I thought I would use this last assigned blog to talk about next steps. At this point I know I will finish the MSW program. Even though I have two summer classes left to complete, finishing up this semester feels like I have accomplished what I came to do.
So what did I come here to do?
· After a thirty year hiatus I came to finish my education.
· Be a responsible professional in the human service field.
· Understand what I have been doing all these years and how and why it is important.
· Share ideas with and learn from expansive thinkers in the field.
· Figure our specifically what niche works best for me.
· Make myself more hirable as I age and relocate.
· Work more deeply in a profession that supports my personal value of altruism.
· Increase opportunities for me to work with people holding the same values and ethics I do.
At this juncture I feel like I am well on the way to completing all the above except one – what niche works best for me. After forty years of human service work and education I don’t know exactly what specific area I want to work in. One person I interviewed with for a potential LCSW intern position suggested I pick one that I feel drawn to and see how it works out. If it’s not the right one simply move on to another one. Of course that is what I have been doing my entire work life. If I may indulge myself without boring the reader too much: ranch hand, electrician (residential, commercial, and shipboard), group home operator, inpatient psychiatric technician, mental health counselor, mental health program director, HIV prevention coordinator, adolescent mental health and substance abuse counselor, adult treatment program supervisor, graduate student, family court mediator, college instructor, and foster family case manager. Of course each one of those professions has sub levels. For example I was a phlebotomist drawing blood for HIV testing in an outreach program when I was working as a HIV prevention coordinator and I served on several boards of directors for community based programs.
Whew. Maybe it is time for a rest instead of figuring out what to do next – as if. My current plans are to continue teaching at the local community college and work in various programs and clinics in the area to acquire my LCSW hours. All very part time. That is one thing I am absolutely certain of. Working part time. A more proper description might be setting my own hours. I simply work better when I work twelve hours one day, none the next, and six the next.
Without trying to sound ‘Zen like’, I think the next thing I do is simply the next thing I do. I enjoy being with real people talking about real things. Not great on small talk but if there is a human problem to solve I am there for it.
I think it is also time to not spend so much time in my head. The last four years of college have been focused on reading and writing – which I thoroughly enjoy doing. But my physical work skills are ‘a laggin’. The next few years will include playing the guitar, fixing bikes, and building things for myself and others. I don’t see these activities as separate from social work. Some of the best work I have done has been talking to an adolescent while digging a ditch for a water line.
I hope by writing the above I can somehow encourage others to embrace the things they love doing with mindfulness and respect. Professor Yellow Bird in the Humboldt State University MSW program keeps talking about the importance of engaging the neurons in the frontal cortex. I think talking about how to engage the frontal cortex is another way of emphasizing the importance of living life in a mindful and respective manner. I also believe that living life this way builds on itself. It becomes more and more natural and the mirror neurons (see previous blog) of those around us kick in creating a more mindful culture. I want to live in a mindful, respectful culture. I want my family and children to live in a mindful and respectful culture. I want my community to be mindful and respectful. And of course the world. The only way that can happen is if I am mindful and respectful.
So as I write these lines the next few years come into focus. Stay as mentally, physically, and spiritually healthy as I can. Spend time with my family. And work in the area of social work I find most exciting – today.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
Is the world they show us the world that is?
For many years I have held the idea that the news media is not in the business of free speech or informing people what is going on the world or sharing important ideas. The news media is in the business of entertaining. By new media I include TV, the internet, newspapers, radio, and news magazines. I encourage you to watch a 6 minute video by Alisa Miller, head of Pulbic Radio International on Ted.com :
http://www.ted.com/talks/alisa_miller_shares_the_news_about_the_news.html
In the above 2008 video Alisa Miller uses “Eye-opening stats and graphs” to talk about the increasing interest of people in the United States about events in the world in the last 20 years – from 37% to over 50%. She also talks about the reduction of foreign news bureaus by 50%. People are more and more interested in world news and the news media is showing less and less. So what do they show? Pop culture. Why do they show pop culture? It’s cheaper and it still sells. As stated above I believe Ms. Miller’s video supports my contention that the news media little more than another entertainment program.
News pundits spend hours and hours of news time expressing opinions and making proclamations. With less and less world news information flowing in (down 50% as stated above) it is clear we cannot depend on the news pundits on FOX or CNN to tell us little if anything of value. But, again using stats from Ms. Miller’s video, 1 or 2% of the news available through the media contains world news. This means that at least some of the worldwide news picture is there. It means that we are responsible for informing ourselves and questioning everything we see and read. I am struck again with what a waste of time watching most of what is on TV. If you are watching a movie, somewhere in your mind you know it is a story someone wrote. If you are watching the news it is being proclaimed as the truth. Maybe it is and maybe it isn’t – you don’t know.
So what does this have to do with social work? One of the key areas for me is that as social workers we make ourselves aware of the cultures we are working in. Where are is this culture getting their information? If a 90 year old woman is living with her 50 year old developmentally disabled son and both are afraid to leave their house, what are they watching on their media programs? She is watching the news about the lasted killings in the south bay and he is looking up porno on the internet. This same couple can experience their life completely different if they get transportation down to the senior center or community college and spend time with other people walking in the woods or playing cards or cooking food for each other. Life changes from fear and secrets to fellowship and healthy relationships. Other topics include fear of other cultures, misunderstanding the behaviors of youth, and the importance of eating good food. The latest McDonald’s advertisement shows a picture of french fried potatoes with the slogan “gotta have it”. Dr. Kristie Leong on the Health Mad Web site http://healthmad.com/nutrition/are-mcdonalds-french-fries-the-most-unhealthy-fast-food/ describes those same fries as ". . . being high in calories, fat, and carbs, . . . (offering) little in the way of solid nutritional value". A person won’t see that information unless they look it up somewhere. In a healthy social setting that information can be easily shared.
This blogger defines social work as teaching people how to think for themselves. Pointing out the discrepancies between what is said on TV and the porno web sites and real life. Helping people find out what they really want and helping create healthy avenues to meet those needs. Mindful social work – teaching ourselves and other how to engage in the world – and life - in meaningfull ways.
http://www.ted.com/talks/alisa_miller_shares_the_news_about_the_news.html
In the above 2008 video Alisa Miller uses “Eye-opening stats and graphs” to talk about the increasing interest of people in the United States about events in the world in the last 20 years – from 37% to over 50%. She also talks about the reduction of foreign news bureaus by 50%. People are more and more interested in world news and the news media is showing less and less. So what do they show? Pop culture. Why do they show pop culture? It’s cheaper and it still sells. As stated above I believe Ms. Miller’s video supports my contention that the news media little more than another entertainment program.
News pundits spend hours and hours of news time expressing opinions and making proclamations. With less and less world news information flowing in (down 50% as stated above) it is clear we cannot depend on the news pundits on FOX or CNN to tell us little if anything of value. But, again using stats from Ms. Miller’s video, 1 or 2% of the news available through the media contains world news. This means that at least some of the worldwide news picture is there. It means that we are responsible for informing ourselves and questioning everything we see and read. I am struck again with what a waste of time watching most of what is on TV. If you are watching a movie, somewhere in your mind you know it is a story someone wrote. If you are watching the news it is being proclaimed as the truth. Maybe it is and maybe it isn’t – you don’t know.
So what does this have to do with social work? One of the key areas for me is that as social workers we make ourselves aware of the cultures we are working in. Where are is this culture getting their information? If a 90 year old woman is living with her 50 year old developmentally disabled son and both are afraid to leave their house, what are they watching on their media programs? She is watching the news about the lasted killings in the south bay and he is looking up porno on the internet. This same couple can experience their life completely different if they get transportation down to the senior center or community college and spend time with other people walking in the woods or playing cards or cooking food for each other. Life changes from fear and secrets to fellowship and healthy relationships. Other topics include fear of other cultures, misunderstanding the behaviors of youth, and the importance of eating good food. The latest McDonald’s advertisement shows a picture of french fried potatoes with the slogan “gotta have it”. Dr. Kristie Leong on the Health Mad Web site http://healthmad.com/nutrition/are-mcdonalds-french-fries-the-most-unhealthy-fast-food/ describes those same fries as ". . . being high in calories, fat, and carbs, . . . (offering) little in the way of solid nutritional value". A person won’t see that information unless they look it up somewhere. In a healthy social setting that information can be easily shared.
This blogger defines social work as teaching people how to think for themselves. Pointing out the discrepancies between what is said on TV and the porno web sites and real life. Helping people find out what they really want and helping create healthy avenues to meet those needs. Mindful social work – teaching ourselves and other how to engage in the world – and life - in meaningfull ways.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Mirror Neurons and Social Work?
Mirror neurons – recently discovered neurons in the brain that fire in the same way when we are both doing a task and when we are watching someone else do the same task. The firing of these particular neurons allows us to have the same experience as the person doing the task. In addition the firing of this particular neuron teaches us how to perform the task. To more fully understand what I am writing about I urge you to watch the video on mirror neurons at the PBS – Nova site:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3204/01.html
In other words it is one of the most basic social neurons that have been discovered to date. In order to survive alone, a person needs neurons that allow us to perceive and respond to the world around us but there is no need for the mirror neuron unless there are other people present. These neurons allow us to perceive (an aspect of mind reading) what other people are feeling and thinking (to a degree), and have the same experience ourselves. The video said mirror neuron development may be one of the basic factors that separate us from the animals and contribute to the high levels of communication that take place between human beings.
Why is understanding mirror neurons important to social work? My perspective on social work is that the work is basically about reducing and hopefully relieving suffering. I find that the work is spiritual, practical, altruistic, and meaningful – and highly important to our success as social beings. If mirror neurons are one of the basic building blocks to human social behavior how can that knowledge move us toward less suffering?
A person watches sports and feels surges of adrenaline in his or her body and actually experiences winning or losing the game. A person watches a child playing in a lawn sprinkler and experiences the drops of cool water on their skin. A group of children watch a group of adults working together and learn how people can work as a team.
A boy watches his father drink and physically abuse his mother and learns how to treat women. A girl watches other girls and learns that having a boyfriend is the best way for her to feel good about herself. A man learns how to steal when he is in jail with other people who steal things (sic).
To my way of thinking, social work has a lot to do with changing how people perceive the world and what they have come to understand about how to live in the world. Much of what people learn comes from their family culture – the people they grow up with. The discovery of mirror neurons is simply more evidence of the importance of creating and supporting health living environments. Many people understand that we learn from each other but I am under the impression that most people don’t realize the degree to which the environment we place ourselves in affects our world view and the decisions we make. Cultures of tolerance and compassion come from living in a culture of tolerance and understanding.
I have heard for years that simply watching violence on television or in a video game does not result in more violent children. I beg to differ. If we are watching and/or participating in violence through games every day for hours (not unusual for many children) violence become our world view. Later in life, a person in the army may operate a drone from some remote location destroying people and villages then go in to eat supper and watch Seinfeld on TV. She/he has learned from childhood how to live in the world. Destroying things and people becomes a normal part of our lives.
This understanding on my part again underscores the importance of social workers and other human service workers to work toward creating environments that support the world we want to live in. The discovery of mirror neurons simply increases our understanding about how that happens. While toys are often ways that children learn about how to talk about and express their feelings, it is our task to provide balance through healthy interaction with adults and other children. If a family or person is in crisis how can we respond and create an experience of strength and understanding. We all know that if we, as a crisis responder, walk into a situation calm and competent, people in the situation often respond in kind. In other words “You must be the change you want to see in the world” (Mahatma Gandhi)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3204/01.html
In other words it is one of the most basic social neurons that have been discovered to date. In order to survive alone, a person needs neurons that allow us to perceive and respond to the world around us but there is no need for the mirror neuron unless there are other people present. These neurons allow us to perceive (an aspect of mind reading) what other people are feeling and thinking (to a degree), and have the same experience ourselves. The video said mirror neuron development may be one of the basic factors that separate us from the animals and contribute to the high levels of communication that take place between human beings.
Why is understanding mirror neurons important to social work? My perspective on social work is that the work is basically about reducing and hopefully relieving suffering. I find that the work is spiritual, practical, altruistic, and meaningful – and highly important to our success as social beings. If mirror neurons are one of the basic building blocks to human social behavior how can that knowledge move us toward less suffering?
A person watches sports and feels surges of adrenaline in his or her body and actually experiences winning or losing the game. A person watches a child playing in a lawn sprinkler and experiences the drops of cool water on their skin. A group of children watch a group of adults working together and learn how people can work as a team.
A boy watches his father drink and physically abuse his mother and learns how to treat women. A girl watches other girls and learns that having a boyfriend is the best way for her to feel good about herself. A man learns how to steal when he is in jail with other people who steal things (sic).
To my way of thinking, social work has a lot to do with changing how people perceive the world and what they have come to understand about how to live in the world. Much of what people learn comes from their family culture – the people they grow up with. The discovery of mirror neurons is simply more evidence of the importance of creating and supporting health living environments. Many people understand that we learn from each other but I am under the impression that most people don’t realize the degree to which the environment we place ourselves in affects our world view and the decisions we make. Cultures of tolerance and compassion come from living in a culture of tolerance and understanding.
I have heard for years that simply watching violence on television or in a video game does not result in more violent children. I beg to differ. If we are watching and/or participating in violence through games every day for hours (not unusual for many children) violence become our world view. Later in life, a person in the army may operate a drone from some remote location destroying people and villages then go in to eat supper and watch Seinfeld on TV. She/he has learned from childhood how to live in the world. Destroying things and people becomes a normal part of our lives.
This understanding on my part again underscores the importance of social workers and other human service workers to work toward creating environments that support the world we want to live in. The discovery of mirror neurons simply increases our understanding about how that happens. While toys are often ways that children learn about how to talk about and express their feelings, it is our task to provide balance through healthy interaction with adults and other children. If a family or person is in crisis how can we respond and create an experience of strength and understanding. We all know that if we, as a crisis responder, walk into a situation calm and competent, people in the situation often respond in kind. In other words “You must be the change you want to see in the world” (Mahatma Gandhi)
Friday, April 23, 2010
The Importance of Self-Detachment in Social Work Practice
“I’ve had it. I can’t do this anymore” Words I uttered to a fellow Master in Social Work student while riding down in the elevator after our last class of the day. Her eyes glazed over and when the elevator doors opened we went our separate ways. When is caring about and for our fellow human beings simply more than we want do deal with? Why on one day do I feel totally inspired to work in programs that respond to human suffering and the next all I want to do is spend the day alone riding my bicycle?
While researching for one of my papers I bumped into an article entitled “The Buffering Effect of Self-Detachment Against Emotional Exhaustion Amongst Social Work Students” by Yu-Wen Ying (2008). Huh? What? Self-Detachment? Not caring about the people we were serving is ok – even for a while? On page 138 of the study she clearly states “. . . that self-detachment and social support significantly protected against emotional exhaustion in social work students.” The study clearly shows there is a correlation between high self-detachment and low emotional exhaustion and vice versa.
The first thing I needed to examine was my definitions of self-detachment and caring about people. In the article, Ying makes the following comment “While the Western dualistic perspective tends to pit self-love against other-love, in the Eastern-Buddhist tradition, self- and other-compassion are inextricably intertwined. . . “ (Ying, 2008). So again I bump up against my western mind. I clearly believe in the importance of mindfulness in my social work practice (see my earlier blogs) but I clearly separate out self-love (going from a bike ride) from other-love (providing direct human services). And I appear to be very self judgmental about feeling two different ways; that is, feeling something must be wrong if I keep feeling different ways about my chosen profession. It must be evidence of a conflict in values and ethics, indecisiveness, wishy-washiness, etc.
Ying (2008) is saying that “. . . self- and other-compassion are inextricably intertwined. . .” and created a hypothesis and study whose results support this statement. If I understand this correctly, caring about myself CAN BE caring about other people (although Ying (2008) is careful to point out that “. . . the former should not be misconstrued as self-indulgent”). I have heard and talked about the concept of self care as being an important aspect of human service work for many years. I have always interpreted this as the importance of distancing oneself from other people for a period of time as a way of “recharging ones batteries”; again the dualistic world view. But I have never really considered self-detachment as not distancing oneself from another person but simply changing ones mindfulness focus while continuing to provide other-love to other people. In other words, not necessarily separating self-love from other-love as a form of burn out protection or burn out recovery.
So what does this mean to me in the real world? Several things come to mind. The first is the importance of mindfulness meditation. If I strengthen my ability to control the focus of my attention I will not be as likely to be swept away by another person’s feelings and/or situation increasing my ability to keep a clear and present mind and create meaningful solutions. Secondly it means that I can spend time alone doing things I enjoy but I don’t have to spend time alone in order prevent burn out. Thirdly I have to work on finding ways of providing self-love and other-love at the same time. How can I spend time with this person, care for myself and still provide meaningful solutions to their problems without being self-indulgence. (An example might be walking with the person while we talk providing me with much needed physical exercise while still focusing on the other person’s issues).
I’m sure there are other ways and benefits to providing compassion for myself and others at the same time but the key for me is to not think about pitting my care for self against my care for others. It truly is a change in my world view. I believe this is a very important focus for my ongoing meditation practice and needs to become a foundation to my mindfulness social work practice.
Reference:
Ying, Y. (2008). The Buffering Effect of Self-Detachment Against Emotional Exhaustion Amongst Social Work Students. Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Social Work: Social Thought, Vol. 27 (1-2). 127-146.
While researching for one of my papers I bumped into an article entitled “The Buffering Effect of Self-Detachment Against Emotional Exhaustion Amongst Social Work Students” by Yu-Wen Ying (2008). Huh? What? Self-Detachment? Not caring about the people we were serving is ok – even for a while? On page 138 of the study she clearly states “. . . that self-detachment and social support significantly protected against emotional exhaustion in social work students.” The study clearly shows there is a correlation between high self-detachment and low emotional exhaustion and vice versa.
The first thing I needed to examine was my definitions of self-detachment and caring about people. In the article, Ying makes the following comment “While the Western dualistic perspective tends to pit self-love against other-love, in the Eastern-Buddhist tradition, self- and other-compassion are inextricably intertwined. . . “ (Ying, 2008). So again I bump up against my western mind. I clearly believe in the importance of mindfulness in my social work practice (see my earlier blogs) but I clearly separate out self-love (going from a bike ride) from other-love (providing direct human services). And I appear to be very self judgmental about feeling two different ways; that is, feeling something must be wrong if I keep feeling different ways about my chosen profession. It must be evidence of a conflict in values and ethics, indecisiveness, wishy-washiness, etc.
Ying (2008) is saying that “. . . self- and other-compassion are inextricably intertwined. . .” and created a hypothesis and study whose results support this statement. If I understand this correctly, caring about myself CAN BE caring about other people (although Ying (2008) is careful to point out that “. . . the former should not be misconstrued as self-indulgent”). I have heard and talked about the concept of self care as being an important aspect of human service work for many years. I have always interpreted this as the importance of distancing oneself from other people for a period of time as a way of “recharging ones batteries”; again the dualistic world view. But I have never really considered self-detachment as not distancing oneself from another person but simply changing ones mindfulness focus while continuing to provide other-love to other people. In other words, not necessarily separating self-love from other-love as a form of burn out protection or burn out recovery.
So what does this mean to me in the real world? Several things come to mind. The first is the importance of mindfulness meditation. If I strengthen my ability to control the focus of my attention I will not be as likely to be swept away by another person’s feelings and/or situation increasing my ability to keep a clear and present mind and create meaningful solutions. Secondly it means that I can spend time alone doing things I enjoy but I don’t have to spend time alone in order prevent burn out. Thirdly I have to work on finding ways of providing self-love and other-love at the same time. How can I spend time with this person, care for myself and still provide meaningful solutions to their problems without being self-indulgence. (An example might be walking with the person while we talk providing me with much needed physical exercise while still focusing on the other person’s issues).
I’m sure there are other ways and benefits to providing compassion for myself and others at the same time but the key for me is to not think about pitting my care for self against my care for others. It truly is a change in my world view. I believe this is a very important focus for my ongoing meditation practice and needs to become a foundation to my mindfulness social work practice.
Reference:
Ying, Y. (2008). The Buffering Effect of Self-Detachment Against Emotional Exhaustion Amongst Social Work Students. Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Social Work: Social Thought, Vol. 27 (1-2). 127-146.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Never Assume You Understand Another Culture
I am a 64 year old man who in his later years has become fascinated by the very work he has be doing for almost 40 years. I have worked in humans services during that time as a counselor, therapist, outreach worker, teacher, case manager, mediator, community health worker, program director, community organizer, group leader, living skills educator, HIV prevention coordinator, and treatment program supervisor. Each job I have done simply because I enjoy working with people and enjoy challenges. When considering retirement I realized there was only one thing I wanted to do in my retirement – the same thing I have been doing my entire work life.
I am currently in the final few semesters of a Masters in Social Work (MSW) program at Humboldt State University and with credentials in hand I plan to expand my community organizing and clinical work efforts within my local community by responding to the expressed needs of community members. I will continue to go where my strengths can best be utilized – nothing really new there. What the MSW program has done is allowed me to take time out to reflect on the work I have done in the past, learn what is happening nationally and globally, and focus my thinking on what my strengths, interests, and values really are. A couple of themes have emerged that I find, as I said before, absolutely fascinating: the unique nature of social work in rural counties and mainstream cultures relationship with indigenous populations. I have spent many hours reading, writing, studying, talking, and thinking about both of these items.
My daughter is a MSW social worker working with male Latino youth. During one visit she handed me a book by Anne Fadiman entitled The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures. My daughter simply said “Read It.” I put it aside and promptly forgot about it. About two months later I found the book and started thumbing through it. I couldn’t put it down. The book has become one of the few I have found that speaks directly to the heart of my interest in social work - the unique nature of social work in rural counties and mainstream cultures relationship with indigenous populations.
I am not going to retell the story in the book. If you have similar interests I have one simple recommendation: read it. But I am going to describe a few of the points the author made in the book that I found to be especially enlightening to this western, Euro-American mind. First I would like to say that the book is not about indigenous cultures in the United States but goes to great lengths to describe the relationship between indigenous and non-indigenous cultures in Southeast and Eastern Asia. But I believe that applying those descriptions to the United States would be simply a matter of substituting names, locations, and cultural practices. The following is one example: “For the many Hmong who live in high-unemployment areas, questions of advancement are often moot. They have no jobs at all. This is the reason the Hmong are routinely called this country’s “least successful refugees.” It is worth noting that the standard American tests of success that they have flunked are almost exclusively economic. If one applied social indices instead – such as crime, child abuse, illegitimacy, and divorce – the Hmong would probably score better than most refugee groups (and also better than most Americans), but those are not the forms of success to which our culture assigns its highest priority. Instead, we have trained the spotlight on our best-loved index of failure, the welfare rolls.” (Fadiman, 1997)Indigenous populations in the United States and other countries succeed or fail based on which definition of success you want to use. Yes, Native Americans have unemployment rates of up to 80% in some areas and have had to depend on welfare or other forms of income to survive. But in areas where local indigenous people have been able to maintain or strengthen their tribal community and family, crime, child abuse, illegitimacy, and divorce is often lower than surrounding non-indigenous communities (Red Horse, 1997). It is only in areas where their traditional values and beliefs have been decimated by mainstream culture that you find high rates in the problems described above.
The parts of the book I found the most interesting were the descriptions of the moments of face to face contact between mainstream American culture and Hmong culture. Besides the obvious lack of understanding due to the difference in language it is quickly apparent that language is just one facet and may be not even the most important. The other barriers are cultural and include spiritual beliefs, health and medical practices, the importance of the community versus the individual, literacy, appropriate treatment of children, diet, what constitutes responsible living, and more. I have stood face to face with another person and realized I cannot communicate at any level and also understood that the other person is having the same experience. We both want to but other than smiling at each other it cannot happen.
In her book Fadiman (1997) makes a salient point about healing that I hadn’t really considered before. I have always held the belief that some illnesses were more emotionally or intellectually based, some illnesses were more physically based and many are some combination of the two. The cultural healer is the best person to address the emotional or intellectual problems and western medicine is very good at addressing the physical problems. The problem is that both systems think they are addressing both problems. Confusion erupts and sometime dangerous situations develop when one system comes into conflict with the other. My understanding was that one system really didn’t buy into the validity of the other. Fadiman (1997) states that in her conversations with Hmong cultural leaders the two systems don’t really conflict, they are simply treating different parts of a person’s illness and a Hmong healer’s practice doesn’t really conflict with Western medicine as long as it doesn’t prohibit the Hmong practice. The Hmong healer often supports Western medicine as part of the healing process. I’m not sure how this applies to indigenous healers in the West but it has given me inspiration for further study in the area.
So why are this and other descriptions in Fadiman’s (1997) book about cultural contact and misunderstandings so important to me? It goes a long way toward describing the problems I face as a social worker every day. My efforts to lend a helping hand are seen as another effort of mainstream culture to assimilate their culture. The lack of participation on the part of Native Americans in a project I created is not necessarily a show of non-interest; it might be a show of disapproval. Hmong did not want to move to the United States to become American, they wanted a safe place to be Hmong. As the world shrinks and we all come into contact with more and more cultures it is essential that we learn to live in multiple worlds and to never make assumptions about another culture. We have to learn how to live together and create opportunities for cultures to value each other and see the potential for strength in communities comprised of multi-cultures not fear. This goes against our ancient reptilian brain and only through mindful thought and practice can we retrain our minds to look for and find that strength. We truly are a global community and finding strength in cultural collaborations is essential to our survival as human beings.
References:
Fadiman, A. (1997). The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures. New York, NY: The Noonday Press.
Red Horse, J. (1997). Traditional American Indian Family Systems. Family Systems and Health, Vol. 15, 243-250.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Global Curiosity Not Fear
Last Friday (March 19, 2010) I went to a lecture given by Dr. Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja on Violence in the Congo: Western Exploitation and Human Rights Abuse (see end of article for more on Dr. Nzongola-Ntalaja). I know very little about the Congo (which was Zaire until 1997) other than cultural stereotypes which I have put no credence into. I went to the lecture out of curiosity and because my son who is a graduate student in anthropology at the California
Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) invited me to attend. There were of course many extremely important topics embedded in the issues talked about and discussed by Dr. Nzongola-Ntalaja but there was one topic that struck extremely close to home and had a very familiar ring to it.
Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) invited me to attend. There were of course many extremely important topics embedded in the issues talked about and discussed by Dr. Nzongola-Ntalaja but there was one topic that struck extremely close to home and had a very familiar ring to it.Again I was listening to a non-white person talking about the colonization of their country by Euro-Americans and the ongoing violence toward indigenous peoples taking place.
I could have closed my eyes and except for the dates, the dialogue could have been exactly the same as other talks I have been to concerning the colonization of Native Americans by Europeans. The primary difference was that the main country invading the Congo was Belgium not England and France.
As obvious as this may be to many people, I was thoroughly struck by the similarity. The change for me was my reaction. In the past I have felt defensive, guilty, and ashamed of the actions of my ancestors. This time I simply felt more and more curious about what had happened and what the American and European responsibility was for reparations in today’s world. Much as in my discussion with Native Americans, I am not hearing indigenous peoples advocating violence but rather an acknowledgment and acceptance of responsibility for what really happened. In addition I hear indigenous peoples wanting to meet equally at the table and discuss what can happen next for all the people involved and an acknowledgment of their right to make their own decisions about their own country. That is where I want to engage the world in my future work.
The Democratic Congo Republic is still forming its government and still determining how to do so without bloodshed. Being neighbors with Rwanda and unavoidably affected by the genocide that has gone on and still goes on in that country has made it extremely difficult to maintain any peaceful forms of government. In addition many of the soldiers serve in both the DCR and Rwanda armies and find it difficult to enforce different policies in different countries. Many of the local areas are governed by leaders of local armies who of course see only military solutions. But as difficult as this is, the indigenous peoples living in the DCR want to solve the problems themselves with assistance but not direction or leadership from the outside.
I hear this same thing from Native American tribal leaders and believe that within this desire for internal guidance and leadership from indigenous people lays the solution to many if not all global concerns. I also believe the solutions come in the form of education. This means educating myself, educating the people, and educating government personnel. As you can probably construe from my previous blogs this education is not another form of colonization but rather education through mindfulness. Thoughtful discussion where everyone’s needs are considered and decisions are made taking into consideration language and culture. That is the part of the world drama that I will be taking part in whether it is in Mendocino County or the Democratic Congo Republic with my son.
Reference:
Dr. Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja was educated in the Congo and in the United States. He has his PhD in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. His focus is on governance in African countries. He served as the Director of the UN Oslo Governance Center, and was a facilitator for the Africa Governance Institute. He has worked as a consultant for the United Nations, the World Bank, and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. He has also worked for the US Department of State. His most recent publication is The Congo from Leopold to Kabila: A People’s History. He is currently a professor of African Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Being a Minority White Man in the US
According to a March 10, 2010 article by the Associated Press, the United States will reach the “tipping point” of minority births in 2010 and there will be more non-white births than white births. It is the belief of this blogger that this is a momentous and historical milestone for the United States. After hundreds of years of white dominance in the United States the pendulum is swinging the other direction. I say “It’s about time”. Between the change in the percentage of white people in the country and the results of the last presidential election the writing is on the wall. Either white culture learns how to see past skin pigmentation and become part of creating an enriched multicultural society or watch itself disappear into culturally impoverished oblivion. This blog is not going to address the issue of defining who is white versus who is not white. This blog is going to comment on becoming aware of how white culture can take its head out of the sand and become part of this exciting and enriching cultural change.
I have always viewed myself as a non-racist person but within the last few years I have learned a few things – things that non-whites I talk to say they have known their entire lives. The first is that until recently, I haven’t thought about race and that is a privilege unique to whites in the US. Another is that race is a social construct not a biological one. It is obvious when looked at scientifically but our culture often treats race as a biological reality. Most white people (including myself until recently) have not been aware of the privileges being white provides to the members of the white culture. And the most difficult realization for me to own is how I have unconsciously contributed to racism and supported white dominance on a daily basis.
I believe whites and non-whites have a great deal to offer each other. I know I am not the only one who is taken aback when we realize just how much energy and how many of our resources go into maintaining a race based power structure in our culture? The more I look the more I am appalled at the waste of human time and potential going into this maintenance. If we are going to deconstruct racism the first thing I need to look at is what are my contributions to the maintenance of white dominance? Racism is illegal in many of our social structures these days. Overt racism is illegal, so at one level it seems we have made a lot of progress in the last hundred years. The problem is that at other levels racism has simply changed its form.
In 1994, Lee Mun Wah made a film called “The Color of Fear” that took a stark look at the racism different cultures bring to the table of our culture. I highly recommend anyone who is interested in this topic to take a look at the film. This was a groundbreaking film and since 1994 there have been many films, seminars, and conferences dealing with this same topic. One that I found particularly interesting was a talk give by Dr. Gary Bailey PhD, associate professor at Simmons College School of Social Work in December of 2008. The talk was titled “The Color of Fear: Paradox of Fear and Oppression in the New Millennium”. There is a great deal of information concerning racism in the 70 minutes talk but the part I found particularly fascinating was his comments on subtle racism. The racism we all participate in on a daily basis whose cumulative effect undermines the very anti-racial goals many of us profess to hold.
Dr. Bailey mentioned a few example of subtle racism and I will mention three. The first of these is symbolic racism which is defined as people acting in ways they don’t believe. “It isn’t that I don’t like you, it is that you act in ways that I cannot condone”. If a person sees another person acting contrary to the rules of the dominate culture it is not racism to demand that they follow the rules even if the person’s culture uses a different set of rules. This is not seen as forced assimilation but simply needing to follow the rules if a person wants to succeed. If one doesn’t follow the rules then the person can’t be trusted therefore cannot work well on the team or in the system. The second is adversive racism which is defined as avoiding contact with or interaction with people from another culture. A person feels most “comfortable” working or socializing with people from her or his own culture therefore only goes to stores or joins organizations from his or her own culture. The third is micro-inequities. Without realizing it a person makes comments, uses a tone of voice or gives assignments that express aggression without being openly aggressive. An example would be a supervisor giving more menial tasks within a job description to a person from a different culture than his own.
I don’t think there are any surprises on the above list. I can look back and see places where I have participated in subtle forms of racism. Non are legally actionable or violations of policy or law. But the day to day subtle racist acts slowly ebb at a person’s feeling about themselves often resulting in the person contributing to self-racism – saying or doing things that validate the racism that is coming from the outside.
I experience the above information with appreciation – another opportunity to shed some light on how I contribute to the very behavior I am committed to fight against. The most surprising thing about the information was that it was not surprising. By shifting my attitude and looking for the hidden behavior in the larger cultural picture it increases my ability to self-reflect and expands my opportunities to be more mindful.
As I said in the first paragraph I believe people who find themselves in the current dominate culture are soon going to find themselves bewildered, confused, and angry about the raising dominance of non-white peoples if they don’t look at how they oppress others and change their consciousness and behavior. I believe taking more steps to be mindful and noticing the subtleties of our thinking and behavior is where we start. When we notice that what we are doing to contributes to the very things we are committed to destroying it gives an opportunity to change. These changes add up and the “tipping point” becomes not whether we are white or non-white but whether we share life with other human beings in a joyful and creative manner.
References:
Associated Press. (2010, March 10). Minority Birth Rates Following Long Track for a New Majority. New article posted to: http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/2010/mar/10/minority-birth-rates-following-long-track-for-a/
Bailey, B. (2008, Dec. 18). The Color of Fear: The Paradox of Race and Oppression in the New Millennium. Video posted to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7U9lOtxwDTk
I have always viewed myself as a non-racist person but within the last few years I have learned a few things – things that non-whites I talk to say they have known their entire lives. The first is that until recently, I haven’t thought about race and that is a privilege unique to whites in the US. Another is that race is a social construct not a biological one. It is obvious when looked at scientifically but our culture often treats race as a biological reality. Most white people (including myself until recently) have not been aware of the privileges being white provides to the members of the white culture. And the most difficult realization for me to own is how I have unconsciously contributed to racism and supported white dominance on a daily basis.
I believe whites and non-whites have a great deal to offer each other. I know I am not the only one who is taken aback when we realize just how much energy and how many of our resources go into maintaining a race based power structure in our culture? The more I look the more I am appalled at the waste of human time and potential going into this maintenance. If we are going to deconstruct racism the first thing I need to look at is what are my contributions to the maintenance of white dominance? Racism is illegal in many of our social structures these days. Overt racism is illegal, so at one level it seems we have made a lot of progress in the last hundred years. The problem is that at other levels racism has simply changed its form.
In 1994, Lee Mun Wah made a film called “The Color of Fear” that took a stark look at the racism different cultures bring to the table of our culture. I highly recommend anyone who is interested in this topic to take a look at the film. This was a groundbreaking film and since 1994 there have been many films, seminars, and conferences dealing with this same topic. One that I found particularly interesting was a talk give by Dr. Gary Bailey PhD, associate professor at Simmons College School of Social Work in December of 2008. The talk was titled “The Color of Fear: Paradox of Fear and Oppression in the New Millennium”. There is a great deal of information concerning racism in the 70 minutes talk but the part I found particularly fascinating was his comments on subtle racism. The racism we all participate in on a daily basis whose cumulative effect undermines the very anti-racial goals many of us profess to hold.
Dr. Bailey mentioned a few example of subtle racism and I will mention three. The first of these is symbolic racism which is defined as people acting in ways they don’t believe. “It isn’t that I don’t like you, it is that you act in ways that I cannot condone”. If a person sees another person acting contrary to the rules of the dominate culture it is not racism to demand that they follow the rules even if the person’s culture uses a different set of rules. This is not seen as forced assimilation but simply needing to follow the rules if a person wants to succeed. If one doesn’t follow the rules then the person can’t be trusted therefore cannot work well on the team or in the system. The second is adversive racism which is defined as avoiding contact with or interaction with people from another culture. A person feels most “comfortable” working or socializing with people from her or his own culture therefore only goes to stores or joins organizations from his or her own culture. The third is micro-inequities. Without realizing it a person makes comments, uses a tone of voice or gives assignments that express aggression without being openly aggressive. An example would be a supervisor giving more menial tasks within a job description to a person from a different culture than his own.
I don’t think there are any surprises on the above list. I can look back and see places where I have participated in subtle forms of racism. Non are legally actionable or violations of policy or law. But the day to day subtle racist acts slowly ebb at a person’s feeling about themselves often resulting in the person contributing to self-racism – saying or doing things that validate the racism that is coming from the outside.
I experience the above information with appreciation – another opportunity to shed some light on how I contribute to the very behavior I am committed to fight against. The most surprising thing about the information was that it was not surprising. By shifting my attitude and looking for the hidden behavior in the larger cultural picture it increases my ability to self-reflect and expands my opportunities to be more mindful.
As I said in the first paragraph I believe people who find themselves in the current dominate culture are soon going to find themselves bewildered, confused, and angry about the raising dominance of non-white peoples if they don’t look at how they oppress others and change their consciousness and behavior. I believe taking more steps to be mindful and noticing the subtleties of our thinking and behavior is where we start. When we notice that what we are doing to contributes to the very things we are committed to destroying it gives an opportunity to change. These changes add up and the “tipping point” becomes not whether we are white or non-white but whether we share life with other human beings in a joyful and creative manner.
References:
Associated Press. (2010, March 10). Minority Birth Rates Following Long Track for a New Majority. New article posted to: http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/2010/mar/10/minority-birth-rates-following-long-track-for-a/
Bailey, B. (2008, Dec. 18). The Color of Fear: The Paradox of Race and Oppression in the New Millennium. Video posted to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7U9lOtxwDTk
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Mindfulness and Social Work
Much has been written about the importance of mindfulness in social work practice. It is not difficult to locate peer reviewed studies citing the value of mindful practice in any of the human service fields. In a 2008 article by Turner he describes the similarities of mindfulness practice and clinical social work practice stating “(T)hat suffering can be relieved as both clinicians and clients develop the skills and qualities that result from incorporating mindfulness into their work. A Google search quickly brings up many articles and books on the subject. In my own professional work in mental health, drug and alcohol treatment, and social work I have found that incorporating mindfulness has had a positive effect but my experience has also led me to believe it is a good idea that has yet to be put into everyday practice.
I am currently a graduate social work student at Humboldt State University. During my internships over the last few years and my previous work as an and alcohol and other drug and mental health treatment provider I have come into direct contact with many social workers as they perform their various tasks (mostly in work connected with child welfare). I have spent a time talking with social workers of all ages and levels of experience about their own personal values and beliefs. Without exception everyone responds to questions about the importance of mindfulness positively – many talk about how they try to incorporate mindfulness into their own work.
But, in my experience, I do not see social workers’ practice being consistent with their expressed personal philosophy – and I include myself in that observation. I observe many social workers who are clearly highly experienced, half-heartedly going through the motions of providing services to their clients. So what is going on? Is the profession filled with hypocrites? Are people satisfied with mediocre practice and expressing their work in strictly pathological terms? I am proposing not.
I am suggesting that the culture as a whole does not support the values and tenants of social work practice as put forth by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) and the resultant laws, agencies, and policies just minimally support the profession. In a study by Regehr (2004) he states that “Ongoing workload stressors in the jobs of child welfare workers have been found to include unwieldy caseloads, court appearances, overwhelming paperwork and negative public perceptions”. As a result the social worker often ends up working only on the most severe cases and playing catch up with the rest. Regehr (2004) also speaks to the effect of high level crisis after crisis creating a situation where the social worker is overwhelmed and suffers from secondary traumatic stress disorder. In other words – very little opportunity for mindfulness or strength based practice.
Where and how can the change occur? I believe it starts with me. I am too busy to get the exercise or to sit in meditation to clear my mind. Yet what I do seem to have time to do is to relax from the stress and overwhelm I am feeling and watch a few sitcoms on TV. The culture promotes and I accept the notion that since I am a victim of the government, my spouse, the system, our work, (you fill in the blank) I am entitled to a few hours of “escape” into mindless behavior. We are encouraged to see ourselves as victims and as such we operate out of fear and focus in on what is wrong with the system.
It takes a monumental effort but a person must step out of the culture long enough to realized the positive tools we have around us. Health, both mentally and physically, is there for the taking. Fruits and vegetables are cheaper than processed food. Your dog needs and wants to be walked. More problems are not going to be solved if problems are all a person focuses on. The focus needs to be on creating a positive environment within which to live. I don’t think anyone disagrees and this is not a new idea but the question remains – in real practical terms, how?
I am currently a graduate social work student at Humboldt State University. During my internships over the last few years and my previous work as an and alcohol and other drug and mental health treatment provider I have come into direct contact with many social workers as they perform their various tasks (mostly in work connected with child welfare). I have spent a time talking with social workers of all ages and levels of experience about their own personal values and beliefs. Without exception everyone responds to questions about the importance of mindfulness positively – many talk about how they try to incorporate mindfulness into their own work.
But, in my experience, I do not see social workers’ practice being consistent with their expressed personal philosophy – and I include myself in that observation. I observe many social workers who are clearly highly experienced, half-heartedly going through the motions of providing services to their clients. So what is going on? Is the profession filled with hypocrites? Are people satisfied with mediocre practice and expressing their work in strictly pathological terms? I am proposing not.
I am suggesting that the culture as a whole does not support the values and tenants of social work practice as put forth by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) and the resultant laws, agencies, and policies just minimally support the profession. In a study by Regehr (2004) he states that “Ongoing workload stressors in the jobs of child welfare workers have been found to include unwieldy caseloads, court appearances, overwhelming paperwork and negative public perceptions”. As a result the social worker often ends up working only on the most severe cases and playing catch up with the rest. Regehr (2004) also speaks to the effect of high level crisis after crisis creating a situation where the social worker is overwhelmed and suffers from secondary traumatic stress disorder. In other words – very little opportunity for mindfulness or strength based practice.
Where and how can the change occur? I believe it starts with me. I am too busy to get the exercise or to sit in meditation to clear my mind. Yet what I do seem to have time to do is to relax from the stress and overwhelm I am feeling and watch a few sitcoms on TV. The culture promotes and I accept the notion that since I am a victim of the government, my spouse, the system, our work, (you fill in the blank) I am entitled to a few hours of “escape” into mindless behavior. We are encouraged to see ourselves as victims and as such we operate out of fear and focus in on what is wrong with the system.It takes a monumental effort but a person must step out of the culture long enough to realized the positive tools we have around us. Health, both mentally and physically, is there for the taking. Fruits and vegetables are cheaper than processed food. Your dog needs and wants to be walked. More problems are not going to be solved if problems are all a person focuses on. The focus needs to be on creating a positive environment within which to live. I don’t think anyone disagrees and this is not a new idea but the question remains – in real practical terms, how?
Mindfulness. What does that mean? Meditating? Yes. Conscious Living? Yes. Meaningful work? Yes. In other words, learning how to use the “full mind”. I am proposing that the solution to feeling overwhelmed is not working harder. I am proposing it is learning how to create positive environments where full brains are stimulated and creating solutions. How does a person stimulate the frontal cortex and expand their thinking? I believe that once that question is answered for social workers and clients alike, the solutions to problems begin to present themselves.
A few examples: Education. It is generally agreed that the quality of life for people who have higher literacy rates and educational levels is better. Sanders (2009) is just one article that reports the enhanced lives of children given increased educational opportunities versus children who were not. The quality of life enhancement refers to opportunities, income, health, and more. Let’s start by talking about health. If a person is given health care they will be healthier. But by increasing the ability to use the frontal cortex through mindfulness practice, literacy, and other educational opportunities a person also learns how to think about their health. The focus moves from finding something to eat right now to finding something to eat for this month that is not contaminated or finding something for the entire homeless community to eat. If the food is contaminated this of course leads to increased health problems. If I know how to think I know that to drink water it is often helpful to heat the water first, perhaps make tea, which then kills harmful bacteria, viruses, or other contaminates in the water.
I am proposing that social work is not simply teaching people how to get their needs met. It is also about teaching people how to think and how to learn. My work becomes not so much how to meet the needs of the people as teaching them how to think about their needs and move from needing into solutions. If I don’t take the time to increase my mindfulness how can I expect my clients to take the time to increase their mindfulness? Solutions based social work practice incorporating mindfulness practice. It is more than a great idea. It is the solution.
REFERENCES:
Regehr, C., Hemsworth, D., Leslie, B., Howe, P., & Chau, S. (2004). Predictors of post-traumatic distress in child welfare workers: a linear structural equation model. Children and Youth Services Review, 26, 331-346.
A few examples: Education. It is generally agreed that the quality of life for people who have higher literacy rates and educational levels is better. Sanders (2009) is just one article that reports the enhanced lives of children given increased educational opportunities versus children who were not. The quality of life enhancement refers to opportunities, income, health, and more. Let’s start by talking about health. If a person is given health care they will be healthier. But by increasing the ability to use the frontal cortex through mindfulness practice, literacy, and other educational opportunities a person also learns how to think about their health. The focus moves from finding something to eat right now to finding something to eat for this month that is not contaminated or finding something for the entire homeless community to eat. If the food is contaminated this of course leads to increased health problems. If I know how to think I know that to drink water it is often helpful to heat the water first, perhaps make tea, which then kills harmful bacteria, viruses, or other contaminates in the water.
I am proposing that social work is not simply teaching people how to get their needs met. It is also about teaching people how to think and how to learn. My work becomes not so much how to meet the needs of the people as teaching them how to think about their needs and move from needing into solutions. If I don’t take the time to increase my mindfulness how can I expect my clients to take the time to increase their mindfulness? Solutions based social work practice incorporating mindfulness practice. It is more than a great idea. It is the solution.
REFERENCES:
Regehr, C., Hemsworth, D., Leslie, B., Howe, P., & Chau, S. (2004). Predictors of post-traumatic distress in child welfare workers: a linear structural equation model. Children and Youth Services Review, 26, 331-346.
Sanders, J., Munford, R., & Maden, B. (2009). Enhancing outcomes for children and young people: The potential of multi-layered interventions. Children and Youth Services Review, 31, 1086-1091.
Turner,T. (2009). Mindfulness: The present Moment in Clinical Social Work. Clinical Social Work Journal, 37, 95-103
Friday, February 12, 2010
Community Organizing
About six years ago the youngest of my six children left home and my childrearing days were over. My wife and I looked at each other and breathed a sigh of relief mixed with the bittersweet feelings that accompany enjoying seeing children create their own lives and missing them beyond comprehension. Of course I still had the responsibilities that come with having adult children and grandchildren but I began thinking about what I wanted to do beyond enjoying time with my life partner. After about a year I settled in on becoming a therapist and returned to school to complete the educational requirements to be licensed. I had started this path about thirty years previously but never finished because – well – children and life happened.
One of the first courses I took was community psychology. The professor was a gentleman by the name of Dr. Art Warmoth Ph.D. who began his teaching career with the likes of Carl Rogers at Somoma State University. In the first class he asked each one of us our goals. In a class of 20+ people there were two or three who had the same goals I did. I was shocked by Professor Warmoth’s response. Paraphrasing, he said that he was tired of hearing about all the people who wanted to become therapists. He felt our communities and culture were suffering so much that working with individuals was simply not producing the needed healing fast enough. He said the only path that was producing the kinds of results needed in our modern culture was community organizing. The semester focused on defining and understanding community organizing. Our final was a project for us to identify our own leadership styles and design a community project that was consistent with that style.
Professor Warmoth struck a chord in my heart. As a result of the work that came out of that class I chose to go to a social work graduate program instead of a psychology graduate program. In the community my work shifted from working with individuals and small groups to working with collaborations. I have fully embraced the concept of community organizing and over these last few years I have worked to explore and discover my particular areas of interest and leadership styles.
Since I was 25 I have always worked in the human services field. I have always felt an affinity with people who are in a great deal of emotional and/or psychological pain. For almost 20 years I worked in psychiatric inpatient units and mental health social rehabilitation programs. Later on I worked with people dying of life threatening illnesses. Later on I worked in the field of drug dependence treatment with both adolescents and adults. Currently I am working with children in a foster family agency. Now that I am almost 64 years old I don’t see changing professions but I do see changing the focus of my work.
I am struck with the intolerance in my community for people who are suffering. I find that many people actually blame the very people who are suffering for the situation they find themselves in. As funds constrict in this time of financial crisis the funding for community programs continues for law enforcement agencies while human service agencies are either eliminated or severely cut back. Even when it is pointed out that arresting and incarcerating a person is more expensive that providing housing and employment our community leaders respond with “people make their own choices and must take responsibility for those choices and suffer the consequences”. These statements are in response to people needing help with drug dependence disorders, mental health disorders, homelessness and/or loss of employment.
I believe these kinds of statements and decisions come out of fear. When I look at our culture, whether it is at a county, state, or national level, I get a sense that governmental decisions are made based on fear of loss. Loss of rights, property, freedom, and opportunities. As stated in my previous blog I believe the problems of our culture are to a large degree a result of viewing them as problems. Seen as challenges we enter into a culture of solutions without blame. I also believe that we often, if not usually, overlook one of our biggest assets - the diversity that makes up our communities.
As an example, in one of my graduate classes we are studying different organizational and leadership styles. One of the concepts I have found intriguing is based on one of the Native American organizational models. The model has a group filling positions based on a particular needed leadership skills rather than having already defined positions that are filled with the “best people for the job”. A position might be needed for one particular situation but not for another situation. The agency tries to adjust to the change in needs but the person who is filling the position may not have the needed skills for the new needs. Moving people in an out of positions based on the current hierarchical structure is of course very awkward. But if a group agrees to start with the understanding that decisions will be based on needs rather than structure it does become possible and the appropriate changes can occur with greater flexibility and responsiveness.
As I complete my studies and move back into agencies in my community my focus is to build strength, safety, opportunity, and flexibility for all members of the community through community organizing. I see my role as creating opportunities for the natural leaders from the various communities to be heard by the larger community. Change in the culture starts at the local level. One example of a community organizers response to a community need could be the following: We don’t have enough money to create a mental health program for treating people with a schizophrenic diagnosis. Maybe what would work is an “adopt-a-schizophrenic” program. A program where retired individuals with spare room in their house take in one mental health client and form a relationship that is supportive and healing to the person’s recovery from schizophrenia.
I believe I am not alone and my and other people’s ideas can flourish and respond to the needs of each and every community if we allow ourselves to see what we would like rather than bemoan and feel victims to what we don’t like. A shift in our thinking is called for and the results will astound us.
One of the first courses I took was community psychology. The professor was a gentleman by the name of Dr. Art Warmoth Ph.D. who began his teaching career with the likes of Carl Rogers at Somoma State University. In the first class he asked each one of us our goals. In a class of 20+ people there were two or three who had the same goals I did. I was shocked by Professor Warmoth’s response. Paraphrasing, he said that he was tired of hearing about all the people who wanted to become therapists. He felt our communities and culture were suffering so much that working with individuals was simply not producing the needed healing fast enough. He said the only path that was producing the kinds of results needed in our modern culture was community organizing. The semester focused on defining and understanding community organizing. Our final was a project for us to identify our own leadership styles and design a community project that was consistent with that style.
Professor Warmoth struck a chord in my heart. As a result of the work that came out of that class I chose to go to a social work graduate program instead of a psychology graduate program. In the community my work shifted from working with individuals and small groups to working with collaborations. I have fully embraced the concept of community organizing and over these last few years I have worked to explore and discover my particular areas of interest and leadership styles.
Since I was 25 I have always worked in the human services field. I have always felt an affinity with people who are in a great deal of emotional and/or psychological pain. For almost 20 years I worked in psychiatric inpatient units and mental health social rehabilitation programs. Later on I worked with people dying of life threatening illnesses. Later on I worked in the field of drug dependence treatment with both adolescents and adults. Currently I am working with children in a foster family agency. Now that I am almost 64 years old I don’t see changing professions but I do see changing the focus of my work.
I am struck with the intolerance in my community for people who are suffering. I find that many people actually blame the very people who are suffering for the situation they find themselves in. As funds constrict in this time of financial crisis the funding for community programs continues for law enforcement agencies while human service agencies are either eliminated or severely cut back. Even when it is pointed out that arresting and incarcerating a person is more expensive that providing housing and employment our community leaders respond with “people make their own choices and must take responsibility for those choices and suffer the consequences”. These statements are in response to people needing help with drug dependence disorders, mental health disorders, homelessness and/or loss of employment.
I believe these kinds of statements and decisions come out of fear. When I look at our culture, whether it is at a county, state, or national level, I get a sense that governmental decisions are made based on fear of loss. Loss of rights, property, freedom, and opportunities. As stated in my previous blog I believe the problems of our culture are to a large degree a result of viewing them as problems. Seen as challenges we enter into a culture of solutions without blame. I also believe that we often, if not usually, overlook one of our biggest assets - the diversity that makes up our communities.
As an example, in one of my graduate classes we are studying different organizational and leadership styles. One of the concepts I have found intriguing is based on one of the Native American organizational models. The model has a group filling positions based on a particular needed leadership skills rather than having already defined positions that are filled with the “best people for the job”. A position might be needed for one particular situation but not for another situation. The agency tries to adjust to the change in needs but the person who is filling the position may not have the needed skills for the new needs. Moving people in an out of positions based on the current hierarchical structure is of course very awkward. But if a group agrees to start with the understanding that decisions will be based on needs rather than structure it does become possible and the appropriate changes can occur with greater flexibility and responsiveness.
As I complete my studies and move back into agencies in my community my focus is to build strength, safety, opportunity, and flexibility for all members of the community through community organizing. I see my role as creating opportunities for the natural leaders from the various communities to be heard by the larger community. Change in the culture starts at the local level. One example of a community organizers response to a community need could be the following: We don’t have enough money to create a mental health program for treating people with a schizophrenic diagnosis. Maybe what would work is an “adopt-a-schizophrenic” program. A program where retired individuals with spare room in their house take in one mental health client and form a relationship that is supportive and healing to the person’s recovery from schizophrenia.
I believe I am not alone and my and other people’s ideas can flourish and respond to the needs of each and every community if we allow ourselves to see what we would like rather than bemoan and feel victims to what we don’t like. A shift in our thinking is called for and the results will astound us.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Neuroplasticity - a perspective for your consideration
MedicineNet.com defines Neuroplasticity as follows: The brain's ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life. Neuroplasticity allows the neurons (nerve cells) in the brain to compensate for injury and disease and to adjust their activities in response to new situations or to changes in their environment (MedicineNet.com, 2004).
I remember as early as grade school being told that many of the cells in the body can reproduce themselves to a certain extent but one of the types of cells that can never be replaced are the brain cells. One of the arguments against drinking alcohol is that it kills brain cells and “. . . as we all know, once brain cells are lost they are gone forever”. Counter arguments to alcohol consumption replied that we have so many brain cells that losing a few doesn’t hurt anything. Just keep drug/alcohol use to a “reasonable” level and there will be no problems. Miracles would occur where a stroke victim would gain functions lost as a result of the stroke but that couldn’t be counted on. The general belief was that sometimes other parts of the brain adapted themselves to take over functions of damaged cells – but it was rare and nothing you could depend on.
I find that one of odd things that happened as a child (as well as an adult for that matter) it that I would hear things I didn’t believe but shrug my shoulders and say to myself “well science proves x, y, or z so my disbelief must be wrong”. Then years, often decades, go by and it turns out my disbelief is the truth. As far back as I can remember I have known that people can change based on what they think. Based on my experience with others and myself, I have known that new neuropathways can be created to replace old ones, to reroute lost or damaged cells, or entirely new neuropathways created to perform new and different functions. In my work with people living with a drug/alcohol disorder(s) I have witnessed many transformations of people’s lives. In my work with mentally disordered adults I have seen people think about their disability differently and slowly transform their “disability” into an asset. Both the mental health and drug and alcohol recovery model is based on changing how people think about their “disease”. The number of people improving their lives using this model is extensive.
So do I believe in Neuroplasticity? I have always believed people can change by changing how they think whether science supports it or not. When I was a child, science said it happened only on rare occasions under unusual circumstances. Now a whole group of scientists say we can affect the change ourselves through visualization and other mental applications. Nothing has changed for me.
So how does that apply to social work? There are many clinical perspectives to choose from when working with clients. I believe they are just that – different ways of looking at and describing behavior. Neuroplasticity takes us in a different direction. The behavior change is based on how we are looking at it. If we are working with a family and we are seeing the same behavior we have seen in the last 50 families we have worked with, our responses often become automatic and our expectations for change low. What are the possibilities for change if how we view the behavior actually changes the behavior itself? If we are seeing the same problem for the fiftieth time I think humans tend to set our expectations for change based on the outcome (or lack of outcome) of the previous 49 times.
Neuroplasticity theory states that new neuropathways are created and old neuropathways are rerouted when we look at and think about things differently. A social worker walks into a foster home and sees the foster parent and child arguing about something. The social worker is trained to respond in certain ways and ultimately will remove the child from the home if the behavior is abusive or neglectful. He/she works on “solving the problem”. What happens if the social worker doesn't address the issue as a problem and focuses most of her/his attention and work on strengthening the positive things that are happening. The child has good grades, is physically strong, and is patient and accepting when around younger foster children on outings. Strength based therapy you say? How many of us truly work in the strength based model. We all see the benefits of working in that model but our culture is still based on seeking out and fixing the problems – the medical model. Even finding the ways to change the “presenting problem” to a strength base description is still basing the solution on the problem. The DSM-IV, the gold standard for diagnosis, is based on identifying problems, giving numbers to each one and listing potential justifications for the diagnosis. There is no section for including a justification for a diagnosis based on a person's strengths and positive behavior. I am not saying that we should ignore abusive or neglectful behavior on the part of a client. Abuse should be responded to in much the same way it is now. But the focus of effort needs to be primarily on strengthening the positive behaviors rather than solving the “problems”.
What if the social worker spent 90% of his/her time supporting and strengthening positive client behavior? Based on the Neuroplasticity model, behavior would change in a positive direction. We have all seen it happen. On days when we are feeling positive and good, people respond to us more positively. Children raised in supportive, positive homes tend to do better than children that are humiliated, neglected, or abused. The brain responds positively to a positive environment and vice versa.
What I am saying is that as social workers, the successful client begins with us. Our culture supports the victim mentality and it is difficult to counter an entire culture. Our media focuses on tragedy because it sells the most papers or the most TV airtime. We are excited about negativity. Through Neuroplasticity we learn that we can change how we think about things. Rather than bemoaning the state of the world our time is better spent finding out what is positive. Changing the world is within our grasp. The challenge becomes how to create a positive culture more exciting and interesting than a negative one. Huh? What? Having trouble conceiving such a world? Hmmmmmm. Are we talking about changing neuropathways?
I remember as early as grade school being told that many of the cells in the body can reproduce themselves to a certain extent but one of the types of cells that can never be replaced are the brain cells. One of the arguments against drinking alcohol is that it kills brain cells and “. . . as we all know, once brain cells are lost they are gone forever”. Counter arguments to alcohol consumption replied that we have so many brain cells that losing a few doesn’t hurt anything. Just keep drug/alcohol use to a “reasonable” level and there will be no problems. Miracles would occur where a stroke victim would gain functions lost as a result of the stroke but that couldn’t be counted on. The general belief was that sometimes other parts of the brain adapted themselves to take over functions of damaged cells – but it was rare and nothing you could depend on.
I find that one of odd things that happened as a child (as well as an adult for that matter) it that I would hear things I didn’t believe but shrug my shoulders and say to myself “well science proves x, y, or z so my disbelief must be wrong”. Then years, often decades, go by and it turns out my disbelief is the truth. As far back as I can remember I have known that people can change based on what they think. Based on my experience with others and myself, I have known that new neuropathways can be created to replace old ones, to reroute lost or damaged cells, or entirely new neuropathways created to perform new and different functions. In my work with people living with a drug/alcohol disorder(s) I have witnessed many transformations of people’s lives. In my work with mentally disordered adults I have seen people think about their disability differently and slowly transform their “disability” into an asset. Both the mental health and drug and alcohol recovery model is based on changing how people think about their “disease”. The number of people improving their lives using this model is extensive.
So do I believe in Neuroplasticity? I have always believed people can change by changing how they think whether science supports it or not. When I was a child, science said it happened only on rare occasions under unusual circumstances. Now a whole group of scientists say we can affect the change ourselves through visualization and other mental applications. Nothing has changed for me.
So how does that apply to social work? There are many clinical perspectives to choose from when working with clients. I believe they are just that – different ways of looking at and describing behavior. Neuroplasticity takes us in a different direction. The behavior change is based on how we are looking at it. If we are working with a family and we are seeing the same behavior we have seen in the last 50 families we have worked with, our responses often become automatic and our expectations for change low. What are the possibilities for change if how we view the behavior actually changes the behavior itself? If we are seeing the same problem for the fiftieth time I think humans tend to set our expectations for change based on the outcome (or lack of outcome) of the previous 49 times.
Neuroplasticity theory states that new neuropathways are created and old neuropathways are rerouted when we look at and think about things differently. A social worker walks into a foster home and sees the foster parent and child arguing about something. The social worker is trained to respond in certain ways and ultimately will remove the child from the home if the behavior is abusive or neglectful. He/she works on “solving the problem”. What happens if the social worker doesn't address the issue as a problem and focuses most of her/his attention and work on strengthening the positive things that are happening. The child has good grades, is physically strong, and is patient and accepting when around younger foster children on outings. Strength based therapy you say? How many of us truly work in the strength based model. We all see the benefits of working in that model but our culture is still based on seeking out and fixing the problems – the medical model. Even finding the ways to change the “presenting problem” to a strength base description is still basing the solution on the problem. The DSM-IV, the gold standard for diagnosis, is based on identifying problems, giving numbers to each one and listing potential justifications for the diagnosis. There is no section for including a justification for a diagnosis based on a person's strengths and positive behavior. I am not saying that we should ignore abusive or neglectful behavior on the part of a client. Abuse should be responded to in much the same way it is now. But the focus of effort needs to be primarily on strengthening the positive behaviors rather than solving the “problems”.
What if the social worker spent 90% of his/her time supporting and strengthening positive client behavior? Based on the Neuroplasticity model, behavior would change in a positive direction. We have all seen it happen. On days when we are feeling positive and good, people respond to us more positively. Children raised in supportive, positive homes tend to do better than children that are humiliated, neglected, or abused. The brain responds positively to a positive environment and vice versa.
What I am saying is that as social workers, the successful client begins with us. Our culture supports the victim mentality and it is difficult to counter an entire culture. Our media focuses on tragedy because it sells the most papers or the most TV airtime. We are excited about negativity. Through Neuroplasticity we learn that we can change how we think about things. Rather than bemoaning the state of the world our time is better spent finding out what is positive. Changing the world is within our grasp. The challenge becomes how to create a positive culture more exciting and interesting than a negative one. Huh? What? Having trouble conceiving such a world? Hmmmmmm. Are we talking about changing neuropathways?
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