Mental Health Law: Abolish or Reform? (Video Available)
A seminar and launch to mark the release of Dr Kay Wilson's new book Mental Health Law: Abolish or Reform? published by Oxford University Press. The book is introduced by Emeritus Professor Bernadette McSherry and Dr Wilson discusses her research and the themes of the book.
Presented as part of the Melbourne Social Equity Institute's Mental Health and Society Seminar Series.
The debate about whether mental health law should be abolished or reformed emerged during the negotiations of the Convention on the Right of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and has raged fiercely for over a decade. It has resulted in an impasse between abolitionists, States Parties, and other reformers and a literature which has devolved into 'camps'.
Dr Kay Wilson's new book Mental Health Law: Abolish or Reform? aims to break new ground by cutting through the confusion using the tools of human rights treaty interpretation backed by a deep jurisprudential analysis of core CRPD concepts - dignity (including autonomy), equality, and participation. What does the CRPD mean and what does it require States Parties to do? Is it possible to flesh out a broader vision of disability rights?
Kay Wilson is a lawyer, scholar, and writer with an interest in mental health, disability, and human rights law. She has a Bachelor of Arts and Laws and an Honours Degree in Psychology from Monash University and a PhD in law from the University of Melbourne. She was also a researcher on the Rethinking Mental Health Laws and the Seclusion and Restraint Projects and has published papers in Australian and international journals. In 2015, she won the Dontas Travelling Fellowship to Greece to give a paper on seclusion and restraint.
Other seminars in this series
(videos available)
Thursday 4 March 2021 – Professor Bernadette McSherry
O Brave New Brain? Regulating "Neurointerventions"
Thursday 1 April 2021 – Indigo Daya
Welcoming Diverse Consumer and Survivor Views and Voices into Mental Health
Thursday 6 May 2021 – Dr Magenta Simmons and Melissa Keller-Tuberg
Involving Young People as Partners in Mental Health Research
Thursday 3 June 2021 – Professor Helen Cahill
Using School-based Social and Emotional Learning Programs to Advance Wellbeing Post Emergency
Thursday 21 October – Dr Tom Brunzell
A New Approach to Trauma-Informed Schools: Increasing Student Engagement, Achievement and Wellbeing