Abstract
We were very pleased to read the commentary by Russo, Beresford, and O'Hagan in response to our publication:
Happell, Brenda, & Scholz, Brett (2018). Doing what we can, but knowing our place: Being an ally to promote consumer leadership in mental health. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 27(1), 440–447.
We had two main motivations for writing our paper about allies: first, to describe our views and experiences as allies, given there is currently a dearth of literature on this topic in the mental health arena; and second, to promote discussion and debate about the role of allies and how they might better support the consumer movement without controlling or directing it. By way of explanation, we use the term consumer because it is the term most commonly used in Australia to describe people diagnosed with a mental illness and who access or seek to access mental health services. We acknowledge the debate about language and its importance and understand that terminology can be contentious and problematic. We want to be clear that we do not believe it is within our role to make decisions about preferred or most appropriate language and always take guidance from our ‘consumer’ colleagues in these matters.
Happell, Brenda, & Scholz, Brett (2018). Doing what we can, but knowing our place: Being an ally to promote consumer leadership in mental health. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 27(1), 440–447.
We had two main motivations for writing our paper about allies: first, to describe our views and experiences as allies, given there is currently a dearth of literature on this topic in the mental health arena; and second, to promote discussion and debate about the role of allies and how they might better support the consumer movement without controlling or directing it. By way of explanation, we use the term consumer because it is the term most commonly used in Australia to describe people diagnosed with a mental illness and who access or seek to access mental health services. We acknowledge the debate about language and its importance and understand that terminology can be contentious and problematic. We want to be clear that we do not believe it is within our role to make decisions about preferred or most appropriate language and always take guidance from our ‘consumer’ colleagues in these matters.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 627-629 |
| Number of pages | 3 |
| Journal | International Journal of Mental Health Nursing |
| Volume | 28 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs |
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| Publication status | Published - Apr 2019 |
| Externally published | Yes |
