What is it about?
This paper is about deinstitutionalisation, neoliberalism and mental health policy, and takes as a case study, Victoria, Australia. Victoria was the fastest and earliest to deinstitutionalise, and was also the fastest to introduce a new wave of neoliberal economic restructuring. Such policies would directly shape Australia (and much of the world) for at least three decades to come.
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Why is it important?
Deinstitutionalisation was one of the most significant social policy changes in the 20th century, whose ramifications are being experienced by many people today. Understanding deinstitutionalisation and the political, economic and social context in which it occurred, can inform understandings of current disability and mental health policy.
Perspectives
This was a personal project with no real, direct practical application. I wanted to look to the past to better understand current responses - in policy, professional practice, in community attitudes - to disability and mental health.
Dr Piers M Gooding
University of Melbourne
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: From deinstitutionalisation to consumer empowerment: mental health policy, neoliberal restructuring and the closure of the ‘Big bins’ in Victoria, Health Sociology Review, January 2016, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/14461242.2015.1134261.
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