Presentation Information
[SY-62-01]Community Mental Health: A Cultural-Ecosocial Approach
*Laurence J Kirmayer (McGill University(Canada))
Keywords:
community mental health,ecosocial systems view,culturally responsive services
This presentation will discuss the basic concepts, structure and practice of community care from a cultural-ecosocial perspective. The ideals of community mental health include providing local access to comprehensive care, understanding patients’ mental health problems in social context, maintaining the community integration of people with severe mental illness, and mobilizing community resources for the treatment, recovery, and prevention of mental health problems as well as mental health promotion. The cultural ecosocial approach emphasizes the embedding of mental health problems in specific social contexts that create niches with resources, affordances, challenges and constraints. Local niches are embedded in larger social systems with their own dynamics. Systemic thinking is central to understanding the cause and course of mental disorders and to developing treatment services and prevention strategies.