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. 2021 Nov;57(8):1414-1426.
doi: 10.1007/s10597-021-00830-9. Epub 2021 May 1.

Moving Toward a Human Rights Approach to Mental Health

Jim Probert  1
Affiliations

Moving Toward a Human Rights Approach to Mental Health

Jim Probert. Community Ment Health J. 2021 Nov.

Abstract

The University of Florida Counseling and Wellness Center (UFCWC) has implemented peer support and professional training programs to address human rights identified within advocacy groups comprised of individuals who have, themselves, been diagnosed with mental illness. These programs are moving the UFCWC toward fulfilling a 2017 United Nations report emphasizing rights-based professional training, provision of genuine informed consent, and availability of non-compromised peer support alternatives. Collaborating with student peers, four UFCWC faculty members have facilitated forms of peer support developed within service-user movements, while openly identifying experiences of reclaiming their own lives from the impacts of adversity, intense mental distress, and traumatizing responses of others to their distress. In the wake of the current pervasive health, economic, and social justice crises, professionals have a collective opportunity to recognize the human experience and rights of those suffering mental distress. These UFCWC programs offer one example of steps taken toward that goal.

Keywords: Human rights; Informed consent; Peer support; Rights-based training; Service-user movement.

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Conflict of interest statement

The author received travel funds from the American Psychological Association (APA) in 2019 to deliver an invited presentation for the Minority Fellowship Program (MFP) at the APA National Convention. The author also received an honorarium from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration BRSS TACS (Bringing Recovery Supports to Scale Technical Assistance Center Strategy) in 2018 to deliver a presentation at the Virtual Roundtable on Collegiate Recovery Supports for Underrepresented Student Populations. The author certifies responsibility as sole author for writing the manuscript and for approving its final submission while employing all necessary ethical procedures. This manuscript has not been published elsewhere and it has not been submitted simultaneously for publication elsewhere.

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