ABSTRACT
This discussion starts from a basic premise. What might understandings of ‘mental health’ issues, policy and practice look like, if they were based on an inclusive model of knowledge? What might the effects be of including in debates viewpoints which have not always adequately been addressed before? The particular (traditionally marginalised) perspective and source of knowledge on which this discussion focuses is that of mental health service users/survivors. Mental health service users have long been a significant knowledge source, in the sense that they have been drawn into research processes like surveys and trials. But their primary role has been as a data source. Their views, experience and perceptions have been interpreted and fed into structures of understanding established by clinicians, policymakers, researchers and academics. Here the concern is with service users as active participants and co-constructers of models and thinking about ‘mental health’ issues and the implications this may have for our broader understanding of these. Including Mental Health Service Users’/Survivors’ Perspectives It should be made clear, however, that the aim here is not to reject or ignore what may have gone before, but to try and consider what the impact might be of including on equal terms, perspectives and knowledge sources which up until now may have been allowed a very restricted role in the construction of ‘mental health’ ideas and praxis. It is also worthwhile to remember that mental health service users/survivors may not be the only perspective that has tended to be overlooked. Some commentators might, for example, argue that those of ‘carers’ have not been afforded adequate, serious or critical consideration. A case might also be made that the perspectives of face-to-face mental health practitioners (other than psychiatrists) have also tended to be granted a very restricted role in debates and theoretical developments.
