1. Social Welfare Programs and
Policies II: Advanced Social Policy
in Mental Health
Spring 2007
Course No.: S44.2011
Carmen Chang-Arratia, CSW, GC-C

2. Lesson I: Review of the Policy
Making Process
• Relationship of Policy to Social
Work and Mental Health Programs
• The Policy Making Process: An
overview

3. What is the Relationship?
• Social workers’ history of involvement with
MH programs
• Clinical social workers are major providers of
MH treatment
• Social workers have interdisciplinary
relationships with other MH personnel
• Social work engage in advocacy for the
constituents they serve

4. What is the Relationship?
• Social workers serve at both the micro & macro
levels of practice
• Interventions at the Interpersonal Level
• Case Management
• Individual Therapy
• Group practice
• Family Therapy
• Interventions at Organizational/Community Activities
• Community organization
• Social planning
• Administration
• Policy development

5. What is the Relationship?
• Social Welfare Policy is about communities trying
to achieve something as communities, even when
in conflict over what its goals should be.
• It may/may not express the communities’ collective
will
• It defines membership or lack thereof (usually this is
where the most political & contested fights evolve)
• It defines the social and economic rights, as well as
political rights of the members
• It defines public interest
• The policy problems are common problems

6. Defining Policy
• Policy is viewed as a statement of a goal, or
a set of goals
• Goals is defined as the expression of a
value in terms of an idealized future state of
affairs
• Broad, general statements that create a sense of
common purpose.

7. Defining Policy
• Policy statements focus on conditions or
behaviors of individuals, systemic
properties of communities or societies,
and/or properties of an institution or
organization.
• Mental Health policies usually focus on one
or more goals related to these conditions.

8. Defining Policy
• Objectives provide operational definitions of the
policy’s goals (closely related to goals)
• Four criteria
• Observable condition to be attained/changed
• Finite population of which that condition is
characteristic
• Amount of change which policy maker seeks to attain
with respect to the observable condition
• Time period in which change is to take place

9. Defining Policy
• Mental Health programs consists of:
• Objectives
• Set of activities to achieve objectives
• Administrative procedures which objectives
will be carried out, e.g. services

10. Policy Making Process
• Recognition of interrelationships between
policies and programs
• Policy formulation
• Social program development
• Implementation of policies through social
programs
• Social policy evaluation

11. Policy Making Process
• Framework in the Policy Making Process
• Determination of goals
• Needs Assessment
• Specification of Objectives
• Design of alternative courses of action
• Estimation of consequences of alternative actions
• Selection of course(s) action
• Implementation
• Evaluation
• Feedback

12. What is policy analysis?
• It is a critical thinking approach to
ascertaining, measuring, and evaluating the
ends/means of a policy
Ask Yourself:
• Does the policy or program work?
• How does the policy or program work?

13. What is policy analysis?
• Evaluate the effectiveness of the policy:
• Efficiency
• Effectiveness
• Feasibility
• Ethics

14. What is Policy Analysis?
• Dimensions of choice & benefit allocation:
• The who, what, when, and how approach
• Four Dimensions of Choice
• What are the bases of social allocations?
• What are the types of social provisions to be allocated?
• What are the strategies for the delivery of these
provisions?
• What are the methods of financing these provisions?

15. What is Mental Health Policy?
• Definition: Governmental activities
specifically concerned with the prevention
and treatment of mental disorders as well as
with the living situations of mentally ill
persons
• Collection of governmental goals
established to meet objectives

16. What is Mental Health Policy?
• Federal Level vs. State Level:
Fragmentation (look at Diagram provided)
• De Jure: Policies stated in laws & mission
statements
• De Facto: Policies that emerge out of
actual practices

17. Policy Making at Federal & State
Levels
• Federal Level
• Agencies: SAMHSA – CSAT, CSAP, CMHS
• Block grants
• State
• Single Systems Managing Entity, State Mental Health
Director
• Counties/Local
• Community mental health boards, mental health
professionals

18. Mental Health Program
• Focus: What benefits to be offered? How
are they delivered?
• Program development
• How are mental health services defined?
• Types of MH services
• ER, hospitalization, partial hospitalization,
residential treatment, support services, CMHC,
private office/clinics
• Mental Health System
• National, state, local community system