AASW Mental Health Practice Standards
If you’re applying to be an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker, you’ll be writing responses to the mental health practice standards - good luck! The only copies of the practice standards I could find were in PDF documents, and the line breaks were all screwed up. So i polished it up a bit, and here they are in HTML. It’s just a bit easier to read, or use in documents.
Standard 1.1 Establishes a professional working relationship with the person who has a mental illness or disorder and their significant others
a. Listens respectfully to the person.
b. Provides the setting for an emotionally supportive, therapeutic relationship.
c. Values the lived experience of mental illness and consequences for the person and significant others, such as carers and family.
d. Gives due regard to the person’s age and cultural background, sensitive to ethnicity, race, socio economic standing and gender as variables that might affect the working relationship.
e. Works in partnership with the person and relevant others and ensures mutuality in assessment and action planning. Partnership and mutuality are values that extend to working with professional colleagues.
f. Communicates mutuality in the relationship by using inclusive language, avoiding terms that emphasise differences in experience, power and person hood between the person and the worker. Gathers and provides information in a way that respects the person’s experience, beliefs and feelings.
g. Welcomes and invites feedback from the person.
h. In all aspects of work, encourages maximum levels of the person’s participation in decision-making, emphasising self determination over day-to-day activities.
i. Is able to accommodate the needs language and understanding relevant to working with different age groups: children, young people, adults and older people.
j. When working with families and groups, recognises and seeks to accommodate the different experiences and perspectives of different family members and other relevant people
Standard 1.2 Acts on the social justice issues related to people with a mental illness
a. Recognises the complexity of human experience, and sees the biopsychosocial assessment and interventions beyond the limits of illness, diagnosis, and treatment.
b. Challenges stigma and discrimination.
c. Facilitates access to necessary treatment and support services.
d. Promotes rights to participation in decision making and choice in mental health services.
e. Encourages organisations to be equitable, accessible and responsive to the needs and aspirations of people with mental illness and their significant others.
f. Ensures all civil and human rights are recognised.
Standard 1.3 Integrates the concept of recovery into practice, promoting choice and self-determination within medico-legal requirements and duty of care
a. Supports people to take responsibility for their own recovery and wellbeing and to define their goals and wishes, irrespective of their legal status (for example, a person voluntarily participating in therapeutic intervention or a person receiving involuntary treatment and care).
b. Supports people to trust and collaborate with the mental health professional or multidisciplinary mental health team.
c. Works collaboratively and identifies the contribution of all people’s experience, expertise and strengths during all phases of contact, with particular regard to the person with the mental illness.
d. Promotes a service and organisational culture of optimism and understanding and uses language that conveys hope. Where necessary, challenges stigmatising attitudes and discrimination.
e. In situations where involuntary treatment is unavoidably indicated, works to minimise or eliminate the use of coercion, seclusion and restraint.
Standard 2.1 Manages personal workload
a. Develops a clear understanding of the range of professional and administrative tasks required in their social work position or role.
b. Is conversant with the role of social work within the organisation, in promotional material if self-employed and to people with whom they engage.
c. Understands, respects and collaborates with other disciplines in the delivery of mental health services
d. Recognises the management structure of the agency or program and understands the lines of professional and administrative accountability.
e. Prioritises work activities.
f. Meets organisational or program professional and administrative deadlines.
g. Maintains organisational or program procedures for efficient completion of administrative and professional tasks.
h. Maintains agency or program requirements for record keeping, data collection and accountability of resources.
i. Complies with organisational occupational health and safety policies.
j. When self-employed, complies with professional indemnity requirements.
k. When self-employed applies sound business management practices to ensure the provision of effective services for people with a mental illness.
Standard 2.3 Works as a professional in private practice, a member of a unit and/or a multidisciplinary team
a. Demonstrates respect for the profession of social work, and for other disciplines.
b. Understands the scope of the social work domain, skills, knowledge and values in the mental health area.
c. Is able to articulate a specific statement of social work purpose, roles and activities within the organisation and when collaborating with other organisations or private professionals.
d. Is familiar with the knowledge, values, and practice bases of social work in relation to other mental health disciplines.
e. Supports the activities of other mental health professionals in the organisation and when collaborating with other organisations or private professionals.
f. Promotes the importance of the domain of social work in mental health in developing a comprehensive service approach to understanding mental illness and providing services.
g. Applies a range of skills in problem solving, education, and conflict resolution to the management of day to day professional social work activity and when collaborating with other organisations or private professionals.
Standard 3.1 Understands the way mental illness and mental health are conceptualized in the person’s culture of origin
In the person’s presentation, be aware of:
a. The extent to which the person accepts the concepts of mental illness and mental health in terms of their culture of origin.
b. Sources of possible conflicting views and practices between the culture of origin and Australian mainstream mental health and how differences may be accommodated or resolved.
c. Culturally appropriate ways in which the person can be effectively assisted, including collaboration with or referral to a multicultural mental health service.
Standard 3.2 Understands the way mental illness and mental health are conceptualized in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ culture and origin
In the person’s presentation, be aware of:
a. The extent to which the person accepts the concepts of mental illness and mental health in terms of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture.
b. Sources of possible conflicting views and practices between the culture of origin and Australian mainstream mental health and how differences may be accommodated or resolved.
c. Culturally appropriate ways in which the person can be effectively assisted, including collaboration with or referral to an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health service.
Standard 4.1 Possesses current knowledge, concepts and evidence-based theories of the individual in society
a. Concepts and theories of human bio-psychosocial development through the lifespan, including development within a family and social context.
b. Knowledge of theories on child, young persons and adult psychopathology.
c. Concepts and theories of family formation and functioning.
d. Knowledge of the family in the Australian context covers areas such as marriage, separation and divorce, parenting, step parenting, extended family support systems, and changes to family functioning over time. It also includes recognition of diversity in family form based on ethnicity, culture, socio-economic status, and rurality, and significant relationships beyond the traditional family structure, such as same sex relationships.
e. Group behaviour and theories of group work.
f. The impact of illness on the person’s sense of self and their social roles, including issues of stigma, social disadvantage, and social justice.
g. The impact of abuse and trauma in the person’s life.
h. The recovery and the strengths perspectives of individual, family, and community functioning that support the process of people with mental illness achieving a better quality of life.
i. The impact of illness on the individual’s socio-economic status and wellbeing, including issues of income security, housing, employment and broader quality of life.
j. The relationship between mental health and family welfare and potential compromises to children’s and significant others’ roles.
k. Disability theory and the application of disability concepts to mental illness, treatment and rehabilitation.
l. Individual, family and group interventions.
m. General social work theory and its application to practice in the mental health field.
n. Organisational structures, change processes and dynamics within organisations.
Standard 4.4 Possesses knowledge of mental health psychopathology
a. Health, illness, disease and disability.
b. The expression of mental illnesses or disorders at different life stages.
c. The psychiatric classification, major syndromes, evidence-based theories and knowledge of aetiology, and evidence-based theories and knowledge of therapeutic interventions.
d. The interaction of mental illness with other comorbidities, such as alcohol and other drugs (dual diagnosis) and intellectual disability (dual disability).
e. Recovery principles and their application in relation to individuals, families, and communities.
f. The social determinants of mental illness.
g. The range of therapeutic, including psychosocial, interventions in mental health, and the evidence base for those interventions.
h. The issues likely to affect people with a mental illness and their significant others, including the sociology of alienation and oppression, and the history of mutual support and empowerment processes.
i. The practice paradigms of the other mental health disciplines.
Standard 4.6 Has knowledge of government mental health policy
a. Is familiar with the principles of national and state policy.
b. Is familiar with the mental health policies of relevant peak bodies.
c. Seeks out related human service policies relevant to social work practice in mental health, and to people with a mental illness and their significant others, such as disability policy, broader health policy, income security and housing policies.
d. Articulates the principles and policy specific to the organisation in which the social worker is employed, and agencies with which the social worker has ongoing contact.
e. Applies these principles and policies in practice in determining work priorities and procedures.
f. Identifies and documents areas where policies conflict with each other or conflict with the social work professional code of ethics, or where policy is deficient in addressing the needs of clients.
Standard 5.1 Completes a comprehensive bio-psycho-social assessment and case formulation addressing the physical, psychological and social aspects of the person and their situation
In consultation with the person:
a. Explores their understanding of their difficulties and strengths taking account of their physical, emotional, intellectual and, if sought, spiritual needs.
b. Gathers information from a range of sources to build up a comprehensive understanding of the person’s situational problems and strengths.
c. Undertakes a Mental State Examination and other assessments of clinical functioning as part of providing a comprehensive assessment service. This includes the application of specific assessment schedules, as appropriate, to develop a detailed knowledge of specific aspects of the problems and strengths.
d. Undertakes other assessments in specific clinical and related areas, for which additional specific training may be required to attain competence. These may be social work based, or related to other disciplines or multidisciplinary practice. Examples are the use of outcome measures, assessment of psychiatric disability, vocational capacities, age-related matters concerning children, adolescents, or older people, forensic issues, or the application of standardised assessment schedules requiring skilled analysis of data.
e. Identifies and assesses relevant indicators in order to minimise risk to the person or to others. Risk assessment includes the risk of self harming behaviour, the person’s vulnerability to domestic violence and other safety issues in the home and living environment, including child safety, and the potential for the person’s capacity to harm others.
f. Establishes or confirms the likely mental health condition and the influence and priority of factors affecting the person’s condition (or, in the absence of a formal diagnosis, forms a provisional diagnosis until this can be confirmed and discusses the priority factors affecting the person’s condition).
g. Applies knowledge and theory to the information gathered to develop a comprehensive statement linking the person's functioning and their strengths and problems with those in their social context.
h. Reviews this assessment statement with the person so as to develop a mutual understanding and agreement about the assessment as well as identifying and using the appropriate interventions as part of the intervention or service plan. Part of this process involves setting measurable goals as agreed with the person.
i. Regularly review the assessment and the intervention or service plan with the person to retain the focus on shared understanding of problems and strengths.
j. Maintains records of activity as required by accountability standards within the organisation or program.
Standard 5.2 Develops and implements one or more evidence based, therapeutic interventions with the person
a. Identifies the evidence base for the therapeutic, including psycho social, intervention.
b. Forms a therapeutic relationship with the person.
c. Contracts with the person to establish a basis for the intervention.
d. Provides the person with information about the purpose, nature, risks, and likely outcomes of the intervention.
e. Negotiates a timeline for the intervention with the person.
f. Monitors and evaluates the implementation of the intervention with the person.
g. Undertakes additional training as necessary, including at an advanced level, in specialised therapeutic interventions.
Standard 5.3 Advocates with and for person in relation to rights and resources
In consultation with the person:
a. Establishes the need for some form of advocacy to address identified rights or problems.
b. Explores the range of alternative actions available in order to address the identified need and supports action chosen.
c. Makes representations and facilitates negotiation as appropriate.
d. Monitors the activity of the treatment team to ensure that all decision making at every stage is respectful and inclusive of the needs and wishes of both the person and their family members.
e. Supports and encourages self advocacy through assisting with preparation, providing resources and giving feedback on performance.
f. Uses principles of mediation, negotiation, assertion, and conflict resolution.
g. Links individuals, carers and family members with support and advocacy groups as a resource as appropriate.
h. Challenges organisations or systems of service provision that are disempowering or discriminatory of people with mental illness and their significant others.
i. Uses high level communication skills to ensure the person’s best interests are represented.
j. Evaluates the outcome of advocacy.
k. Advocates with and for people within specialist complex contexts such as the forensic provisions of mental health legislation
Standard 5.4 Undertakes case management (or a similar function)
In consultation with the person:
a. Develops an assessment of their psychological and social circumstances and needs and, where applicable, other members of the treatment team, other service providers, and family and friends, when possible and desired by the person.
b. Develops an intervention or service plan that takes account of short term and long-term goals and identifies how the case manager will support those goals.
c. Implements the intervention or service plan.
d. Consults with the person’s significant others, members of the treatment team and other service providers as appropriate for the implementation of the service plan.
e. Advocates to obtain resources and to support the person to achieve goals.
f. Reviews, revises and monitors the plan regularly
Standard 5.7 Collaborates with other services
a. Makes contact with stakeholders from all sectors relevant to mental health, including housing, income security and employment, as well as health care practitioners.
b. Develops a working knowledge of relevant services in the community, and maintains formal and informal contact with service providers and management within these services.
c. Provides information about the social worker’s organisation and encourages appropriate liaison between this organisation and the range of community services.
d. Supports communication networks and co operation among all stakeholders of services in the community relevant to people with a mental illness and their families.
e. Brings individuals and groups together to share ideas on issues of common concern and potential solutions.
Standard 8.1 Maintains a critical reflective approach to social work practice in mental health with the aim of improving currency of knowledge and skills
a. Identifies personal strengths in skill development and knowledge.
b. Maintains systematic records of social work practice activities as a basis for reflection.
c. Identifies areas for personal development in knowledge and skill base for practice.
d. Identifies recurring problems and achievements of the service or program as a whole.
e. Explores areas of key professional activity as described and developed in the research literature.
f. Shares critical reflections on practice within the professional supervision process and in formal and informal discussions with colleagues.
g. Reflects on professional activity in relation to the research literature.
Standard 8.2 Access the research and literature to be informed of the evidence based for professional mental health practice
a. Regularly consults books and peer-reviewed journals relevant for practice through professional library resources and reliable web sources.
b. Critically evaluates research literature and web sources by applying knowledge of research design, processes, and standards for the analysis of data.
c. Maintains reading and exploration of knowledge in relevant research areas in order to inform practice.
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