Therapists as Agents of Social Change

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”

- Maria Robinson

Questions of the Day

• “Objective good health is related to happiness”– Do you agree that health, education, climate, race

and gender do not matter much for happiness?– Are changing social conditions impractical?– Do citizens of the USA tend to say they are happy

even when they aren’t? Why or why not?

Knee-Jerk of Community Psych

• Reflexivity: – the subjectivity and social location of community

psychologists in their roles as social interventionists, including the privileges that they enjoy

• “One cannot be a community psychologist in one’s public life at work and then go home to one’s private life and ‘turn off’ the values that inform one’s work as a community psychologist” – (Nelson & Prelletensky (2005), p152)

Truth or Conscientization

• Conscientization: – The process of gaining awareness of the conditons

that oppress people

• Praxis: – Critical “‘reflection and action upon the world to

transform it’” (Freire, 1970)

What Does Praxis Look Like?

Cultural Context Vision

Actions

Needs

Constituencies

Actions

How Should Praxis Look?

Cultural Context Vision

Needs

Constituencies

Praxis makes perfectDimensions State of Affairs Subject of Study OutcomeVision/values What is the ideal

vision? What values guide the vision?

Social organizations that promote a balance among values for personal, relational, and collective well-being

Vision of justice, well-being and empowerment

Cultural/Social context What are the facts? The “true” state of affairs?

Psychology of individual and collective

Identification of prevailing norms and social conditions oppressing minorities

Needs How is the state of affairs perceived and experienced

Grounded theory and lived experiences

Identification of needs of oppressed groups

Action What can be done to change undesirable state of affairs

Theories of personal and social change

Personal and social change strategies

The Making of a Community Psychologist

• Experiences• Reflexes• Accountability• Outcomes• Social Norms and Abnorms• “Rocking the boat” Attitude• PRAXIS = FACILITATOR

Core IngredientsCompetencies Skills

Assumptions Understand the central roles of power in the social world; frame problems in terms of power inequities; challenge victim-blaming assumptions; focus on strengths

Values Clarify the vision and values on which interventions are based; advocate for values that promote liberation from oppression and personal, relational, and collective well-being

Principles and Theories Understand and apply CP concepts and theories (prevention, empowerment, sense of community); use ecological and system approaches to intervention focusing on group, organizational, community and social change, rather than individualist approaches

Professional IngredientsCompetencies Skills

Personal Effectiveness Personal reflection and conscientization; communication skills (basic attending and influencing, assertiveness, leadership, setting boundaries)

Partnership and Collaboration Consultation; group process facilitation; organization development; community development; partnering with diverse stakeholders, including disadvantaged people; team-building

Technical Competencies Project management; grant-writing; oral and written communication skills

Focus• Ameliorate vs Transform

– Band-aid vs. Major Surgery– First Order Change vs. Second Order Change

• Ameliorative: – an approach to intervention that focuses on improvement rather than

fundamental change of underlying assumptions, values and power structures, also known as first-order change

• Transformative: – an approach to intervention that focuses on fundamental change of

underlying assumptions, values and power structures; also known as second order change

The Characters of ChangeCharacteristics Ameliorative Transformative

Framing of Issues/Problems

Technical and rational problem solving

Terms of oppression and inequities of power

Values Holistic, health, caring and compassion

Self-determination, participation, social justice, respect for diversity, accountability

Levels of Analysis Ecological perspective; improving personal well-being

Terms of power dynamics; improving collective well-being

Prevention Focus Enhancing personal skills, self-esteem and support systems

Reduction of systemic risk factors (racism, sexism, poverty)

Desired Outcomes Personal enhanced well-being (health, choice)

Group enhanced well-being (power and justice)

Invention Process May be ‘expert-driven’ but includes stakeholders

Partnership with community and stakeholders; local ownership of change process

Roles for Community Psychologists

Professional expertise to solve problems

Work with oppressed groups to challenge the status quo and create social change

Promoting Healthful Change

• Whose interests will be served?• Is there value congruence between the

change agent and those with whom he/she will be consulting?

• What form will the intervention take (eg action research, consultation, skills training)?

• What previous interventions have been tried and with what success?

What’s the Alternative?

• Alternative Settings: – Voluntary associations created and controlled by

the stakeholders who share a problem or oppressive condition

– Eg – Self-help, mutual aid organizations

• If a social condition is not deemed oppressive does it need changing?

Tips and Tricks for Facilitating Social Change

1. Who’s in the room? What kinds? Types? Shapes? Colors? Class?

2. How often do YOU speak?3. Are you ACTIVELY listening?4. Support others by soliciting their thoughts and ideas5. Whose work and contribution gets recognized?6. Work against creating a structure that alienates some of the

stakeholders7. Ask what needs to be done vs. asking others to do something8. Social change is a process – a complex, laborious process

Social Interventions

• Is social service the same as social change?• The belly of the beast: outsiders or insiders?• Challenging the status quo: linking the immediate

concerns of citizens with larger structures of inequality– Promotion of personal, relational, and collective well-

being– Balancing self-determination, caring, compassion and

respect for diversity with principles of social justice and sense of community

Examples of Ameliorative vs Transformative Social Interventions

Setting / Role Ameliorative TransformativeGovernment / Insider Contribute to population

healthPrevent epidemicsSocial supportsPublic educationProvide basic necessities

Support full employmentEquity legislationProgressive taxation systemEliminate povertyUniversal health insuranceUniversal family support

SMOs and NGOs / Outsider Demand more servicesPressure to improve communityIncreased participation in local politicsFunds for charity, research and demonstration projects

Oppose economic colonialismResist globalizationFight exploitationSupport networks of resistanceDepowerment of the powerfulCreate links of solidaritySustainable communitiesPromote culture of equalityTeach psychopolitical awareness

Import Trivia

• 1% reduction in GDP eliminates gains in reducing urban poverty experienced during a 3.7% growth in GDP

• Recession has a particularly strong effect on inequality

• Growth by itself, without appropriate social policies to ensure fairness in the way its benefits are distributed, brings little benefit to health equity

Strengths and Limitations

Characteristic Government SMOs and NGOs

Strengths BreathDepthLengthSustainability

TransformativeParticipatoryIntegrative

Weaknesses AmeliorativeConservativeRegressive

UnaccountableContradictoryTransitoryInsular and internecineIndifferent to diversity

Roots of Social Movements

• Suffering / Deprivation• Consciousness Raising• Congealing Events• Political Opportunities

Community Psychologists Working in Government Organizations

• Bureaucracy• Paperwork• Limited, Defined Scope• Measureable (Ameliorative)• Less an agent of change than an agent of

policies

Community Psychologists in SMOs and NGOs

• Limits on personal income• Inefficient ways of working• Diverse educational levels of coworkers and

staff members• Diverse cultural experiences may create

misunderstandings and tension • Compromising one’s own personal values?• Fractured goals

Role of Community Psychologist in Social Organizations

• Facilitate:– Social change– People power / empowerment– Collective action

How to Prepare as a Facilitator for Social Change

• Multiple sources of support• Congruence and confluence of interests• Communications network• Organizational effectiveness• Resource mobilization

Collective Action Strategies

• Build Recruitment because Size Matters• Media and Marketing Campaigns• Create Coalitions of Intersecting Interests• Create Lobbying and Political Influence Efforts• Protest the Status Quo

Changing Vocabulary• Alternative Setting: settings that are designed to, and are often in opposition to,

mainstream or traditional settings• Ameliorative: an approach to intervention that focuses on improvement rather than

fundamental change of underlying assumptions, values and power structures, also known as first-order change

• Framing: reframing how social issues are conceptualized or understood; transformative interventions involve reframing the way issues are typically understood

• Praxis: the integration of theory and practice in social intervention; it includes attention to cultural context, vision, action and needs

• Reflexivity: the subjectivity and social location of community psychologists in their roles as social interventionists, including the privileges that they enjoy

• Social Intervention: one who engages in transformative social change, as contrasted with social technician and social reformer roles

• Social Movement Organization: an organization that is specifically dedicated to transformative social change

• Transformative: an approach to intervention that focuses on fundamental change of underlying assumptions, values and power structures; also known as second order change

Intervention Vocabulary• Ameliorative: interventions purposeful activities designed to alleviate the resutls of living in

unjust and prejudicial societies• Coalition: a group of groups dedicated to achieving social, economic, or health goals for a

particular sector of the population• Health Promoter: person assigned the role of improving an aspect of the population’s health• Human Development: refers to comprehensive improvement in the education, health,

housing, social and economic conditions of a population• Internecine: struggles within social movements or political parties• NGOs: non-government organizations dedicated to a particular cause• Program Developer: person collaborating with others in developing a governmental or non-

governmental project• Resource Mobilization: infusion of material intellectual and human resources into social

change efforts• Social Interventions: are intentional processes designed to affect the well-being of the

population through changes in values, policies, programs, distribution of resources, power differentials and cultural norms

• SMOs: social movement organizations dedicated to a particular cause• Transformative Interventions: intentional processes designed to alter the conditions that lead

to suffering