ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to understand the rhetoric of empowerment in relation to freedom and consent for mental health service users. It looks at freedom, consent and the language of risk. Freedom and consent in mental health services are necessarily tied up with the concept, and the assessment, of risk. For service users to experience more freedom and equality in participating in their own care and treatment, they must harness their power positively. However, the concept of empowerment is problematic and needs to be considered across several contexts. The rhetoric of empowerment exists within a broader force field of identity and relational politics in mental health in twenty-first-century Britain. A cacophony of voices declares the meaning of being a nurse or a service user. Involving service users and carers in nursing education from the outset would have a number of potential benefits. It would actively demonstrate partnership working between mental health professionals and service users.
