31st March 2012

A nice image

Today in class we talked about building capacity within a community.  This means that commitment, resources, and skills are required to build on community strengths and address the issues in the community as well.  I see this fitting well with Julia Mitchell’s presentation on permaculture, that we were fortunate enough to hear.   The presentation was about permaculture which is the design system and philosophy that emulates the patters of nature which are holistically and sustainable.  Julia talked about what our current food system looks like which is linear.  The system of permaculture is cyclical and sustainable.  This allows us to not rely on the non-renewable resources used in order to get the food, produce it, distribute and then not having any replenishment.  Permaculture’s ethics are to care for people, earth, and to give back the surplus one has this is not what is occurring in our current system and needs to be addressed. People need to be committed to working with nature and taking responsibility for our existence on the planet.  People involved in permaculture see the problem of our current industrial system and work to solve these issues through planning, design and creating sustainability.  It takes the opportunities that arise even the smallest pieces of land are used and designed in a way to get the most out of the space and create sustainability with food for their family or the community.  There are many skills involved with permaculture and Julia exhibited these skills and knowledge that are required to design and deal with issues that have arisen from our current system.  Everything needs to be looked at in our natural environment and the relationships in nature need to be emulated and strategically thought about to get the best possible result.  There needs to be passion and the will to want to live a sustainable cyclical lifestyle instead of the current linear system.  Julia Mitchell has built capacity around permaculture, which is relatively new in coming to this area.  I think she did an awesome job in educating our class and building capacity around maintaining a sustainable lifestyle that emulates nature.  The whole idea of the design of a plot of land has intentionality and gardens, greenhouses, animals and water sources to name a few are strategically placed in order to gain as many uses and easiest accessibility to these elements. The idea of capacity building in social work allows a community to be able to come together for a cause and an issue they see as important, to use the skills and abilities within the community so people’s resources are being used to create betterment in their community.  As social workers we need to see what the community has to offer and use the skills and commitment they have.  Opportunities need to be seized by social workers so that the community isn’t just changed for the time being but changed and improved over time even when the social worker has left the community. As a social worker one wants to create lasting change that can sustain itself.   http://permacultureprinciples.com/ This link shows principles about permaculture, photos people have sent in, as well as videos describing and showing permaculture efforts.

Today in class we talked about building capacity within a community.  This means that commitment, resources, and skills are required to build on community strengths and address the issues in the community as well.  I see this fitting well with Julia Mitchell’s presentation on permaculture, that we were fortunate enough to hear.   The presentation was about permaculture which is the design system and philosophy that emulates the patters of nature which are holistically and sustainable.  Julia talked about what our current food system looks like which is linear.  The system of permaculture is cyclical and sustainable.  This allows us to not rely on the non-renewable resources used in order to get the food, produce it, distribute and then not having any replenishment.  Permaculture’s ethics are to care for people, earth, and to give back the surplus one has this is not what is occurring in our current system and needs to be addressed.

People need to be committed to working with nature and taking responsibility for our existence on the planet.  People involved in permaculture see the problem of our current industrial system and work to solve these issues through planning, design and creating sustainability.  It takes the opportunities that arise even the smallest pieces of land are used and designed in a way to get the most out of the space and create sustainability with food for their family or the community.  There are many skills involved with permaculture and Julia exhibited these skills and knowledge that are required to design and deal with issues that have arisen from our current system.  Everything needs to be looked at in our natural environment and the relationships in nature need to be emulated and strategically thought about to get the best possible result.  There needs to be passion and the will to want to live a sustainable cyclical lifestyle instead of the current linear system.  Julia Mitchell has built capacity around permaculture, which is relatively new in coming to this area.  I think she did an awesome job in educating our class and building capacity around maintaining a sustainable lifestyle that emulates nature.  The whole idea of the design of a plot of land has intentionality and gardens, greenhouses, animals and water sources to name a few are strategically placed in order to gain as many uses and easiest accessibility to these elements.

The idea of capacity building in social work allows a community to be able to come together for a cause and an issue they see as important, to use the skills and abilities within the community so people’s resources are being used to create betterment in their community.  As social workers we need to see what the community has to offer and use the skills and commitment they have.  Opportunities need to be seized by social workers so that the community isn’t just changed for the time being but changed and improved over time even when the social worker has left the community. As a social worker one wants to create lasting change that can sustain itself.

 

http://permacultureprinciples.com/

This link shows principles about permaculture, photos people have sent in, as well as videos describing and showing permaculture efforts.

16th March 2012

A nice image

Today in class we talked about the different phases in Community Organizing.  This related nicely to our afternoon presentation that was done by John Thompson from Lethbridge Family Services who runs a program called Community Helpers.  I enjoyed this presentation immensely as it gave me a better on the ground experience of someone working in Lethbridge with community organizing.  I think John’s presentation connected nicely with our lecture this morning. He talked about entering into the population that Community Helpers targets.  The Pre-entry phase seemed like quite a bit of work and a lot of talking with the principal before they were able to gain access to the youth population.  Through interagency meetings Community Helpers is able to get the word out about what they are doing.  Suicide is such a scary term for so many people and when going into a school if the first thing the principal sees is suicide prevention the mission of gaining access to youth could stop there.  It hadn’t occurred to me that accessing a school could be such a challenge but now I realize the importance of selling what you are doing and being passionate about the program you are running so others can see this and hopefully see that is could be helpful for their community. After the pre-entry comes actually engaging the youth that Community Helpers is aimed at.  This is the point when the facilitators go into the classroom and talk to the youth about doing a survey that name the people in their life they feel are helpful and supportive.  The survey is the first part of engagement if the youth do the survey it gets the ball rolling to engage the people who are nominated as helpers.  The individuals who are seen more than once on the surveys are contacted and then for three days Community Helpers come into the school to run the program for these youth.  The engagement process in the program works by not only teaching the youth different modules but there are also games that youth engage in to make the days more bearable. There is also a community analysis piece to Community Helpers, different speakers from their community come in and talk about the different issues as well as offer a resource in the community for youth to come to and talk.  The youth are able to pick whom they like and whom they feel would be approachable.  These people can also be the person they tell other youth about if they came to them with an issue that they feel they can’t handle.  There are also resources provided at the beginning and youth are able to see the different resources that are in their community that they may not have known were there. Community Helpers covers the phases of Community Organizing and gives youth the tools and resources so they can still be those people that are helpful and supportive but they also have other tools and knowledge about community professionals or other resources in the community that can be accessed for help.  I see it as a very worthwhile program and it respects diversity among the youth Community Helpers want people who are named by their peers no matter who they are, to come to the program and get training in different areas so they can continue to be helpful and supportive. Link about Alberta’s Suicide Prevention Strategy. http://www.albertahealthservices.ca/2738.asp Cool video about hip hop for change http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWIIcZp7iuo

Today in class we talked about the different phases in Community Organizing.  This related nicely to our afternoon presentation that was done by John Thompson from Lethbridge Family Services who runs a program called Community Helpers.  I enjoyed this presentation immensely as it gave me a better on the ground experience of someone working in Lethbridge with community organizing.  I think John’s presentation connected nicely with our lecture this morning.

He talked about entering into the population that Community Helpers targets.  The Pre-entry phase seemed like quite a bit of work and a lot of talking with the principal before they were able to gain access to the youth population.  Through interagency meetings Community Helpers is able to get the word out about what they are doing.  Suicide is such a scary term for so many people and when going into a school if the first thing the principal sees is suicide prevention the mission of gaining access to youth could stop there.  It hadn’t occurred to me that accessing a school could be such a challenge but now I realize the importance of selling what you are doing and being passionate about the program you are running so others can see this and hopefully see that is could be helpful for their community.

After the pre-entry comes actually engaging the youth that Community Helpers is aimed at.  This is the point when the facilitators go into the classroom and talk to the youth about doing a survey that name the people in their life they feel are helpful and supportive.  The survey is the first part of engagement if the youth do the survey it gets the ball rolling to engage the people who are nominated as helpers.  The individuals who are seen more than once on the surveys are contacted and then for three days Community Helpers come into the school to run the program for these youth.  The engagement process in the program works by not only teaching the youth different modules but there are also games that youth engage in to make the days more bearable.

There is also a community analysis piece to Community Helpers, different speakers from their community come in and talk about the different issues as well as offer a resource in the community for youth to come to and talk.  The youth are able to pick whom they like and whom they feel would be approachable.  These people can also be the person they tell other youth about if they came to them with an issue that they feel they can’t handle.  There are also resources provided at the beginning and youth are able to see the different resources that are in their community that they may not have known were there.

Community Helpers covers the phases of Community Organizing and gives youth the tools and resources so they can still be those people that are helpful and supportive but they also have other tools and knowledge about community professionals or other resources in the community that can be accessed for help.  I see it as a very worthwhile program and it respects diversity among the youth Community Helpers want people who are named by their peers no matter who they are, to come to the program and get training in different areas so they can continue to be helpful and supportive.


Link about Alberta’s Suicide Prevention Strategy.

http://www.albertahealthservices.ca/2738.asp

Cool video about hip hop for change

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWIIcZp7iuo

9th March 2012

A nice image

Today in class we looked at the facilitating of a group and coming to a consensus about a piece of land that was left to the bachelors of social work program.  The land was worth two million dollars and 20 percent of the land could be sold and ten percent had to be charitable.  This activity was about coming to consensus about what the land would be used for and the legacy the social work students wanted to be left behind in west Lethbridge for the community to enjoy for years to come. In the process our group had very similar ideas from the start we had a common goal that allowed for a much easier consensus to be met.  We had active participation as well as a facilitator who led the group to reach consensus.  Our group met consensus quite easily and was able to come to a decision that everyone thought was a suitable idea.  We decided to build a community garden as well as a community area with a fire pit, picnic tables, camp kitchen and open space where people could come together for activities.   Events that would be held in this space we had discussed were spring garden orientation where everyone could plant their plot of land, there was a fall harvest with a barbeque and a camp fire, there also were classes that would be offered by the social work students teaching children about food sustainability and gardening.  From the garden a portion of the food would be donated throughout the city to different organizations or people that needed it. The importance for consensus building in community social work practice is crucial because communities need to come to a consensus when dealing with issues that affect the whole community.  Not one person can make a decision for the entire community, there has to be a coming together for a cause and a discussion that happens with good facilitation and active participation in which a consensus can be reached and everyone can come to an agreement.  People who live in the community need to be making these decisions instead of having outsiders come in and make decisions for them that they may not even see as necessary.  Community social work practice requires the community to have a voice and decide for themselves what is important for their community. Here is a video of some ways in which to communicate in a large group when consensus is trying to be reached.  Hand signals were used in the Occupy Movement to communicate in large crowds. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2yYiULZ0hA

Today in class we looked at the facilitating of a group and coming to a consensus about a piece of land that was left to the bachelors of social work program.  The land was worth two million dollars and 20 percent of the land could be sold and ten percent had to be charitable.  This activity was about coming to consensus about what the land would be used for and the legacy the social work students wanted to be left behind in west Lethbridge for the community to enjoy for years to come.

In the process our group had very similar ideas from the start we had a common goal that allowed for a much easier consensus to be met.  We had active participation as well as a facilitator who led the group to reach consensus.  Our group met consensus quite easily and was able to come to a decision that everyone thought was a suitable idea.  We decided to build a community garden as well as a community area with a fire pit, picnic tables, camp kitchen and open space where people could come together for activities.   Events that would be held in this space we had discussed were spring garden orientation where everyone could plant their plot of land, there was a fall harvest with a barbeque and a camp fire, there also were classes that would be offered by the social work students teaching children about food sustainability and gardening.  From the garden a portion of the food would be donated throughout the city to different organizations or people that needed it.

The importance for consensus building in community social work practice is crucial because communities need to come to a consensus when dealing with issues that affect the whole community.  Not one person can make a decision for the entire community, there has to be a coming together for a cause and a discussion that happens with good facilitation and active participation in which a consensus can be reached and everyone can come to an agreement.  People who live in the community need to be making these decisions instead of having outsiders come in and make decisions for them that they may not even see as necessary.  Community social work practice requires the community to have a voice and decide for themselves what is important for their community.

Here is a video of some ways in which to communicate in a large group when consensus is trying to be reached.  Hand signals were used in the Occupy Movement to communicate in large crowds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2yYiULZ0hA

(1/1)