Jennifer Stuber, an assistant professor of social work at the University of Washington, stood up for sensible ways of explaining the needs of people with mental health problems. She criticised a trade union newspaper for coverage of expenditure cuts in mental health services that stigmatised mentally ill people. 'Don't look now or you may be killed' was justified by the union as a way of drawing attention to the risk that mentally ill people may go untreated.
But mental health campaigners sided with Stuber's view that we need a more positive dialogue about people with mental health difficulties and alternative ways of raising concerns about the outcomes of expenditure cuts.
My comment: With cost-cutting a major feature of politics world-wide, we need to join with Jennifer to makke sure that campaigning does not demonise our clients, and damage the job we're trying to do.
News from Crosscut.com, a Seattle news service:
http://crosscut.com/2011/01/05/social-services/20515/Can-scare-tactics-sell-the-state-on-mental-health-funding-/
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