Book Review
Implementing Mental Health Promotion provides a comprehensive overview and practical guide to implementing mental health promotion programmes, with different population groups across a range of settings. It's written from a "how-to" perspective – combining current research and practical advice.
In chapter three - Community Mental Health Promotion – Margaret Barry and Rachel Jenkins aim to address "a range of different implementation strategies that may be applied within diverse groups across different settings within the community context." They include "implementing multi level programmes, community partnerships, empowerment and peer support strategies." Case studies are used to illustrate how the strategies can work in practice.
Barry and Jenkins acknowledge the importance of community mental health promotion in achieving "lasting, widespread change" over "a broad range of stakeholders".
They say, "Community initiatives aimed at building social capital, seeking to strengthen community networks and increasing participation by excluding groups have an important contribution to make in mental health promotion."
Community Mental Health Promotion is a dense, well-researched chapter that encompasses current theoretical thinking as well as tapping into what community level programmes have achieved.
It steps you through the ideas, implementation and challenges of mental health promotion in communities. The combination of theory and practice allows readers to draw out the ideas and situations that apply to their own circumstances and work out ways of improving programmes of mental health promotion they may be working on.
The chapter is both informative and instructive with enough good ideas for promoters to find the right one to apply to their situation.
Key information is highlighted in a series of boxes for easy reading, such as – Minkler's ten commitments for community health education and Strategies for building core collaborative capacities.
The best practice examples (x 2) and the case study are based on programmes running in USA and South Africa. The examples come with recommendations for those interested in replicating programmes elsewhere and are applicable globally.
This chapter is a useful tool for those planning mental health promotion programmes and may help to prevent early mistakes in such programmes by bringing common errors to reader's attention.
It celebrates the power of communities (in the widest possible sense) to work together to achieve mental health goals.
Whether you are new to mental health promotion, or have been a practitioner for some time, there is something for you in this chapter. But, do not go in expecting an easy bedside read!
And for those that want more Barry and Jenkins include their comprehensive list of references at the end of the chapter.
Note:
- Margaret Barry is Professor of Health Promotion and Public Health at the National University of Ireland, Galway.
- Rachel Jenkins is Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College, London.
