Teamwork and social worker advocacy: conflicts and possibilities

Consumer participation in mental health services has made professional activities, including teamwork, visible to increased examination of points of conflict that often focus on aspects of professional ehtics. Social workers are ethically bound to serve as client advocates, which implies an adversary process not provided for in assumptions about teamwork. Social work generally is based on a consensus model and occurs in the absence of legitimate standards to assess competence. These factors are likely to be a negative influence on social workers' contributions to teamwork. An interprofessional procedure focused on client rights is suggested to increase explicit attention to conflict in teamwork.