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© British Association of Social Workers

User Involvement in Services—Incorporation or Challenge?

J. FORBES and S. P. SASHIDHARAN

Joan Forbes is Lecturer in Social Work at the University of Leicester

Sashi Sashidharan is Professor of Community Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Birmingham

Correspondence to Joan Forbes at The School of Social Work, The University of Leicester, 107 Princess Road East, Leicester, LE1 7LA

Summary

In recent years, users of social work, like those of psychiatry, have been increasingly drawn into the organization and delivery of social work and mental health services. This has been largely welcomed as a desirable development by planners, academics and practitioners in the field. In this article, we reappraise the broad issues raised by user involvement and consider the implications of this trend. Despite the attractiveness of the user perspective in the policy and delivery of social work and psychiatric services, we point to the dangers of incorporation and moderation of an oppositional position, from which, we argue, users can best challenge existing practices and connect with wider political struggles.


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