Protecting Rights, Promoting Recovery: Human Rights in Mental Health Care

Presented by Shirley Gleeson, Head of Social Work at St John of God University Hospital.

This public lecture explores how human rights shape compassionate, ethical, and recovery-oriented mental health care and treatment. This is particularly important in an inpatient setting, where people’s human rights are more vulnerable. This lecture will provide a Social Work perspective on how basic principles such as dignity, autonomy, participation, and equality can be protected and how coercion and undue influence can be prevented.

The lecture will reflect on the everyday realities of mental health care and treatment, including issues of power, consent, risk, and safeguarding, and the tensions that can arise between care, protection, and control. Drawing on Irish policy, practice, and lived experience, it will highlight the unique contribution of Social Work in advocating for service-user voice, supporting families, and addressing social inequalities that impact mental health and recovery.

Ultimately, the lecture invites staff, service users, and the wider community to consider how a human rights-based approach can strengthen recovery, build trust, and promote more just and humane mental health services.

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Host or Publisher St John of God Hospital