Skip Navigation


BJSW Advance Access originally published online on February 20, 2006
British Journal of Social Work 2006 36(7):1101-1118; doi:10.1093/bjsw/bch423
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
36/7/1101    most recent
bch423v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (1)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Campbell, J.
Right arrow Articles by O’Brien, A. M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Association of Social Workers. All rights reserved.

International Perspectives on the Use of Community Treatment Orders: Implications for Mental Health Social Workers

Jim Campbell, Lisa Brophy, Bill Healy and Ann Marie O’Brien

Jim Campbell is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Social Work, Queens University Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK.

Lisa Brophy is Chief Social Worker at the NorthWest Area Mental Health Service, Melbourne, Australia, and a Ph.D. student at the School of Social Work, The University of Melbourne.

Bill Healy is an Associate Professor at the School of Social Work and Social Policy, LaTrobe University Melbourne and NorthWestern Mental Health, Melbourne, Australia.

Ann Marie O’Brien is Community Treatment Coordinator at the Royal Ottawa Hospital, Ontario, Canada.

Correspondence to Dr Jim Campbell, Senior Lecturer, School of Social Work, Queens University Belfast, 7 Lennoxvale, BT9 5BY, Northern Ireland. E-mail: jim.campbell{at}qub.ac.uk

Substantial changes to mental health law and policy have occurred throughout the Western world during the last decade. The drift towards control, particularly in the form of Community Treatment Orders (CTOs), has profound implications for the role of mental health social workers, yet this issue is rarely discussed in academic literature. This paper seeks to redress this gap in knowledge by examining aspects of law, policy and practice using three case studies: Victoria, Australia; Ontario, Canada; and regions of the UK. The paper begins by critically reviewing selected literature on CTOs, revealing competing claims about efficacy and their impact upon service users1 and practitioners. A discussion of policy and practice contexts in the three jurisdictions is then presented and supported with a typology, to illustrate contrasts and comparisons. In their conclusions, the authors assert that mental health social workers often have a crucial part to play in the implementation of CTOs but that this is not always acknowledged in law and organizational policy. Social workers’ roles and responsibilities need to be more explicitly identified in mental health law. At the same time, there should be a continuing debate about how such coercive powers fit with codes of ethics and practice standards, at national and international levels.

Keywords: Community Treatment Orders (CTOs), mental health social workers


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.