Community participation and social inclusion: How practitioners can make a difference

Abstract

People with mental disorders are marginalised and socially excluded from many aspects of community life. They often experience difficulty with obtaining employment, participating in community activities, affordable and sustainable housing, financial and legal issues, transportation, and limited information about, and access to, the options that are available to them. In this article, we describe a selected number of activities that promote social inclusion. Social inclusion not only offers us a framework for developing mental health policy, but serves to measure how well mental health services are achieving recovery-orientated outcomes. Examples are provided to highlight how the concept of social inclusion can be applied in the everyday practice of mental health practitioners.

Keywords:

• mental health
• community participation
• social inclusion
• practitioners
• recovery
• consumer
• psychiatric disability
• employment