Knowing the Audience

“We are only useful where we understand how we are understood.” 

                                                            Zen Priest, Hilda Ryumond Gutierrez Baldoquin

From this week’s reading, we are reminded to keep in mind our audience. What that really means to me is that if we cannot identify on some level with the people that we are attempting to communicate with, we will definitely not be heard, let alone be understood. If our objective is persuasion this is even more important. Commonality, a place where we can relate and experience common ground is essential.

When you think of all of the issues that begin to divide us in our society, something has to be there to go beyond these constructs and boundaries. We are put into little boxes; gender boxes, race boxes, age boxes, socioeconomic boxes and they create barriers that must be breached. As I am beginning my Child Welfare Service Internship, doing home visits, encountering clients, the power dynamic which is present makes this even more important.

It seems critical in that position of power, which is yielded over people, people who are sometimes in crisis, that the way in which we are perceived is understood. How we are received and how we are understood has to continually be examined. Sometimes it is easier, or somehow safer to distance ourselves from others through a professional title or concept of “other.”  In reality though, when we relate and find commonality, we can then be heard. We have to find the common language, the common experiences and the common ground and that is when we understand how we are understood.

intervention principles in practice and theory

Intervention principles and procedures in social work is something that we have encountered recently.  This concept is a great place to see practice and theory come together. As Wood and Tully indicate in their writing, “Social Work is not merely something one understands, it is something one does, on step at a time” (pg. 80).  In short theory is just that, theory alone, if we do not use it in the helping profession.

 

Part of the intervention principle is the three phases of the process model: the contract phase, the task phase and the termination/reconstructing phase. The implementation of structural social work in practice does not need to be over theorized. As social workers working with clients this should be a natural process. We discuss with our clients strengths and needs, what needs are to be addressed, and how we are going to arrive at a place in which these needs are met. Once we get there we reassess the situation and identify and address present needs.

It is a relief for me personally to realize that sometimes what we are naturally feeling and doing in practice, lines up with theatrical frameworks that are offered. I have heard from experienced social workers that much of their practice, after reflection and encounters with current theories offered in social work today, have actually been used, without even knowing it!  Social work really is a combination of knowing and doing.  I love this thought. If begin to know too much and do to little we fail our clients. If we do too much and know too little we fail again. A good balance of both is what we need to strive for.

connecting knowledge and power

“Whatever group controls the way things are seen in some ways also has the power to control the way things are” (Fook, p. 43, 2012).

When we talk about writing for social change, hopefully positive social change, we are relying on the thought that useful information is being shared. Somehow informing others inspires change and ultimately effective action. I cannot help but thing about the writing of Jan Fook that was very recently encountered. In her chapter, New Ways of Knowing, she discusses postmodern thought and makes the connection between knowledge and power.

It makes me think that we really do need to share our perspectives and are hopes for positive social change. It is important that we develop our voices and continue to put the word out. As Fook indicates in her writing whoever’s interpretation of reality is shared and eventually accepted somehow becomes in control of these very ideas. If individuals do not share what they have to offer, to express their world views and ways of seeing, there is no counter conscious developed to combat the mainstream media, the capitalistic agendas and the dominant culture which continues to exploit those that it can.

Something that makes me realize that what you and I have to share is important and valid goes along with this concept. We have to ask, as postmodern thought does, “who are the legitimate generators of knowledge?”  When we do ask this question we realize that there are no individuals or groups of people who have the monopoly on knowledge. They only do when opposition to these views is not offered or alternative views are not expressed. No group’s knowledge is more important than another.

Last point, we really have to be aware of where we get our information. Do we rely on the narrowed views of a particular circulation, television station, someone deemed a professional?  Do we remember to question who the authority is, what the authority says?  If we don’t we better start now, actively seek knowledge from different sources and then we most share what we have. We are obligated to share this information, this knowledge because in it is the power to make those positive changes.

Undoing MY Silence

Undoing MY Silence 

From the text, Undoing the Silence, we are offered up some advice in how to access the powerful voices that we all have inside. One issue that many of us face in accessing and sharing this voice in writing is avoidance. We hear that “most people will do just about anything but sit down and write” (Dunlap, 2007, pg. 27). I don’t know about you but I was glad to hear that. Recognizing that this is part of the process for me is important. Having to get on with it, stop procrastinating and start producing is the first step.

Once we do get started, (sorry I mean once I get started) something keeps me from putting the words on the page. Our text calls it “harmful self-criticism” and I can attest that this is REAL. As I type and delete, type and delete and type some more before I delete opposing forces are at work. I have heard that we are our own toughest critics. I believe that to be true. So step two, for me at least is to work on getting rid of or reducing the static that I hear and just let it fly! (maybe then I could get a post in on time J. 

On that note I found one of the exercises in the text especially useful. A way to release that self-criticism is to give it a power punch to the head with some affirmations. 

I dedicate my work to my own healing and that of my community.

My creativity heals myself and others.

I absolutely love those and just saying it out loud or writing it down on paper makes it seem more real in some way. It also addresses one of the concerns that blogging for me creates. It is ok to be about ME. My work and my creativity helps me work on ME and MY issues. It is all about ME ME ME ME ME ME and of course you. That is somehow very freeing. Knowing that as I concentrate on my healing and creativity it also helps others. How can I be a part of a caring practice and work without working through the issues that I have. Working on ME is not as selfish as I thought.

If you got through this post, congratulations you made it and YOU are wonderful.

 

 

 

Appreciative Inquiry

2/7/13

“Appreciate Inquiry is the cooperative search for the best in people, their organizations, and the world around them. It involves systematic discovery of what gives a system ‘life’ when it is most effective and most capable…AI involves the art and practice of asking questions that strengthen a system’s capacity to heighten positive potential.” (The Change Handbook, Cooperrider & Wihitney)

Appreciate Inquiry is a newer concept for me and my understanding is that it is closely related to Solution-Focused practice. This is a practice that speaks to me. It requires that we no longer focus our attention on problems to solve but on strengths that are present and can be accessed.  I think that it is natural and quit easy to identify problems, negatives, and to see what is wrong with situations that we encounter.

AI is the opposite and it takes some getting used to. Making the change takes time, energy and effort and if you stop for a minute you can begin to focus on problems and see things through the negative almost immediately. So I keep working on it. I want to make AI a part of my life and practice and way of seeing the world. I want to empower not only the people whom I work with but myself as I see life and challenges as an opportunity to use the strengths that are present to create solutions. It is a mindset, a habit of asking the questions that lead to solving problems and not pointing problems out….and it is an exciting way of being.

 

 

 

different ways of thinking and knowing

Reflecting on today’s work day gives me a perfect example of different ways of thinking and knowing.  A coworker was showing me some very specific functions of our computer program that we use at work this morning. I could feel and see that he was surprised that I did not use some of the features we were reviewing. In my mind they were insignificant and unimportant. In his mind they were not. I believe he felt some type of superiority over others because of his technical knowledge. At the same time I was making value judgments about what I perceived as his lack of interpersonal skills. Neither one of us seemed to appreciate what the other was offering.

Who is to say what is more important or if that “more important” even exists? When we take time to reflect on what type of “thinking hat” we wear we can begin to see how that affects what we see, prioritize and experience and how others view us.  Reviewing Patterns of Thinking seems to remind us of this. The American model of “getting straight to the point” seems blunt, simple, aggressive and rude in comparison to other cultures.  Other cultures can seem repetitive, off topic, out of order in comparison to this form of communication and thinking.

The point is nobody should be caught up in value judgments believing one way of being, thinking, communicating is correct. What matters is that we continually reflect on our process and continually grow in appreciation and openness to the ways of others.

left and right brain discussion

 

It is important to understand our own strengths especially as we attempt to overcome obstacles. As we encounter these obstacles we balance the left and right brain. We use both critical and creative sides to solve problems, to get through our daily lives and to function in the world. We tap into the left brain to organize and the right brain for spontaneity.

Some of us excel or exist in one side more than the other. You know what I am talking about. You know the people who exist on one side of the brain all the time. There is the computer programmer who sounds like a robot, that is a left brainer and the mechanic who describes in detail each moving part of the motor, that is a left brainer. Then there is that far out hippy dreamer type, totally abstract, right brainer and the artist who relies on feelings and emotions to be creative, right brainer.  

Most of us exist somewhere in between or at least shift back and forth. As I create a list of my left and right brain strengths I begin to realize that I may be operating more within the mush in between the two. I have always recognized, with the help of others, my creative or right brain. I am a visual person, emotional, looking to see the bigger picture, the abstract, the dream world and like to live life as it comes.

After further review however there are parts of me that live in the left side. Before I can begin the creative process in anything I do I always straighten up, and organize. I line things up and make order out of my messes. I organize by color, shape, size and whatever else. I like to break things down into parts when I get a bit overwhelmed, tackle small sections and go from there. I have a sock drawer and a place set my keys when I come into the house.

I think the important part of all this left/right brain business is becoming more aware of how we function, recognizing not only our own strengths but the strengths of others as we try to get the most out of our lives and our experiences on this earth.