Analyzing Community Mental Health Programs Through the Citizenship Framework: A Learning Experience

The citizenship framework is an emerging trend in the fields of mental health and social inclusion. After various theoretical developments, instruments have been designed to measure individuals’ connection with the various dimensions of citizenship, and interventions have been designed to help practitioners work from this paradigm. In this article I propose a reflective activity developed to help disseminate the citizenship framework among practitioners through the analysis of the programs in which they work. Twenty-seven mental health professionals who were enrolled in a community mental health master’s program analyzed community mental health programs using a grid whose 5 rows referred to the 5 Rs (rights, responsibilities, roles, resources, and relationships) that society offers its recognized members, and whose 2 columns referred to the elements that the program already includes in reference to each R and those that need improvement to address them. I analyze how reflecting on the work that community mental health practitioners carry out through the citizenship framework can help to extend its ideas. I then suggest that the citizenship framework should advance the concept that the practice of the various mental health professions is directed at helping service users become full citizens.