Voices

ReFrame 2019: Call for Submissions

ReFrame, a journal by the Mariwala Health Initiative is a platform to challenge existing norms and explore diverse voices within the mental health space — expanding horizons for who gets to participate in such conversations in an effort to firmly ground mental health in a contextual, intersectional, right-based, intersectoral framework. It is envisioned as a tool for mental health practitioners, advocates, activists, scholars, students, experts, funders, government officials and non-profit organizations — and those from closely allied sectors. It is designed to share ideas, best practices and challenges within the field of mental health care in India. ReFrame is an effort to broaden and complicate mental health discourse, but, also, make it accessible in an effort to change the conversation around mental health in India.

This year, the theme for ReFrame is ‘Bridge the Care Gap.’ We aim to challenge the existing discourse around the ‘treatment gap’ - which predominantly carries a medical connotation; implies biomedical treatment of mental illness; promotes curative clinical psychiatric interventions; and excludes psycho-social interventions.

The ‘treatment gap’ has been the dominant framing of ‘mental health crisis’, which is that demand for mental health services outstrips supply of qualified experts i.e. psychiatrists or psychologists. These practices are top-down, based on an expert diagnosing a solely bio-medical illness that may require medication. Such an approach also invisibilises the psycho-social context of each individual and fails to recognise structural and systemic barriers that may contribute to mental health stressors.

Reframing the ‘treatment gap’ should move us toward the totality of health and social care needs of persons with mental illness. ReFrame therefore invites conversation to build a more comprehensive construct called the Care Gap which addresses psychosocial and health care gaps that negatively impact a number of human rights protected under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Coined by Pathare, Brazinova and Levav, this term connotes the need for reframing the language, approach, definition and measurement of gaps in mental health care1. We hope that this edition will showcase examples of a multi sectoral responses to the care gap, as well as innovations in psychosocial care—including family psychoeducation, supported employment and caregiver support. We enlist contributions on various aspects of this theme.

 

General Submission Guidelines

We request authors to follow the guidelines specified below while sending in their submissions.

  • Format: A Word document (doc or .docx) with English (UK) spellings. The font should be Times New Roman, 12 Point and single-spaced. Article limit: 800 – 1200 words, headline limit: 15 words, sub-headline limit:  25 words
  • Please send us the author’s biography of 40 - 60 words
  • Submissions in MHI’s ReFrame may also translate the published content into other languages, and publish the content on social media including Facebook, Twitter, and similar online platforms.
  • All the submitted articles should be original and properly cited.
  • We do not publish pieces that come across as promotional or that do not include citations where ideas, statistics and statements have been borrowed from elsewhere.
  • Mention previous work, any data/evidence, or experience that your idea builds upon
  • All submissions on the work of an organization must obtain the organization’s written consent for the same.

“ReFrame is a platform to challenge existing norms and explore diverse voices within the mental health space”

ReFrame Sub-themes

Please select one of the following themes to write under:

  1. What is the care gap in mental health: Access, Quality, Affordability, Discrimination, Rights Violations, Bio-Medical Centric model etc.
  2. What is the impact of the care gap: Impact on marginalised groups, Greater risk of loss, of opportunity, disability, death.
  3. Diverse pathways to resilience: Showcasing innovative methods/programs for psychosocial care that fulfill a spectrum of needs of persons with mental illness.
  4. Implementing the Mental Health Care Act and Policy: Salient features, Gaps in implementation, Advocacy efforts.

How to Submit an Article

Please send your submissions by June 30th, 2019 to contact@mariwalahealthinitiative.org, subject line: ReFrame Submission. Please mention which sub-theme your article falls under.

ReFame has  appointed a selection committee to review and shortlist articles. Please note that if a submission has been shortlisted, we might make required editorial changes and will share the final version with the author for consent. All submissions to ReFrame are copyright protected and owned by MHI, unless the author has explicitly requested to retain their rights. MHI may print the content to make available as handouts or digests of articles for varied audiences. MHI may also translate the published content into other languages, and publish the content on social media platforms. MHI may also share published articles with other publications from time to time for non-commercial use and reserves the right to allow title changes, and will inform authors where their articles are shared.

Footnotes:

1Care gap: a comprehensive measure to quantify unmet needs in mental health. S. Pathare, A. Brazinova, I. Levav. Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci. 2018 Mar 9 : 1–5.  Published online 2018 Mar 9. doi: 10.1017/S2045796018000100