From Safety to Social Construction
Internalizing the dialogue agenda inevitably entails arranging the work process from within the
union recognition paradigm. One track in this organization is the work of the mental health system to program of mutually involving staff in a collective buy-in to a 'real change' process. The other track required is the development of a meaningful discussion with the clients. This is by and large what happened with the organization of the Educational Retreat (ER); it needs to be an ongoing procedure.The mental health system needs to choose to 'go for' the dialogue agenda. The default choice is to blend the construction of self-help/client empowerment/recovery to the prevailing patterns of organizational change across the state. The choice of the dialogue agenda implies a positive, intentional program to transform the system in such a way as to "make the clients be excited at being involved with the system." To go this way means to take a risk and consciously construct a way for the clients to be out in public, to be considered as meaning business.
This matches the choice of rejecting the 'warehousing' paradigm for the client population, as against constructing 'real life possibilities' for the clients. The long-term target of my recommendations is the financial arrangements necessary to have a system that goes beyond warehousing. That is a system that at one end will provide treatment and at the other end, education. The following suggestions summarize the understanding I've come to from working on the different aspects of the ER project, as to where to begin.
I. Hire a client manager under the supervision of the Adult Services Manager who has the hermeneutic skills needed to help organize the rebuilding of the culture of the line staff. This means leading and training the staff to know how to
work with the client psychology.II. Hire a client manager under the supervision of the Ethnic Population Specialist Coordinator to extend the self-help Vision to the construction of dialogue in the client culture. This means taking stock of the ethics of client activism and constructing the conditions for
bringing the client culture up from the underground.III. Hire a client manager under the supervision of the Development & Training Director to help construct educational roles that extend the treatment roles of service delivery. By overcoming the logic of discrimination and building in the logic of respect, we will
subvert the trauma of treatment.IV. Hire a client manager under the supervision of the Policy & Planning Analyst with social constructionist skills to organize ongoing trainings in
appreciative inquiry. This means continuing the tradition of the ER and extending both in time and in organizational depth the development of a culture of accountability.