Mental Health and Social Work

A Social Work Approach to Mental Health and Illness

Mental Health and Social Work brings together international scholarship on a field where clinical, social, legal, and ethical questions meet. Edited by Rosaleen Ow and Abner Weng Cheong Poon, this Springer volume examines how social workers understand mental well-being and illness, and how they practise with individuals, families, and communities. The book is part of the Major Research Works in Social Work series and reflects the series’ aim: to make current, evidence-based knowledge accessible to practitioners, educators, researchers, and policy makers.

What makes the collection distinctive is its willingness to hold several perspectives at once. Social work does not sit apart from psychology, medicine, developmental theory, or behavioural analysis; it works alongside them, often translating broad ideas into everyday service realities. The chapters follow that translation work closely.

From Foundations to Contextual Practice

The volume is organised into six parts. Early chapters establish theories of mental health, illness, and intervention, then turn to the values, ethics, and recovery principles that should guide practice. A second section presents disciplinary lenses—psychological, behavioural, socio-cultural ecological, developmental, and medical—and asks what each contributes to social work understanding.

The middle of the book moves into practice. It considers social work with individuals, families, and communities, drawing on ecological-systemic and related frameworks. Later chapters look at intervention models, challenges, and possibilities when working with different groups, followed by attention to legal and financial contexts that shape mental well-being and access to support. A concluding chapter reviews future directions for the field.

Themes That Run Through the Volume

• Recovery and ethics: mental health practice is considered alongside values, rights, and the lived experience of people who use services.
• Multiple theoretical voices: psychology, behaviour analysis, ecology, development, and medicine are treated as contributing perspectives rather than competing answers.
• Practice with systems: individuals are understood within families, communities, organisations, and policy environments.
• Structural context: legal and financial factors are examined as forces that can support or undermine mental well-being.
• Global relevance: contributors bring research and practice experience from different countries, helping readers see familiar issues in a wider context.

Who May Find It Useful

This is a scholarly but practice-facing book. Social work students, practitioners, educators, and researchers will find material for coursework, supervision, service development, and further inquiry. Policy makers and allied professionals who work with social workers in mental health settings may also value its overview of the social work contribution. The writing assumes a professional or advanced student readership rather than a general audience.

An Authoritative Reference for a Changing Field

With 21 figures and 12 tables, the volume supports its arguments with visual and structured material. The editorial structure allows readers to read straight through for a broad map of the field or to turn to particular chapters for deeper study. For anyone who needs a serious, internationally informed reference on mental health and social work, this edited collection offers both range and depth.

Digital Delights offers this title as a digital publication, ready for readers who want immediate access to a substantial resource in mental health social work.