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INTRODUCTION: National suicide prevention strategies and action plans have, historically, been written without input from consumers/current users of mental health services. People who could arguably be seen as experts in this area are rarely asked for their knowledge regarding the efficacy of suicide prevention and intervention efforts. The aims of this study were to gain further insight into the effectiveness of suicide prevention intervention in Aotearoa New Zealand by asking service users “What works?” and to promote lived experience as a valid form of evidence. This article focuses on the importance of a holistic model of health and wellbeing and highlights the role played by social workers, both currently and in the future, regarding suicide prevention and intervention efforts.METHODS: Twenty semi-structured interviews were conducted with individuals with lived experience of suicidal ideation and/or attempt.FINDINGS: Using thematic analysis, a variety of interventions were identified which participants found effective, including exercise, addressing physical health needs, practising mindfulness, use of medications and spirituality. These interventions, and others, are presented as themes within a framework of people, body, mind and spirit.CONCLUSIONS: It is important to view health holistically, and social workers can make an important contribution towards wellbeing through the provision of psychosocial interventions. Also, it is crucial to involve individuals with lived experience within research that informs policy and practice, and within collaborative treatment decisions.

In 2020, social workers across the world responded to the global COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent strict lockdown procedures over several months. In many countries, including Australia and New Zealand, this virtual shutdown period necessitated a reframing of social work practice to incorporate factors including delivery of services via virtual means and more limited access for vulnerable clients. This article draws on the integration of two methods designed to address the research question: ‘How has social work practice in Australia and New Zealand been affected by COVID-19?’ These include (i) a narrative review of papers published during 2020 on social work practice and the COVID-19 pandemic and (ii) an online survey, undertaken from October to December 2020, of Australian and New Zealand social workers. The questionnaire data were analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and thematic analysis. The findings of this article details include the significant impacts of COVID-19 on practice, the increased needs of clients, including a rise in health issues, violence, homelessness and financial concerns, and the resulting critical changes to social work workloads. Social workers also reported greater use of technologies to deliver services and fears for their families and themselves if exposed to COVID-19., This article examines how Australian and New Zealand social workers have adjusted to the COVID-19 pandemic. The article draws on a literature review of international social work papers published during 2020 and a survey of social workers in Australia and New Zealand to determine the impacts on social workers. We find there are similarities in responses noted by social workers across the world including the enhanced use of technologies, difficulties supporting vulnerable clients and personal impacts in both work and home environments. There are also differences brought about by Australian and New Zealand social workers’ prior experiences of disasters as well as issues with technology.

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The aim of this study was to understand the extent, range and nature of social work research activity after natural disasters and to identify the implications for future research and practice. A Scoping review methodology framework was used search of three databases: Web of Science, ProQuest and Informit was conducted to identify relevant studies between 2000 and 2018. Selection of studies was based on empirical research about social work and natural disasters and/or authored by social workers. Study selection found a total of 38 relevant articles. Charting the data was conducted and the following areas of focus were summarised: (1) interventions relating to psychosocial care, aid work and community work; (2) the effects of disasters on people and mediators of these effects; (3) social work education and challenges in disaster relief; and (4) measuring mental health outcomes of people who have experienced a disaster event. This scoping review has established that there is a range of social work literature focused on natural disasters that primarily examines social work interventions, the effects of disasters and social work education. Future social work research and practice needs to focus on the types and timing of interventions that promote positive recovery following natural disasters.

INTRODUCTION: Without personal experience or specific background knowledge of an issue, individuals exposed to news media are limited in their ability to gauge the accuracy of media content. The perception of people with mental illness as dangerous or incompetent allows for discrimination to occur, often resulting from inaccurate portrayals in the media. METHOD: A small, qualitative study was undertaken to explore key informant perspectives on the representation of mental health issues in the current Aotearoa New Zealand media context. Eight semi-structured interviews were carried out with key informants; each participant provided at least one of the following perspectives: mental health professional, mental health advocate, mental health consumer and/or media personnel. FINDINGS: The participants in this research found that news media strongly influence how the public views mental health, but believe media representation has improved in recent years. However, participants described an absence of stories illustrating successful interventions and felt that the portrayal of mental illnesses are still misrepresented and stigmatised by the media. Mental health services and mental health professionals were seen as poorly represented by the news media, which was thought to deter help-seeking and hinder trust. CONCLUSION: Public attitudes towards mental health have a significant impact on the lives of those experiencing mental distress. The news media have the ability to change public perceptions; however, this influence can be either harmful or helpful. Mental health stories need to be consistently contextualised and use inclusive language in order to a make a positive large- scale change in public attitudes.

While the capability approach is increasingly being adopted for evaluating well-being and social justice in the field of human development, this approach in disaster research has remained scarce. This research thus seeks to address the disaster risk that humans face through a lens of capabilities, with a focus on the lives of people with disabilities. A multi-case study approach was adopted and two rural communes in Vietnam were selected as study contexts. Data were collected using focus group discussions and interviews that involved people with disabilities, parents/caregivers of people with intellectual/psychosocial disabilities, and representatives from related organizations. It was found that people with disabilities are affected by disasters due to the lack of capabilities that they value in coping with disasters. A range of capabilities that people with disabilities value was revealed in the study sites, with many being valued not only in times of disasters but also in daily life. The findings also highlight that, to actualize their valued capabilities, people with disabilities need access not only to resources but also to the factors that enable them to convert the resources to their valued capabilities. In most cases, the limitations to the achievement of capabilities are related to the external environment.

This viewpoint explores the concept of “resilience” and the divergent uses of this term by those experiencing adversity, and by those observing and responding to the adversity of others.

All health professions face numerous stressors within their clinical practice, including time pressures, workload, multiple roles and emotional issues. Frequent workplace stress can impact on the physical and mental wellbeing of health professionals and result in burnout and, in some cases, traumatic stress-like symptoms. These outcomes can impact not only on the wellbeing of health professionals but also on their ability to practise effectively. It is therefore imperative that a preventive approach is adopted. Developing resilience-promoting environments within the health professions can be explored as a means to reduce negative, and increase positive, outcomes of stress in health professionals. This literature review seeks to elucidate the processes and characteristics (both individual and contextual) that enhance resilience in the health professions. It explores relevant literature from five health professions (nursing, social work, psychology, counselling and medicine) to identify the individual and contextual resilience-enhancing qualities of each profession. Commonalities and differences between the disciplines are identified in order to arrive at a definitive explanation of resilience across health professions. Implications for clinical practice and recommendations for further research are also discussed.

The impact of traumatic events and the experience of psychological trauma have been depicted in myth, legend, art and literature throughout human history (for instance [1,2]). They have, for the last generation, been psychiatrically classified as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and as acute stress disorder (ASD). The papers in this In-Depth Review serve both to describe the status of current thinking in regard to the scientific conceptualization of psychological trauma and to raise questions in regard to our understanding of the contextualization of traumatic experience within occupational settings. For many years, occupational medicine and health and safety legislation has focused upon observable injury and illness caused by single events. These articles play a timely role in reminding us that many health and welfare concerns with far-reaching effects within organizational environments may be psychological, social and complex in nature and have enduring effects over a considerable span of time. In the first paper, Bisson [3] introduces the diagnostic categories of PTSD and ASD and presents an overview of the characteristics of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems [4,5], describing prevalence and risk factors in the development of traumatic symptoms. The variation in diagnostic features between these two classification systems serves to illustrate the ongoing development and refinement of our contemporary understanding of traumatic experience. Bisson signals our increasing awareness of resilience as opposed to the pathology of trauma. The concept of a resilience trajectory may challenge the reader to query whether employee resilience can be strengthened through processes of selection, screening and organizationally based support systems. These issues are addressed and developed in the following papers. While the first article focuses upon individual outcomes of treatment, Bisson suggests that individual prediction of risk is indeed a poor predictive tool and stresses that the degrees of support, connection and affirmation within the organizational context will contribute to recovery. Using the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health Guidelines for intervention (the development of which he played a significant part), Bisson briefly considers the viability of particular interventions. He signals the issues concerning early intervention in the workplace that the following articles then address. In particular, he stresses that the emotional component of single-session interventions termed as psychological debriefing (PD) should be avoided, suggesting that in many situations practical and pragmatic support provided by an informed peer group is both necessary and sufficient an intervention. Utilizing their extensive experience in Australia, McFarlane and Bryant [6] then focus specifically upon the impact of trauma in occupational settings acknowledging that individuals and groups within some occupations and workplaces experience higher risk factors than others. They introduce notions of cumulative risk and secondary stressors and suggest preventive or minimization strategies for the management of trauma within the workplace. Management strategies such as systematic assessment, reduction of exposure and rotation of duties are noted alongside the repetition of Bisson’s caution that there is inherent difficulty in providing accurate and ethical prediction of risk on an individual basis. They suggest that employers and supervisors nevertheless have a duty of care to identify and support those individuals adversely affected by traumatic events. The authors raise issues of legal and employer liability and financial compensation, a key factor in the ongoing debate about effective support for workers. Such risks are balanced against acknowledgement of the financial costs of providing support systems and the necessary cost-benefit analysis evaluation of any intervention adopted by an organization. They argue that early intervention or treatment to prevent further injury is crucial. The need for an evidence-based choice of intervention is stressed, an issue of particular importance in evaluation of PD and other structured interventions. Their acknowledgement of cumulative effects and potential sensitization to recurrent occupational stressors signals a need for occupational health practitioners to remain aware of the latest research in regard to complex PTSD and to constructivist interpretations of the relationship between cumulative stress and traumatic events. c/o School of Applied Psychosocial Studies, Faculty of Health and Social Work, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK.