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Community Development Journal: An International Forum

Call for Papers

Special Issue on

"Mental health and Community Development"

 

 

We invite English language articles of up to 5,000 words which show the relevance of community development approaches to mental health and illness. They can explore theoretical and conceptual issues, report on and discuss case studies, critique existing policies at national or transnational levels and propose alternatives, or blend these different elements. As well as academically focused articles we would welcome shorter or longer articles on practice or 'notes from the field' from practitioners and/or service users.

 

Mental health and illness are major areas of concern to public policy makers across the world, highlighted by the 2001 World Health Organisation (WHO) World Health Report. Its projections estimated that by 2020 depressive illness will rank only second to heart disease as a cause of disability. Recent global campaigns have also highlighted the fact that people with mental health problems often experience gross human rights abuses in both the mental health system and the wider society. In addition human rights abuses are themselves primary causes of mental distress, which are closely linked to inequalities of class, race/ethnicity, gender, sexuality, age and disability. Alongside this wellbeing has emerged as an area for positive action, fuelled by a growing awareness that economic growth is an inadequate measure of human progress and does not in any case necessarily promote 'happiness' or emotional wellbeing. The 'human development' paradigm of Sen, Nussbaum and others has shown that this needs to be connected to public action to promote 'human flourishing' by tackling the structural barriers that frustrate its realisation. The recent WHO Commission on the Social Determinants of Health has highlighted the fact that health strategies must improve daily living standards, tackle wider inequalities and measure and monitor progress towards these goals. This is all occurring in a dramatically changing wider context, in which the global neoliberal forces since the early 1980s are self-destructing. These are immediately damaging to community mental health, through the effects of increased unemployment and insecurity, and pressure on public expenditure, but also open the way for more satisfactory alternatives.

 

To date community development practitioners have only explored mental health issues to a limited degree, at least in explicit terms. This is reflected in the fact that this is the first CDJ Special Issue to address this important topic. Similarly while 'community care' has long been dominant in mental health policy (but has meant very different things to different people), 'community development' linked to a health promotion, human rights and antidiscrimination strategy illness has only recently started to achieve attention. In addition, the increased emphasis on user involvement and participation has also fostered it. These developments are promising, but the experience of past community development initiatives has demonstrated that they can have cosmetic as well as transformative effects. We are thus looking for articles that either enrich community development by providing a largely missing mental health dimension, or apply the critical lessons of community development to the mental health field, and ideally do both. The focus might include but not necessarily be limited to the following:

 

* Conceptual and policy frameworks
* Displaced communities
* Building alliances and partnerships
* Examples of good or promising policy and practice
* Discrimination and stigma
* Gender, race, class, sexuality, age and disability
* Ethical and political issues

 

Timetable for submission: 200 word abstracts by end of August 2010, draft (up to) 5,000 word articles March 2011, final drafts October 2011, for publication in CDJ Summer 2012

 

Method of Review: Editors will commission on basis of abstracts, draft articles will be subject to peer review.

 

 

Contact details of the Lead Editors: For any further queries regarding article submission, and expressions of interest, please contact Mick and Thara jointly:

 

 Mick Carpenter

E-mail: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>

 

Thara Raj

E-mail: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>

 
 

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