Good Intentions OverRuled : A Critique of Empowerment in the Routine Organization of Mental Health Services

Good Intentions OverRuled is about empowerment; so it is also about power. This book shows how power is exerted in the routine organizational processes that determine what can be done in everyday life, since modern societies are controlled by regulations, policies, professional practice, legislation, budgets, and other forms of organization. Against the backdrop of an ideal vision of empowerment, this critique highlights both the Good Intentions of professionals and the organizational processes through which empowerment is OverRuled. Professionals who promote empowerment for those with little power, such as people with long-standing mental health problems, experience tension, a disjuncture between enabling participation in empowerment and engaging in caregiving processes that perpetuate dependence. Attempts to enable participation are undermined by processes of objectification, individualized accountability, hierarchical decision making, simulation-based education, risk management, and exclusion, which protect but also control people. The significance of this critique extends beyond mental health services because similar processes are used in the routine organization of power in education, employment insurance, transportation, and other sectors of society. Good Intentions OverRuled sparks debate about empowerment by using a method called institutional ethnography, developed by the Canadian sociologist Dorothy Smith. Mental health day programs are explored from the perspective of seven occupational therapists in Atlantic Canada. Described in this ethnography are the local, provincial, federal, and international processes used to organize power in Canada's mental health services. The aim is to inspire professional, lay, academic, and other persons (including those who use mental health services) to change the organization of power so that we promote rather than overrule empowerment.

Good Intentions OverRuled is about empowerment; so it is also about power. This book shows how power is exerted in the routine organizational processes that determine what can be done in everyday life, since modern societies are controlled by regulations, policies, professional practice, legislation, budgets, and other forms of organization.

Against the backdrop of an ideal vision of empowerment, this critique highlights both the Good Intentions of professionals and the organizational processes through which empowerment is OverRuled. Professionals who promote empowerment for those with little power, such as people with long-standing mental health problems, experience tension, a disjuncture between enabling participation in empowerment and engaging in caregiving processes that perpetuate dependence. Attempts to enable participation are undermined by processes of objectification, individualized accountability, hierarchical decision making, simulation-based education, risk management, and exclusion, which protect but also control people. The significance of this critique extends beyond mental health services because similar processes are used in the routine organization of power in education, employment insurance, transportation, and other sectors of society.

Good Intentions OverRuled sparks debate about empowerment by using a method called institutional ethnography, developed by the Canadian sociologist Dorothy Smith. Mental health day programs are explored from the perspective of seven occupational therapists in Atlantic Canada. Described in this ethnography are the local, provincial, federal, and international processes used to organize power in Canada's mental health services. The aim is to inspire professional, lay, academic, and other persons (including those who use mental health services) to change the organization of power so that we promote rather than overrule empowerment.

You Can Take Care of People For A Day. Or, You Can Give Them The Power To take care of themselves for a lifetime. Unfortunately, people with mental health disorders are often excluded from the decision making processes that control their lives. Mental health institutions may encourage patient participation in principle, but organizational constraints overrule good intentions.Elizabeth Townsend examines what kinds of fundamental changes are needed to enable disadvantaged people to become empowered. She uses the theory and method of 'institutional ethnography' -- developed by Canadian sociologist Dorothy Smith -- to illustrate how people's knowledge of mental health services and their everyday experiences with them are organized. Focusing on the work of occupational therapists, Townsend demonstrates how attempts to enable empowerment in everyday practice are thwarted by the institutional processes of admission, accountability, decision making, budgeting, risk management, and discharge. She reveals that institutions promote dependency because professionals and managers still hold the reins of power and knowledge.Good Intentions OverRuled offers insight and practical guidance to health care providers, administrators, and advocates for the disabled. It is a major contribution not only to the field of human services but to adult education and management. "Good Intentions OverRuled is about empowerment, so it is also about power. This book shows how power is exerted in the routine organizational processes that determine what can be done in everyday life, since modern societies are controlled by regulations, policies, professional practice, legislation, budgets, and other forms of organization." "Good Intentions OverRuled sparks debate about empowerment by using a method called institutional ethnography, developed by the Canadian sociologist Dorothy Smith. Mental health day programs are explored from the standpoint of seven occupational therapists in Atlantic Canada. Described in this ethnography are the local, provincial, federal, and international processes used to organize power in Canada's mental health services. The aim is to inspire professional, lay, academic, and other persons (including those who use mental health services) to change the organization of power so that we promote rather than overrule empowerment."--Résumé de l'éditeur "Good Intentions OverRuled is about empowerment, so it is also about power. This book shows how power is exerted in the routine organizational processes that determine what can be done in everyday life, since modern societies are controlled by regulations, policies, professional practice, legislation, budgets, and other forms of organization." "Good Intentions OverRuled sparks debate about empowerment by using a method called institutional ethnography, developed by the Canadian sociologist Dorothy Smith. Mental health day programs are explored from the standpoint of seven occupational therapists in Atlantic Canada. Described in this ethnography are the local, provincial, federal, and international processes used to organize power in Canada's mental health services. The aim is to inspire professional, lay, academic, and other persons (including those who use mental health services) to change the organization of power so that we promote rather than overrule empowerment."--Jacket