Deciding to Detain: The Use of Compulsory Mental Health Law by UK Social Workers

Since the 1980s, mental health social workers in the UK have been mandated to use powers of compulsion that have profound consequences, both positive and negative, for service users and their carers. For example, they make decisions, with other professionals, about involuntary admission to hospital, use of guardianship and mental health review tribunal processes. With the introduction of further powers of community-based forms of coercion across all jurisdictions in the UK, now appears an opportune moment to reflect upon more than two decades of mental health social work practice in this area and examine challenges for the future. The following commentary begins by reviewing debates about the functions of the ASW (Approved Social Worker) and its equivalent in Scotland, the Mental Health Officer (MHO). It continues with a discussion of a body of evidence about process and outcomes in this area. A final section explores the challenges created for the profession by new forms of coercion in the community, and suggests ways in which this demanding role can be carried out through balancing agency and legal expectations with a rights-based approach to working with service users and their carers.