Empowerment in social work practice with the psychiatrically disabled: Model and method

Empowerment of those clients disempowered by society is explored as both a philosophy to inform social work practice and as a continuing method of practice in itself. A three‐part model of empowerment at individual, interpersonal, and group levels is presented and is then illustrated by application to a case study of psychiatric disability. The generalist model of practice is seen as particularly suited to empowerment. New directions in serving mental health consumers are discussed, including participatory action research, the disability paradigm, and consciousness‐raising in relation to economic oppression. Egalitarian partnership between worker and client is seen as the future of social work practice.