Dr Simon Abbott

Contact

Simon Abbott
About
Teaching and learning
Research
Professional practice, knowledge exchange and impact

About

My research interests involve mental health social policy and practice. This focuses on the social factors and mechanisms that contribute to mental distress, and how mental health professionals and others can respond to this. This includes a focus on person-centred and rights-based approaches to mental health social work, such as strengths based recovery-oriented practice and supported decision-making.

I am currently working on a research study exploring the contextual factors driving demand and provision of adult social care and mental health services in England. 

I am interested co-producing research with people who have lived experience ,such as those with mental health problems who have experienced compulsory admission to psychiatric hospital.

I am a member of national research groups focusing on mental health recovery and mental health policy; 1) Research Recovery Network and 2) Mental Diversity Law Network.

My doctoral research was undertaken at the Centre for Social Work Innovation and Research, University of Sussex. My doctoral thesis involved a hermeneutic phenomenological study on how social work Approved Mental Health Professionals (AMHPs) use the law in practice. This involved an in-depth qualitative study, across three different London boroughs. This focused on decision making under the Mental Health Act 1983.

I am  a registered social worker. I remain active in practice as an Advanced Social Worker and Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP). My career has focused on the mental health field of social work practice. This has involved practice in community mental health teams; specialist community services for people experiencing psychosis; and as a forensic social worker, working with mentally disordered offenders in regional secure services and in the community. Prior to qualifying as a social worker I worked in the voluntary sector in the fields of mental health and a harm minimisation community drugs service.

Academic responsibilities

Senior Lecturer

Qualifications

  • Doctorate in Social Work, University of Sussex.
  • Masters of Applied Social Studies.
  • LL.B (Hons)
  • Diploma in Social Work

Teaching and learning

I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Module leadership on the Masters of Social Work: 

SW7004: Legal, Ethical and Policy Frameworks for Social Work Practice

Module leadership on the BA Social Work: 

SW4008: Law and Social Policy for Social Work. 

Joint module leadership on Post Qualifying Social Work:

SW7035 Best Interests Assessor

Undergraduate courses taught

Postgraduate courses taught

Research

2020-21

I have received a grant award of £10,000 from Kingston University & St George's University of London. This will fund a study to explore the contextual factors driving demand and provision of adult social care and mental health services in England. I will be working on this project over the next 12 months with colleagues, Allie Goldacre and Dr Rick Hood. The study builds on the department's growing expertise in secondary data analysis and the application of systems ideas to social care.

I have received a grant award of £8,000 from KU QR Strategic Priorities Funds for policy research projects. This study engages policy-makers with evidence on implementation of the new Approved Mental Capacity Professional (AMCP) role under the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019. I will be working on the study with departmental colleagues, Maria Brent and Professor Rick Hood.  The study will involve people with lived experience of social care in all aspects of the research, connecting policy and evidence to the experience of service users.

I am a member of national research groups focusing on mental health recovery and mental health policy; 1) Research Recovery Network and 2) Mental Diversity Law Network.

Publications

Jump to: Article | Book Section | Conference or Workshop Item
Number of items: 4.

Article

Hood, Rick, Brent, Maria, Abbott, Simon and Sartori, Daniele (2019) A study of practitioner–service user relationships in social work. The British Journal of Social Work, 49(3), pp. 787-805. ISSN (print) 0045-3102

Book Section

Abbott, Simon (2020) Navigating practice at the interface between mental health and social care law. In: Braye, Suzy and Preston-Shoot, Michael, (eds.) The Care Act 2014 : wellbeing in practice. London, U.K. : Learning Matters. pp. 113-128. (Transforming Social Work Practice) ISBN 9781526446879

Conference or Workshop Item

Abbott, Simon (2018) Using the law in mental health social work practice in a changing national and global context : challenges and opportunities offered by a therapeutic jurisprudence lens. In: 8th European Conference for Social Work Research : Social Work in Transition : Challenges for Social Work Research in a Changing Local and Global World; 19 - 21 Apr 2018, Edinburgh, U.K.. (Unpublished)

Abbott, Simon (2017) Using the law in social work AMHP practice to navigate coercion and care. In: 7th European Conference for Social Work Research : Challenges in Social Work Research – Conflicts, Barriers and Possibilities in relation to Social Work; 19 - 21 Apr 2017, Aalborg, Denmark. (Unpublished)

This list was generated on Tue Apr 13 06:51:06 2021 BST.

Professional practice, knowledge exchange and impact

Active in practice, as an Advanced Social Worker and Approved Mental Health Professional in South London.

Peer reviewer: British Journal of Social Work, European Journal of Social Work.

Evidence Reviewer: National Institute of Health Research (NIHR).