Week 7: Lit Review - Corey

Smith, G. (2004). Choosing healing over saving. Encounter: Education for Meaning and Social Justice, 17(1), 31-37.

First, I need to say I am really glad I found this article and really got a lot of reading it both professionally and personally. It not your typical social work method based article that gives you an intervention/solution to a problem. Instead, this article does a few things I found interesting.

First, it looks at the motivation behind ones service to a community. It does this by talking about the “savior” complex and how damaging it is to partnering with a community. The author points out, “ In many indigenous societies, however, the healer does not so much ‘save’ his or her patient as create conditions in which healing can occur.” To me this was a brilliant concept and a little mind blowing. I’ve experience people going into a community to “save” it and leaving after a few years completely frustrated/burned out. I have also seen people partner with communities and real change happen in those communities. I really like the concept of creating conditions in which healing can occur. The author also points out the dangers of imposing ones will/vision on a community and how that control destroys trust, which is fundamental to the healing process. It is about coming to a community with humility and partnering with it and trusting the existing structures.

Second, the article also gave three different examples of communities that had experienced healing. One was the Mattole Restoration Council, which is restoring the a water shed in CA. The second was the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, which was a community taking back their neighborhood. The third is called the Courage to Teach Program, which was a program geared towards helping teachers teach better/stay in the profession.

Third, the article lays out qualities found in each of those examples had which contribute to healing. They are trust, attentiveness, responsiveness, and mutuality. It also highlighted the importance of educating children in those qualities in order to really facilitate the long term healing of a community. I really liked the concept of moving education out of just the classroom and into the school grounds, local parks, and open spaces and helping children build deeper trust/involvement in their communities.

As I’m starting to get familiar with the JVL neighborhood I’m finding that there are a lot of services and organizations already working there. I can see some of the damage of people coming in to “save” the community instead of coming in with humility and working alongside residents. This community has a history and a depth that I will only begin to understand this semester. This article has given words to some of the frustration I’ve felt when working with community development projects in the past and also given me hope that it can be well.

Can you think of any other qualities that are important for facilitating long term healing?

What do you think of the concept of healing over saving and do you have any experiences you want to share?

What are ways to get children more involved in their communities?

I’d really encourage you all to find this article on EBSCO and read it.