The Need for Practicable Normative Right-based Social Work Practice in Secure and Forensic Mental Health Services

Abstract

Abstract We (both author and reader) will explore the need to develop a practicable evaluative human rights-based approach to the care, treatment and discharge of forensic mental health patients. It can be argued that patients in secure and forensic services are potentially the most marginalised and extensively stigmatised of all patient cohorts, and that the extent to which they are discriminated against should not be underestimated. We will consider the concept of right-based practice in secure and forensic mental health settings, and how the quality of practice can be strengthened. We will ground our exploration in the lived experiences of secure and forensic mental health patients and seek through the lens of lived experience to envisage what could constitute fairer and more supportive systems of care.