COUV ACTES - Psychologie communautaire

Community Psychology: Common Values, Diverse PracticesWeaknesses in social servicesThe interviews show two kinds of weaknesses: on the one hand the services organization, on the other theservice system in the local context. Regarding the organization, a lack of flexibility and customized interventionsis shown, because of more standardized resources available. Thus, the focus of intervention is not on the personbut on the procedure: “the quality of service traditionally concerned giving a blanket, a place to sleep and to eat,but without quality care means working on relationship, and about this issue we are getting back”. Anotherweakness is the risk of care workers’ burnout, resulting from the difference between the expectations and the realpossibilities of achieving the goals. The lack of financial and human resources seems to be sometimes astructural condition of the participants’ work. Th system of services is thought often as marked out by outdatedfeatures typical of social security, with interventions based on the representation of the poor as a deviant, wherebureaucracy may slow down any new project.Strengths in social servicesSkills and training of care workers are positive aspects: relational and listening skills are thought as importantdimensions in a work characterized by relational helping and caring. It seems moreover to be useful monitoringand evaluating the individual treatments and the work carried out by the service. Promotion of networking seemsto be, according to participants, an important aspect for improving interventions that need integration of differentcompetences. For some of them the network would be a method that may facilitate an empowering approachbased on the “individual project”: “It’s important to build a network among organizations, small enterprises,artisans, families too, for promoting empowerment strategies.”ConclusionsResults highlight that homelessness should not be considered only as an individual situation, marked by lack ofskills and capacities and in need of social aid, but rather as a problem that requires community based researchand intervention. This viewpoint is particularly important to promote empowerment-oriented strategies aimed toinclusion of marginalized people.Empowerment-oriented interventions for homeless would be based on a set of practices: a) for Users: evaluatingdifferent needs, customizing intervention on personal strengths and social skills (time and space management;positive self identity); b) for Social services: networking, monitoring and evaluation of interventions, care givers’specific training (f.i. in psychiatric disorder).This approach may reduce the “revolving-door” phenomenon, related to many homeless moving continuouslyamong different services and shelters.ReferencesAtkinson A.B. (1998). Poverty in Europe. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.Bagnasco A. e Negri N. ( 1994). Classi, ceti, persone. Napoli: Liguori Editore.Calysn, R. J., Morse, G. A., Klinkenberg, W. D., Yonker, R. D., & Trusty, M. L. (2002). Moderators and mediatorsof client satisfaction in case management programs for clients with severe mental illness. Mental Health ServicesResearch, 4(4), 267–275.189