SWPH-706 : Social Policy and Mental Hlth

This course will include consideration of individual rights, especially the rights of populations at risk, rights regarding civil commitment and treatment, professional roles vis.-a-vis. Consumer rights, and consumer advocacy. Attention will be given to persons with mental illness, developmental disabilities, learning disabilities and substance abuse disorders-or combinations of these conditions-with special focus on individuals with severe and persistent mental conditions. U.S. mental health policy will be examined as it is enacted in programs and services, social entitlements, financing arrangements, and organizational missions. Ethical and value dilemmas connected to these topics will be examined within an American as well as comparative historical and cultural context. The major focus of this course will be on public policies and services, with an ongoing examination of the relationships of this public domain to the non-profit and for-profit sector. Special consideration will be given to how the contemporary mental health system relates to and is experienced by economically disadvantaged persons, women, transgendered, lesbian, bisexual, gay, and queer persons, and persons of color.