Now in a fully revised and updated fourth edition, Mental Health Social Work in Context is an authoritative, evidence-based introduction to a core area of the social work curriculum.

Grounded in the social models of mental health particularly relevant to qualifying social workers, but also familiarising students with social aspects of medical perspectives, this core text helps to prepare students for practice and to develop their knowledge around:

• promoting the social inclusion of people with mental health problems;
• the changing context of multidisciplinary mental health services;
• an integrated evidence base for practice; and
• working with people with mental health problems across the life course.

Including significant and timely new material on the Mental Health Act 2025, major updates also focus on the statutory and policy contexts of social work practice as well as ongoing changes in the organisational frameworks for the delivery of services and implications for the social work role.

This is an essential textbook for all social work students taking undergraduate and postgraduate qualifying degrees and will also be invaluable for practitioners undertaking post-qualifying awards in mental health social work.

Nick Gould is Emeritus Professor of Social Work at the University of Bath, UK, and has held visiting appointments at universities in Australia and Hong Kong. He has been involved in mental health social work for over forty years: as a local authority social worker, a senior social worker at Broadmoor Hospital and – alongside his academic career – for 30 years a specialist member of the Mental Health Tribunal. He is also a member of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) expert advisor panel.