"Talk to me, not my illness": relevance of human rights and social justice in child and adolescent mental health intervention

Abstract

Clinical intervention in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) not only needs to ensure appropriate service but it must also reflect a commitment to uphold the rights of young people to be actively involved in professional decision making that affect their lives. In the context of convincing evidence regarding negative impact of global climate change on mental health, the promotion of self-sustainability appears crucial through strength based approaches such as participation and autonomy in the healing and treatment process. The intervention pathways chosen by the multidisciplinary team must work to build the resilience of children and young people and facilitate the development of self-reliance in their lives. The authors observed that active participation of children and young people in the CAMHS treatment process is still in the early stage due to lack of wider social recognition regarding centrality of children's mental health, and their credibility to actively participate in the treatment process. However, this paper argues that effective and just intervention must ensure the appropriate participation of the children in all stages of their treatment programme, in the spirit of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.