The goals of this course are a) to introduce students to critical approaches to understanding mental health, with a particular focus on learnings from Mad Studies, Critical Disability Studies, Crip Theory, and Disability Justice theoretical and activist work; and b) to examine how these critical approaches might be applied in the field of health promotion (and public health more broadly).

Throughout the course, we will centre the critical knowledges, experiences, and scholarship of those with lived experience of the mental health system. We will start by critically examining dominant biomedical conceptualizations of mental health and mental illness, as well as the disciplines and institutions that uphold them (collectively known as the psy complex).

Through this examination, we will come to understand how sanism — discrimination directed towards those labelled as “mentally ill” — manifests and is upheld by dominant systems. In particular, we will explore how sanism intersects with and is co-produced by other systems of oppression, including colonialism, racism, and anti-Blackness, cisheterosexism, and classism, among others.

In the final part of the course, we will explore applications of critical mental health perspectives, including to mental health research and service provision. Ultimately, students will be encouraged to reflect on their role in moving the field towards a more critical mental health promotion