Teaching Students the Importance of Community Engagement and Awareness in the Areas of Mental Health and Addiction

Abstract

Social work has always emphasized the person-in-environment approach addressing individual and social problems. Integration of individuals seeking treatment within the community infrastructure is critical to success of interventions. The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) prescribes the nature and direction of social work education through its Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) (2015). Integration of individuals seeking treatment within the community infrastructure is critical to success of interventions. The Affordable Care Act of 2010 further expanded access to community-based mental health and substance abuse treatment for nearly 62 million Americans (US Department for Health and Human Services, 2013). Thus, practice in this field has become synonymous with community practice in the present day. It requires social workers to adopt the systems approach to providing effective and impactful treatment for the affected population within their communities. This chapter helps to define the evolving meaning of community, illustrate the basic concepts of community practice, and highlight the benefits of community engagement in the field of mental health and addictions. It elucidates critical skills necessarily to practice in the community context while ensuring the health and well-being of the individuals and families we serve. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)