Nonviolent resistance: A radically alternative mental health nursing practice?

Batterham, Mark; Cousins, Luke; Wilson, Ramon; Mathers, Andrew

Abstract

This article is focussed on working with parents and carers to develop nonviolent resistance (NVR) as a means of addressing controlling and self-destructive behaviours exhibited by their children. This practice is discussed as an alternative form of mental health nursing that by ‘reclaiming radicalism’ could, in the context of austerity and marketization, ‘(Coxon, 2015: 15) help to enable mental health nurses to ‘promote our own form of positivity, anti-cynicism and belief in ourselves’. It begins by locating in theory the tension between NVR as simultaneously a strategy and a principle. It continues by introducing the main elements of NVR in practice. This is followed by some reflections on practice focussed on the dimensions of client empowerment, worker motivation, appropriate service delivery, and professional enhancement. It concludes by suggesting that the wider implementation of practices of NVR would be subject to a struggle over contested meanings of ‘good practice’.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 4, 2018
• Publication Date: Apr 1, 2018
• Deposit Date: Jul 30, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 30, 2018
• Journal: Mental Health Nursing Journal
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 38
• Issue: 2
• Keywords: nonviolent resistance, mental health nursing
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/869939
• Publisher URL: https://pocketmags.com/mental-health-nursing-magazine/april-2018/articles/368259/non-violent-resistance-towards-a-radically-alternative-mental-health-nursing-practice
• Contract Date: Jul 30, 2018