BALANCING ACT Ethics of involuntary treatment in Nova Scotia BY JODI BUTLER, MSW, RSW
In the last year, the NSCSW has begun to critically examine ways social work can expand practice mental health beyond the medical model. Indeed, this framework is not new for social work. Our profession has embraced the medical model since its development to gain credibility, demarcate a scope of practice and secure positions of employment. This relationship can obscure where our commonplace practices fit within each framework. One way of identifying ethical dilemmas is to hold the practice or situation up to our ethical standards.
14 Connection | Fall 2019
Scholars, psychiatric survivors, critical psychiatrists and allies have demanded that professionals reconsider the medical model. They argue the framework leads to unjust treatment and control. Certainly unjust treatment and control fit with our definition of oppression. One of the most controlling interventions in mental health is Section 47 of the Involuntary Treatment Act otherwise known as a Community Treatments Order [CTO]. Social workers in Nova Scotia, especially those who work with individuals labelled with a psychiatric diagnosis are required to use CTOs in their work.
