Is there space for a ‘care-oriented’ advocacy in social work practice with people who have substance use problems?

Abstract

Although advocacy is a valuable concept, it has received little attention in social work practice with people who have substance use problems. The tendencies of medicalisation and responsibilisation, as well as criminalisation and the War on Drugs ideology, create an unfavourable environment for the emergence of an advocacy discourse. Within the neoliberal context, advocacy in social work practice in the field of addiction is not only an overlooked but also an under-theorised issue. Using Tronto’s political ethics of care theory, the article argues that a perspective on advocacy that places care at the centre of its analysis might provide an illuminating framework for working with people who have substance use problems. Each of Tronto’s ethical elements of care, which are attentiveness, responsibility, competence, responsiveness and trust, can offer useful directions for advocacy practice in the field of substance use and addiction.