Exploring women’s perspectives of living with mental illness, stigma, and receiving community services

According to the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) (2015), one in five individuals will experience mental illness personally, which means that all Canadians will be indirectly (or directly) influenced by mental illness at some point in their life. Unfortunately, due to historical trends and negative stereotypes mental illness has become heavily stigmatized (Camp, Finlay, and Lyons, 2002; Chernomas, Clarke, and Chisholm, 2000; Link, Struening, Neese-Todd, Asmussen, and Phelan, 2001; Sands, 2009; Szeto, Luong & Dobson, 2013). Although many studies have assessed the relationship between mental illness and stigma, little research has included a gender lens when exploring these topics. Therefore, the primary research objective of the current study is to explore women’s perspectives of living with mental illness, stigma, and receiving community services. In total, five women from the Kitchener, Waterloo, and Cambridge area participated in the study. Similar to the literature, results found that the women experienced feelings of loneliness and sadness due to their mental illness diagnosis and the stigma they experienced from friends, family, and service staff. Some women talked about being relieved to have a label or diagnosis for their illness, however, the majority of their narratives suggested that living with a mental illness is difficult due to the internal and external stigma they experience. Findings from this study have implications for contributing to the field of social work, improving service delivery within various healthcare facilities, and future research

Exploratory study of the use of community treatment orders with clients of an Ontario ACT team

Community Treatment Orders (CTOs) have raised questions about coercion, lack of autonomy, and effectiveness in reducing hospitalizations and improving service users’ quality of life. This study examined the experiences of clients and clinicians when CTOs are used in combination with Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) in a recovery oriented approach. Eleven clients who were or had previously been on a CTO and eight ACT clinicians were interviewed. Although most clients had negative feelings about CTOs, some acknowledged their lives had improved. Clinicians reported that the decision to employ a CTO is sometimes debated within the team but they agreed that combining CTOs and ACT resulted in regular access to mental health supports, fewer hospitalizations and overall improvement of quality of life for their clients

Mama! I hear your silence: Grief and COVID-19 on the Global North and South disparity

In this conversation with Mama, I use my mother’s voice as a reflexive mirror to explore the social work silences that the COVID-19 pandemic expresses so eloquently in my own life and work. I seek to highlight the intimate link between Mama’s silence and social work silence

Exploring women’s perspectives of living with mental illness, stigma, and receiving community services

According to the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) (2015), one in five individuals will experience mental illness personally, which means that all Canadians will be indirectly (or directly) influenced by mental illness at some point in their life. Unfortunately, due to historical trends and negative stereotypes mental illness has become heavily stigmatized (Camp, Finlay, and Lyons, 2002; Chernomas, Clarke, and Chisholm, 2000; Link, Struening, Neese-Todd, Asmussen, and Phelan, 2001; Sands, 2009; Szeto, Luong & Dobson, 2013). Although many studies have assessed the relationship between mental illness and stigma, little research has included a gender lens when exploring these topics. Therefore, the primary research objective of the current study is to explore women’s perspectives of living with mental illness, stigma, and receiving community services. In total, five women from the Kitchener, Waterloo, and Cambridge area participated in the study. Similar to the literature, results found that the women experienced feelings of loneliness and sadness due to their mental illness diagnosis and the stigma they experienced from friends, family, and service staff. Some women talked about being relieved to have a label or diagnosis for their illness, however, the majority of their narratives suggested that living with a mental illness is difficult due to the internal and external stigma they experience. Findings from this study have implications for contributing to the field of social work, improving service delivery within various healthcare facilities, and future research

Exploratory study of the use of community treatment orders with clients of an Ontario ACT team

Community Treatment Orders (CTOs) have raised questions about coercion, lack of autonomy, and effectiveness in reducing hospitalizations and improving service users’ quality of life. This study examined the experiences of clients and clinicians when CTOs are used in combination with Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) in a recovery oriented approach. Eleven clients who were or had previously been on a CTO and eight ACT clinicians were interviewed. Although most clients had negative feelings about CTOs, some acknowledged their lives had improved. Clinicians reported that the decision to employ a CTO is sometimes debated within the team but they agreed that combining CTOs and ACT resulted in regular access to mental health supports, fewer hospitalizations and overall improvement of quality of life for their clients