ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes social workers to be skilful as well as knowledgeable. The historical and sociological analysis of mental health services has undoubtedly been heavily influenced by the work of French social theorist Michel Foucault. The development of social work within mental health services has followed, and sometimes prefigured, the transition from institution to community. The allowed NHS mental health services and councils with social services responsibilities to formalise partnerships, many of which had already begun to develop under informal arrangements. The evolving modernisation of mental health services towards care in the community, integration of services, and multidisciplinarity has generated for the various professions uncertainty about their role and identity. This seems to preclude many of the individuals who use mental health services, who the wider society would not see as being rational, having capacity to make their own choices and achieve self-determination. In mental health services, care management has been delivered through the Care Programme Approach.
