Voluntary work is seen as a key component of promoting mental health through social inclusion. For many years, occupational therapists have worked in partnership with voluntary organisations to facilitate access for service users to voluntary placements. Yet there is little published evidence to support this aspect of occupational therapy or to indicate specific successful strategies, especially in establishing successful placements beyond mental health services. This review examined the existing evidence, discussing the implications for occupational therapy.
The findings indicate a need for further research to ascertain the benefits of volunteering, the barriers and the ways to improve access for people with mental health problems. Occupational therapists, with their unique synthesis of knowledge and skills concerning occupation, enabling and client-centred practice (Townsend and Wilcock 2004), should be well placed to be able to respond to these issues, yet the literature does not provide evidence that they have risen to the challenge.
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