SOWK 487 Week 03 - Foundations for Groups Part II

SOWK 487 Spring 2021 Planning: Class 03

Time: Wednesday’s from 5:30-8:15
Date: 01/27/21 Content: Theoretical and Philosophical Foundations to Groups part II Reading Assignment: Garvin et al. (2017) Chapters 4-6 Due Dates:

• A-01: Synchronous Class Engagement Attend class
• A-02: Asynchronous Class Engagement What are small practical ways we can be empowering due Sunday 01/31/21 at 11:55 PM via Flipgrid
• Read Garvin et al. (2017) Chapters 4-6

Introduction - Pinky and the Brain Video Clip

[Whole Class Activity] Watch the Pinky and the Brain video clip.

The readings for this week were about empowerment theory, ethics, and social justice. Whenever I think about those subjects I also get the feeling that we have to find ways to take over the world.

Agenda

• Empowerment theory
• Ethics and social justice

Empowerment Activity

Empowerment, Advocacy, and Leadership Activity 1 taken from (http://berkstransition.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/activity1.pdf)

Description: In this activity, approximately 1/3 of the participants will be given a lollipop. Each participant with a lollipop can voice their ideas and are “empowered,” while people without lollipops do not have a voice and are seen as tokens.

Purpose: This activity can demonstrate the importance of empowerment and making sure that everyone is self-determined and has a voice.

Recommended Group Size: any size of group Estimated time: 15-20 minutes

Activity Summary: As participants are being seated (or prior to the activity), hand out lollipops to every third or fourth person (after the activity others can also have the lollipops). Participants musts be informed that the lollipops are for an activity and to wait to eat them. In this activity, participants with lollipops are people with a voice, who are empowered, and whose ideas are seen as valuable; while the participants without lollipops are seen as tokens who are not seen as having valuable ideas. This activity is meant to demonstrate the importance of empowerment and establishing your voice.

Leader Instructions with a Draft Script of Directions: . Below there are key words that should be included in the introduction and conclusion.

~Key Points~

• Give lollipops to every third to fourth participant
• Clearly state that the lollipops will be used for the activity and that people can get lollipops after the activity
• Throughout the entire activity overly emphasize how smart, amazing, beautiful, etc. the group with the lollipops are while exaggerating how much the people without lollipops are not.
• Introduce the icebreaker

State that you will be discussing how to best assist youth with disabilities with $1 million and want ideas from everyone

• As you get responses, emphasize how amazing the ideas are from the people with lollipops and how much “better” they are than the others
• The importance here is not the ideas or ways to spend money but rather to clearly show a bias for people with lollipops

~Concluding Points and Discussion Questions~

• After a few minutes of discussing ways to spend money end the discussion
• This activity wasn’t about deciding on money, it was about biases and not having your voice heard
• Who did we listen to? (answer: people with lollipops)
• We used a completely subjective and irrelevant quality as the determining factor of who we were going to listen to.
• Often people with disabilities may be seen as not having a lollipop and are therefore not listened to.
• What did it feel to not be listened to?
• How did you feel about the people who do have lollipops? Were you mad at them? Did you feel betrayed? Did you feel separated from them or that somehow you felt connected to other people who like you did or did not have a lollipop?

What is Empowerment?

“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will” — Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

So what is empowerment, what does it mean?

[Small Group Activity] Have class break up into small groups (partners or trios) and come up with a definition for what empowerment

• What is it?
• Why it’s important?
• How we do it?

Principals of Empowerment Theory (1 of 2)

Robbins, S. C. Chatterjee, P., Canda, E. R.(2006) Contemporary human behavior theory: a critical perspective for social work. University of Michigan: Pearson/A and B

There are some primary principals of empowerment theory in general, not just in how it relates to working with groups.

1. All oppression should be fought
2. A systematic understanding of oppression must be maintained
3. People are capable of empowering themselves
4. People need to connect with others to work on empowerment
5. Clinician and the client share power

Principals of Empowerment Theory (2 of 2)

6. Client centered with the client being encouraged to tell own story & develop own goals
7. Client as “victor not victim”
8. Social change is goal, not symptom reduction.
9. Clinicians must examine how their practice may disempower clients
10. Clinician may need to be socially and politically active to address meso and macro needs [local, national, global issues]

Step 1: Self-efficacy

The first step in empowerment theory is the empowering of the client. This means helping them to gain self-efficacy. This can be done by the following:

• Skill building
• Gaining self-awareness
• Learning to navigate systems

Step 2: Critical Consciousness

The second step in empowerment theory is connecting the client to the “bigger picture.” This means helping them to gain a critical consciousness about oppression and obstacles. Some examples of this are as follows:

• Identifying barriers
• Defining power
• Connecting the client to a group
• Letting them know they aren’t alone

Step 3: Social Change

The third step in empowerment theory is creating larger social change. The following are some possible ideas:

• Creating policy and or legal changes
• Having the client act as a mentor
• Connecting to another activity that allows them to make social change

Intervention/Collaborative action (1 of 5)

The following are the parts of doing empowerment theory with groups or in mezzo practice. It really closely aligns with steps two and three of the micro practice.

• Planning
• Consciousness Raising / Conscientiazation
• Social / Collective action
• Embeddedness in the community

Intervention/Collaborative action (2 of 5) - Planning

Planning is the basis of any process. There are some criteria that are important to consider when planning.

• Inclusive to all participants
• Important that participants understand purpose of the group
• Focus is on both personal and social change
• Involves risk (i.e. doing social change and challenges)
• Takes time

Intervention/Collaborative action (3 of 5) - Consciousness Raising / Conscientization

The Consciousness-Raising stage is when collaborative action really starts.

• Start of collaborative action
• Mutual aid model
• Developing actions to address needs expressed

Intervention/Collaborative action (4 of 5) - Social / Collective action

When we move on to the actual implementation and making changes in the community or other locations is where things get really exciting.

• Implement the actions to address expressed needs

Intervention/Collaborative action (5 of 5) - Embeddedness in the community

The final stage is around embeddeness and is post action stage.

• Poststage portion of the group
• What does it look like when you are finished or end
• How do we consolidate changes made

Practical Example of a Collaborative Action Group

To provide an example of this, I want to share a little bit about one of my colleagues at the University of the California Institute of Integral Studies. Last spring I was in California for our Residential Intensive for my program, and I attended her dissertation defense.

• Discussion about the study
• Impact of the presentations
• Movement for me to participatory action research for my own project
• Start of a non profit, movement within the government… etc.

Montgomery Di Marco, A. (2020). How a group of refugee-immigrant women living in the diaspora in Metro-Vancouver define flourishing and experience participatory-hospitality: A feminist participatory action research project California Institute of Integral Studies.

Empowerment for Students

[Small Group Activity] Thinking about using empowerment in relationship to students at Heritage and Potential needs. Start the planning of what a social action group might look like.

Tasks In the Event of an Ethical Dilemmas

[Whole Class Activity] Discuss what are some potential ethical dilemmas that could come up in relationship to groups.

The tasks to do in the event of an ethical dilemma is to:

• Identify ethical issues
• Determining appropriate help
• Thinking critically
• Managing conflict
• Planning and implementing decisions
• Evaluating and follow-up

Underlying Values Orientations for Social Justice Group Work

Talk about each value

[Small Group Activity] Break up into groups and have talk about how you would know that you have these values within a group.

• Solidarity
• Tolerance
• Inclusion
• Trust
• Cultural Humility
• Empowerment
• Shared leadership