in me an individual who is confident of his ability, who is capable of managing his personal ability and a life-long learning and wellness practices. Of course I didn’t achieve this ‘scot-free’ without my personal values being challenged. The personal value that was flatly challenged was my respect to individuals with mental illness. I held them with very low esteem as well as observing them like crazy individuals who should be sheltered clear of the rest of the society. At the end of the unit I discovered that I was very wrong and ignorant. My bad attitude of not respecting individuals with mental illness thus viewing them as individuals who should be ‘nursed’ and ‘assisted’, which translates to individuals who are less competent, conceivably even invaluable of consultation, inclusion and unquestionably self-determination, has been totally revolutionized. Civic, Social Responsibility: My participation in social work and mental health learning has far above the ground enhanced my intellect of civic conscientiousness and the aspiration to provide in the community and to fellow Australian natives, who every day experience various mental health disorders and yet have no where to run to, since we have turned our backs to them, discriminated them and labelled them with names that they don’t deserve (Renouf & Tullgren, 2009). From this subject I have learnt that ethic and social responsibility varies from individual to individual and across societies and different cultures. Indeed ethics is in part an assessment of beliefs, decisions and actions. Within the mental health context, we social workers are expected to have all-time excellent ethical values and act socially responsible. The Australian Association of Social Workers (2004) identifies these codes of ethics as, Human Dignity and Worth, Social Justice, Service to Humanity, Integrity and Competence. I also learnt that, it is likewise significant that when I go to work anywhere I should feel like I am sharing the values of those I work with. I have come to acknowledge that ethics is not just chatting about the right thing but, accomplishment of the correct concern, in every resolution taken. From this subject I will always carry with me memories of the Burdekin’s report, the Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander mental health impacts, and to crown it, my entire role as a social worker to help individuals with mental illness. References: Australian Association of Social Workers (2002). Australian Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics. Canberra: AASW Berge, Z. & Collins, M. (1995). Computer-mediated communication and the online classroom in distance learning. Computer-Mediated Communication Magazine, (2)4. Burdekin, B. (1993). Report of the National Inquiry into the Human Rights of People with Mental Illness, (1& 2). Canberra: AGPS Farone, D.W. (2002). Mental Illness, Social Construction & Managed Care: Implications for Social Work. Social Work in Mental Health, (1), 1, 99-113. Heinonen, T. & Metteri, A. (eds.) (2005). Social Work in health & mental health: issues, development & actions. Toronto, Ontario: Canadian Scholar’s Press Lawrence, D. & Coghlan, R. (2002). Health inequalities and the health needs of people with mental illness. NSW Public Health Bull, (13), 55-158. Owston, R. (1997). The World Wide Web: a technology to enhance teaching and learning?. Educational Researcher, (26)2. Renouf & Tullgren (2009). Social Work Practice in Mental Health. Crows Nest NSW: Allen & Unwin. World Health Organization (2005). Promoting Mental Health: Concepts, Emerging evidence, Practice. A report of the World Health Organization, Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse in collaboration with the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation and the University of Melbourne. World Health Organization. Geneva. Read More