For some, policy can seem like an obscure, difficult subject to become acquainted with. For social workers, policy is the beginning and the end of every practice. On a personal level, I understand that policy is the base for how I practice and the programs that I utilize with clients. Knowing this, policy is very important to become familiar with and understand on every level possible. Do I want to be a legislator? Not particularly, but that doesn’t mean that I should not help design the legislation that will affect those whom I practice with.
Advocacy Efforts Work with the mentally ill has evolved greatly over the past 50-60 years, and that evolution is still in motion. For a long time, those who suffered with a mental disorder were locked up, mistreated, and forgotten in institutions (Frank & Glied, 2006). Today, working with the mentally ill is generally a much different situation. Instead of
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Originally, in the late 1800’s, the U.S. government passed a policy (State Care Acts), which made the states responsible for providing care to people with severe mental disorders (Goldman & Grob, 2006). This led to the building of asylums, and thus the cliché picture of institutionalization that we know today became a countrywide phenomenon and cruelty. In 1965, Medicare and Medicaid legislations were enacted, and these policies greatly changed the way mental health care was delivered (Frank & Glied, 2006). It was during this time that state institutionalization lost popularity and private or community mental health centers took precedence. Since then, many more policies have changed how practitioners work with the mentally ill. Defining mental illness has also changed over the years, and with each change, we hopefully get closer and closer to providing the best care as ethically as possible, something that never should have been questionable to our