Gathering a range of international perspectives on how social workers highlight and engage with the struggles of those with whom they work, this book demonstrates the concerns of mental health social workers, and the ways in which major challenges are being confronted, in a range of different countries and jurisdictions. Readers will find accounts detailing a range of social work approaches, from traditional to radical and from therapeutic to campaigning, but all sharing a commitment to highlighting the exceptional but often undervalued commitment of social work to the field of mental health. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Social Work Practice.

Introduction: Mental health an issue for everyone? 1. Social workers' narratives of integrating mindfulness into practice 2. Early onset schizophrenia and school social work 3. Analysis of social work practice: Foucault and female body image in therapy 4. Police encounters in child and youth mental health: could stigma informed crisis intervention training (CIT) for parents help? 5. Structural and cultural factors in suicide prevention: the contrast between mainstream and Inuit approaches to understanding and preventing suicide 6. 'Only connect' 'nearest relative's' experiences of mental health act assessments 7. Impasses in the relationship between the psychiatric rehabilitation practitioner and the consumer: a psychodynamic perspective

Malcolm Golightley is Professor of Social Work at the University of Lincoln, UK, and a registered social worker with extensive mental health experience. He is the editor of the British Journal of Social Work.

Gloria Kirwan is Assistant Professor of Social Work at Trinity College Dublin, Republic of Ireland, and is also a registered social worker.