‘The view from inside’: understanding service user involvement in health and social care education

Abstract

Service users are increasingly involved in health and social care education, whilst the government is committed to increasing access to employment for people with mental health needs. The benefits of involving service users in social work education have been identified, including increasing skills, confidence, and building capacity; yet there is little research that reflects on the personal costs of involvement. An understanding of the social model of disability underpinned by the recovery approach enables us to conceptualise more equal involvement of experts by experience in health and social care education. This enables us to respect their inclusion by noting that it is our non‐disabled environment which disables and excludes people from the work place, whilst an understanding of recovery requires us to accept that people with mental distress may have to manage the limitations of their distress in the work place rather than live a life completely free of symptoms.

Keywords:

• service user involvement
• social work education
• recovery
• social model of disability
• mental health
• disability equality