‘TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE’. SUPPORTING MENTAL HEALTH ACROSS PROFESSIONS.

JONATHAN BECKETT Abstract: This paper critically analyses the notion of different professions working together, seeking to raise awareness, and to support those suffering with mental ill health, exploring the specific nuanced differences between each type of professional working. The importance of effective liaison is underlined, as recognition is made that practitioners do not always co-operate effectively, compromising the assessment and provision for service users. The conceptual links between ethical and professional codes of practice with regard to social work and related professions are made. Furthermore, this work explores how the critical synthesis of the use of ‘self’ within both reflective and reflexive practice can be employed to enhance interactions, deliberations and therefore outcomes for practitioners and their service users.