Thread by @MsALibertine2

Attempting to create more accessible work. Not perfect.. but what follows is a summary 🧵of a paper my supervisors and I wrote about the way peer workers are implicated in particular problems constructed through Aust mental health policy.

We recognize and value the work of activists that has contributed to peer work being included in MH policy. Whilst not wanting to undermine this work, we attend to some of the limits of current inclusionary practices

Our approach is informed by Carol Bacchi’s work on problem representation and politically informed by #Madstudies. Bacchi’s work can be found here: carolbacchi.com

We suggest peer workers are implicated in 2 problems constructed within MH policy, both of which are underpinned by biomedical logic of a ‘broken’ individual. These are produced as problems through policy.

Peer workers are produced as service connectors and role models, producing the problem as the individual who needs ‘fixing’ and ‘treatment’.

An alternative problem is also constructed within Aust MH policy, where peer workers are produced as the potential solution to a lack of recovery orientated and stigmatising services. But here the problem is produced as individual worker attitudes…

...And is only constructed as an issue because it prevents people being treated.

The way in which these problems and solutions are produced silence alternative ways of thinking/being/doing

These constructions also have potentially limiting effects for peer workers & those seeking, or forced into, mental health services

Some of these effects captured in this report in partnership with @VMIAC : socialequity.unimelb.edu.au/news/latest/le…

Peer workers are also constructed through these 'problems' as a universal subject, reinforcing the whiteness of peer work

The continuing slippage between the language of 'peer work' and 'peer support work' reflects the system's ongoing preferencing of support work over other forms of lived exp/peer roles, including systemic advocacy

peer workers are thus constructed within 'problems' that involve reform rather than transformation, with little power to do so from their subject positioning and often at a high emotional/mental cost

We speak about how this assimilation version of inclusion is also produced through mental health research in this OA article: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10…

We've started thinking about how we might imagine otherwise, but still have a long way to go. Ive had the privilege of speaking with brilliant peer workers who have prompted my thinking in this area and I hope to write about this soon!

For a copy of this paper, please DM me here or on researchgate: researchgate.net/profile/Aimee-…
Im working towards my work being more accessible, but ack. Ive got a long way to go; feedback welcome

Some of the folks we cite in this work & inform my thinking (not an extensive list!) @Carinya1990 @DrLouiseByrne @croper2104 @IndigoDaya @HelenaRoennfel2 @maryohaganlive @viscidula @BrendaHappell @drblefrancois @LucyLuciaCosta @DianaRose160 @SchrebersSister