Summary of Chapter:

Chapter five will focus on teaching students how to develop a power analysis and explore potential solutions for community-based problems. Authors will review decolonizing and liberatory psychological theories in understanding community-based problems such as racism, gender based violence, communal violence, transphobia, and xenophobia. Authors will encourage students to “recognize the impact of the confluence of context, history, social location, and power-powerlessness on health and well-being”^[1] and identify potential solutions to problems.

Students will engage in activities where they assess their worldviews, assess their identities related to privilege as well as oppression, identify systemic causes for problems within their communities, and envision the future. Students will engage in large group discussions where they identify common underlying causes for the different community-based problems, why they think these problems exist, and what can be done to solve them.

Learning Objectives:

Psy 101

• Demonstrate knowledge of contextual influences on human behavior and diversity of perspectives, including those related to race, class, gender, sexuality, disability, nationality, and culture.
• Think critically in your approach to psychological topics in a writing assignment.

Workbook

• Engage in critical self and other reflection on the multiple systems that influence you and your communities lived experiences via a range of written, verbal, multimedia, and arts-based activities and discussions.
• Increase your ability to engage in critical thinking, utilize power analyses, and identify sites of community/institutional change and action.
• Demonstrate knowledge about what liberation psychology is, how it applies to your life, and how it applies to introductory psychology theories and concepts.

Embodiment Practice:

This workbook may evoke different thoughts and feelings, and that’s a valuable part of your learning. You may already have strategies to help you cope. To support you, we offer an embodiment practice to help you stay grounded and present while managing any thoughts or emotions that arise during the process.

Three-minute breathing space:

1. If it’s helpful for you, set a time for 1 minute
2. Sit or stand in a position that feels comfortable for you. Let yourself settle into your body and your mind.
3. Take 1 minute to answer the question “How am I doing right now?” Focus on any feelings, thoughts, and sensations that arise for you. Try giving these words and phrases. You can write these down or think about them.
4. Take 1 minute to attend to your breath. Be aware of the movement that occurs in your body with each breath you take. Attend to how your chest moves-rising and falling. How does your belly move in and out? How your lungs move-expand and contract.
5. Take 1 minute to pay attention to your breath. Attend to how the rest of your body feels.

History/Context:

What does it mean to problematize and critically analyze life experiences?

As reported by Altschuler (2011), “A DOZEN teenagers and twenty-somethings shuffle self-consciously to the front of an expansive auditorium. They scan the 500 eyes staring at them, and each takes a deep breath.

Fist cupped to his mouth, one young man gets a beat-box going. At his side, his peers start swaying to the rhythm, before they all join in:

Throw your fists in the air,
And pop ‘em like you just don’t care.
And if you’re down with the DREAM
And you know what I mean
Say…“Oh yeah!”^[2]

The chant is exuberant, defiant, and playful. And the crowd of mostly Latino youth embraces the simple rhyme created by these kids from Colorado. When the beat-box dies down, raucous applause fills the Memphis auditorium, before another group from California captures the spirit of the day with their simple chant: ‘We exist! We resist!’”

These young people chose to come together in a community to address oppression and the need to focus on immigrant rights. They used their music, their analysis, their stories, and the needs of their community to shift the discourse on immigration.

The above scene refers to a convention that occurred in March of 2011 in Memphis, TN. Organized by United We Dream (UWD), over 55 youth organizations came together from 25 states for a national congress for undocumented immigrant youth. There were trainings, breakout sessions, and featured speakers who spoke about how the youth could learn from the civil rights movement. There was singing, dancing, hugging, and crying, with emotions welcome in the space. Youth took the stage and told their own stories, “recalling the first time they learned they were undocumented, the moment they realized how that would constrain them from going to college or getting a job, the decision to join a youth struggle, and the bittersweet sensation of having come so far but still coming up short. And, on Saturday night, the group holds a rally to demand the protection of undocumented children’s right to education in Tennessee.”

In December of 2011, these youth organizers were some of those who led the efforts to pass the DREAM (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) Act. This act would have led to a path to citizenship for undocumented youth who attend college or are in the military.^[3] Dreamers engaged in problematization. They looked at their life circumstances (being undocumented), what role this played in their lives (limiting access to resources like higher education and jobs), and questioned the usual explanations and considerations of the issue (broadening and shifting the discourse on immigration). They analyzed their life experiences for social change. They harnessed their ability to “call out or identify systems of oppression, speak up, and mobilize their peers”.^[4] Instead of an analysis created by politicians or researchers, problematization requires that the discourse is centered on the perspectives of those who are oppressed. “It is the process of discussing, questioning, and creating a critical reflection in everyday functioning or habits”.^[5] Dreamers built a strong movement that shifted the structures of power. Via actions such as youth sit-ins, Dreamers are credited for in 2012 convincing President Obama to grant DREAMers a reprieve from being deported^[6] when he issued an executive order that created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. This program protects approximately 800,000 Dreamers from deportation. Additionally, youth organizers were credited for the DREAM Act being passed through the House of Representatives, though in the end, the bill failed to pass in the Senate, coming 5 votes short of defeating a Senate filibuster.^[7]

Watts & Hipolito-Delgado (2015) remind us that critical consciousness raising, a part of problematization, allows people to develop a greater awareness of their social, political, and economic situation.^[8] It encourages people to ask critical questions about their circumstances and why things are the way they are. It also supports people in developing a collective or group identity (like that of DREAMers). And what is often left out of Western psychology discussions of critical consciousness is how critical consciousness and problematization directly connect with community action. Action that addresses social, political, and economic realities.

As we have mentioned many times, Western psychology tends to focus on the individual: genetics, neurobiology, personality, and maybe family dynamics. However, to fully engage with life experience, liberatory psychologists know there is a need to explore how context, historical and current, influences people.

However, to fully engage with life experiences, liberatory psychologists recognize the necessity of exploring how both historical and current contexts influence individuals. And context includes the community, its strengths, and its problems.

As Dreamers in the previous story exemplified, to begin to fully understand community-based problems and what to do about them, there is a need to directly address power, what it is, who has it, and how to utilize it for social action and transformation. This chapter will provide a framework for exploring power in an effort to problematize and critically analyze life experiences.

Identifying the problem:

Many problems people face can be understood as community-based problems. People can and have solved problems in their communities through a variety of means: direct action, legislation, political education, community organizing, and strengthening community connections. Communities have resources, wisdom, and organizations that help transform the problems in their communities. All communities have some form of problems, though the problems develop for different reasons, and people have different degrees of power in changing them. Community-based problems can be thought of as a range of issues that arise for a group of people who share geographic or virtual location, set of interests, goals, and/or history. The issues can be understood differently by members of the community; however, most see the issues as problems that negatively impact the quality of people’s lives within the community. It is thought that the problems can only be solved by the community impacted, along with the support of the government, laws, regulations, and organizations. When people think of community-based problems, they rightfully think of examples such as violence, poverty, lack of affordable housing, addiction, accessible education, and more. However, there is a breadth of community-based problems.

The following is a list of some commonly identified community-based problems from Spacey (2023).^[9]

• Access to transportation
• Air quality
• Affordable childcare
• Age discrimination
• Bullying
• Cost of Living
• Crime
• Disaster response
• Discrimination
• Food Security
• Healthcare
• Houselessness
• Infrastructure Decay
• Overcrowding
• Over Policing
• Waste management
• Water Pollution
• Working Conditions

(5.1) What are some community-based problems/issues that impact your neighborhood/community/family? How do you feel about the possibility of the problems getting better? What do you think it would take for these conditions to improve or change? Have you seen examples of positive changes to community problems? If so, what were they?

(5.2) Which of the following feelings come up for you when thinking about community-based problems? Are there any additional feelings that come up for you?

• Angry
• Frustrated
• Defensive
• Hurt
• Disillusioned
• Empty
• Distrustful
• Confused
• Sad
• Emotionally Fatigued
• Helpless
• Powerless
• Worried
• Ashamed
• Invigorated
• Passionate
• Empowered

 What will you do with these feelings?

(5.3) Identify your community

Who are the people who are experiencing the problem? Who are the people who will help you analyze and solve the problem? Answering these questions helps you identify your community and the people you will need to move forward with. You can answer the previous questions based on a geographic area, a neighborhood, a group of people with similar interests or experiences, and more. In answering, it can be helpful to ask yourself, “What are the boundaries of our community?” You can also make a list of institutions and organizations that can be considered part of your community. It can also be helpful to identify who in your community, outside of organizations, is well-respected and listened to. Are there elders who help take care of people in the community? Youth who are visible in their commitment? Everyday people who consistently volunteer and/or donate?

Analyzing the problem: Clarifying the problem and identifying the root causes of the problem

Clarifying the problem

All of the previously identified (and more) community-based problems are impactful and important. Many have entire disciplines dedicated to understanding and changing these issues, with varying levels of success in creating solutions. It is important to note that how we understand a problem influences how we solve it. How do we fully clarify the problem and what contributes to it? The answers we come up with can often be linked to our worldviews. Worldviews can be understood as a cognitive or mental map of reality- how we generally perceive and experience reality, and what we think about our place in it. They provide a framework that shapes and guides our attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. What we think about reality and our experiences can lead to beliefs about what we should do to change reality and the actions that we take to do so. “A worldview is a collection of attitudes, values, stories, and expectations about the world around us, which inform our every thought and action. Worldview is expressed in ethics, religion, philosophy, scientific beliefs, and so on”.^[10] A worldview is how a culture works out in individual practice. When you encounter a situation and think ‘That’s just wrong’, your worldview is active.

• When was the last time you felt that “That’s just wrong” feeling?” What aspects of your worldview influenced your feelings?

We have a natural tendency to think that what we believe is normal: his views are backward and superstitious; your views are a result of how you were brought up; my views are rational, balanced, and true”.^[11] Most of us are socialized into our worldviews-the histories that have shaped our cultures, the countries or lands we are born in, the families we are born into, and the messages we receive from our societies all influence the development of our worldviews. Our worldviews can be complex and change over time and experience. They can help us answer questions like: Why does a problem exist? What should be done about that problem?

There are many different types of worldviews. We highlight the following framework, summarized by Drew (2023), knowing that your worldviews can include multiple aspects of all 4 categories and more.

• Attitudinal-Understood through your personality. Your general disposition and a core feature of who you are. Includes orientations towards attitudes such as optimism, pessimism, compassion, thoughtfulness, friendliness, work ethic, respect, skepticism, resilience, and adventurousness.
• Ideological-Understood through your values and ideals. A belief ​​about how the world should be economically and politically structured-what are the rights, responsibilities, and freedoms people should and should not have. Includes orientations such as individualism, collectivism, capitalism, socialism, communism, social democracy, libertarianism, agrarianism, anarchism, globalism, and totalitarianism
• Religious-Understood through your beliefs about God, Gods, Goddesses, and Spirituality, which can include perspectives on monotheism, polytheism, and atheism. Includes orientations such as Sikhism, Buddhism, Atheism, Agnosticism, Daoism, Jainism, Christianity, Islamism, Catholicism, and Judaism.
• Philosophical-Understood through your answers to fundamental questions such as what is the nature of existence, truth, knowledge, and social relations. Can be influenced by religious and ideological worldviews. A belief about what is wrong/right with the world, what can be changed, what can not be changed, and how to make change. Includes orientations such as Pluralism, Moral Relativism, Marxism, Postmodernism, Humanism^[12]

Worldviews are important when we think about community-based problems and how to solve them. Even without labeling our worldviews with the above framework and accompanying terms, we can understand that what we believe about a problem influences what we do about it. For example, when thinking about the issue of water pollution, what attitude do we take? Do we think it is possible to change it? And if so, how do we change it? We might believe that as an individual and a community, we have the power to make change. However, if we see the problem as only one of levels of pollution, we might ask about how polluted the water is and what level it needs to get to be safe. You might decide to focus time and effort on accessing a chemical to treat the issue. However, if we see the problem as related to oppression and systemic injustice, we might ask different questions and come to different conclusions on how to address water pollution. Our additional questions might include ones such as, “Why are the highest rates of water pollution in low-income Black and Brown neighborhoods?” “What is the role of racism and classism?” We might find out there is a direct link.  “Watered Down Justice is a new analysis of EPA data that confirms there is unequal access to safe drinking water, based most strongly on race, a scientific conclusion that mirrors the lived experience of people of color and low-income residents in the United States…’We need Congress and the states to take action to fix the Safe Drinking Water Act, while increasing enforcement,’ said Pullen Fedinick.”^[13] And we might identify different solutions-community education and organizing, to update and enforce national laws. And we may explore various solutions, such as community education and organizing, to revise and enforce national laws.

Review the different types of worldviews summarized by Drew above

(5.4) What are your basic views about the world? Do you think people are primarily good or evil? Why do you think bad things happen to people or communities? What do you think are people’s responsibilities to one another? What are your thoughts on the government spending money on social problems? Considering your community, what worldviews do you think are reflected? Are there any worldviews in your community that you feel particularly drawn to?

Identifying root causes of the problem

Due to its significant influence, understanding our worldviews and those of each person in the group is crucial. Analyzing problems is connected to our worldviews. Who we are, our identities, our worldviews, and our positionality can all influence what we believe are problems, why we believe they are problems, what we think created the problem, and what we think we should do about them.

There are multiple approaches that groups and individuals can take to identify the root causes of a community-based problem. One method is the question words strategy, which is summarized in the resource The Community Box. The goal of this strategy is to have group members understand as many possible aspects of a problem by answering the questions of what, why, who, when, and how much.

What is the problem? The what asks group members to review the community-based problem that has been identified. It asks people to name if there are any additions, clarifications, or changes the group would like to make in naming the problem.

Why does the problem exist? The why asks group members to agree on why the group thinks the problem exists. The group engages in further discussion about the problem. To delve deeper into answering the why, the group can use the following question words technique.

Who is causing the problem, and who is affected by it? The group can answer the “who” by engaging in brainstorming. During this brainstorm, everyone is encouraged to provide their opinion, experiences, or facts.

When did the problem first occur, or when did it become significant? The when asks group members to identify whether this problem is new or whether it has existed for a long time. Understanding when a problem will change helps gauge its difficulty. Problems that have been in place for a long period can be much harder to solve, as people often become used to the status quo, even if the status quo is harmful. People tend to resist changing the status quo, even if it is for their benefit.

How much, or to what extent, is this problem occurring? The “how” asks group members to identify the degree to which the problem exists in the community. How many people are impacted by this community-based problem? How is it impacting people? How does it impact people’s day-to-day lives and their future?

Summarizing the answers to these questions can offer a clear analysis of the problem that can support the next steps: deciding to solve the problem and identifying possible solutions.

(5.5) Refer back to the example of a community-based problem that you came up with. Why do you think this problem developed? You can use the “question words” strategy to analyze the problem and its root causes. Have your thoughts or perceptions of the problem changed?

(5.6) Which of the following feelings come up for you when thinking about why this community-based problem exists? Are there any additional feelings that come up for you? What will you do with these feelings?

• Angry
• Frustrated
• Defensive
• Hurt
• Disillusioned
• Empty
• Distrustful
• Confused
• Sad
• Emotionally Fatigued
• Helpless
• Powerless
• Worried
• Ashamed
• Invigorated
• Passionate
• Empowered
• Activated

Deciding to Solve the Problem: Analyzing Power

Oftentimes, deciding to tackle problems comes down to how we see power — what it is, who’s got it, and how much power we think we have ourselves. Analyzing power is an important component to understand the problems and how to change them. Before we analyze our power, and hence our belief in our ability to solve the problem, it’s important to understand what power is.

“Power is pivotal in attaining wellness, in promoting liberation, and in resisting oppression“.^[14]  A liberatory approach to understanding and intervening in community-based problems involves the need to understand power and the role it plays in people’s lives, in communities, and in institutions. Yet, oftentimes when we think of power, we think of it in the negative. But power is neutral, it just is. Instead, it is about how we use it or wield it. We use our power every day – what we say “no” to, what we say “yes” to, whether we listen to other people’s ideas, whether we vote, where we choose to give our money, and so much more. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. defined in a 1968 speech to striking sanitation workers in Memphis, TN, power is the ability to achieve a purpose and effect change. In his words, it is “the ability to achieve a purpose. It is the strength required to bring about social, political, and economic change”.^[15] By analyzing power and identifying its different components, we are better able to understand how power is used in our own lives to subordinate, harm, and cause inequality and how power can be used to create resistance strategies and challenge injustice.^[16][17]

Based on a summary by Brene Brown, Jackson (2022) reviews 4 types of power:

• Power Over-“Power over, has many negative associations for people, such as repression, force, coercion, discrimination, corruption, and abuse. At its most basic, it operates to privilege certain people while marginalizing others”.^[18] This is the type of power that often first comes to mind for people when they think of power. Power over uses force, coercion, domination, control, fear, to effect change. People and institutions that utilize this form of power often believe that power is a finite resource; that some people have and others do not, and so it needs to be hoarded. Utilizing this form of power often leaves recipients feeling powerless, afraid, silenced, and shut down. Unfortunately, many of us have experienced this form of power when we are at our jobs, in our families, and in our communities. And, unfortunately, many of us have harmed others with this form of power.  Power over is using violence to control a child’s behavior, a boss who threatens to fire workers who want to unionize, or a society that passes laws that limit your rights based on your social identities. Yet, it is important to again emphasize that power over is not intrinsically negative. For example, power over can be used by the federal government to overturn unjust laws, by companies that, through no pressure from workers, decide to increase wages, and when we advocate for our children.
• Power With- “Based on mutual support, solidarity, collaboration, and recognition and respect for differences, power with multiplies individual talents, knowledge, and resources to make a larger impact”.^[19] This is a type of power that is exercised in relationships with other people. It arises from collaboration and utilizes knowing and respecting differences and unique perspectives, compassion and understanding, and sharing of power. It creates change through mutual aid and support, solidarity, empowerment, and collaborative decision-making.  It is shared power that grows out of collaboration and relationships. Community building and organizing are examples of power with. It focuses on power through collective action.
• Power To/For “Power to refers to the unique potential of every person to shape his or her life and world. When based on mutual support, it opens u..p the possibilities of joint action, or power with”.^[20] This form of power refers to the power to make a difference without using power over or domination. It is the ability to shape one’s life or the world around a person. Oftentimes, this type of power allows one to create new actions or possibilities. It can be combined with understanding your vision, values, and needs to influence your work with other people.
• Power Within “…sense of self-worth and self-knowledge; it includes an ability to recognise individual differences while respecting others.^[21] This type of power focuses on the individual and one’s sense of agency. It develops from self-awareness and a person’s ability to know their capacity, limits, skills, and desires, and uses this awareness to accomplish a goal. Assessing the power you have within you can help you understand what type of power you are utilizing and how it can help you and/or your relationships.
• What type of power do you think is more effective in solving problems? Less effective? Why do you think this? What type of power are you more comfortable having? Less comfortable with having? Why?

Power with, power to/for, and power within have been called “life-affirming” forms of power. These forms of power are considered a necessary component of agency-” the creative human capacity to act and change the world”.^[22] A sense of agency provides people with a range of processes and options for creating solutions; confidence, critical thinking, knowledge, vision, humor, persistence, commitment, solidarity, poetry, song, story, music, photos, documentaries, and more. “In tapping into power to, power within and power with, strategies must deal with the psychological and social dimensions of oppression and subordination that, because of race, ethnicity, gender, class, sexual orientation and other factors, leave people feeling inferior, isolated, cynical and often angry”.^[23]

Community groups can take their analysis of power beyond the power of the group and the individuals in it to assess the power in their broader community through engaging in community power mapping. Community power mapping allows a community group to identify who has power in the community, what will get people involved in changing the problem, and what is needed to shift people or institutions to support your community’s strategies for solving the problem.

(5.7) Power Mapping Step by Step process

Revisit and be clear about the goals of your campaign- what is the problem that you want to change? We can use John Jay College as an example. Let’s say your group has identified the need for increased funding for student groups as a problem. Who or what is the target? At John Jay College, who has the power to increase funding for student groups? You might not know the name of the head of finances; however, it’s an important role. You might even find out later that it is a role held by multiple people.

• Create a list of people, groups, and organizations that hold power in the community. This is an opportunity to brainstorm. Brainstorm the names of people or groups in your community that are impacted by the problem and could influence your target – who are the key stakeholders? Key stakeholders include:
  1. those responsible for creating the problem
  2. those who have the power to fix the problem but are not doing so,
  3. those who are geographically relevant to the issue, and
  4. those who are working to fix the problem

Don’t forget to include you and your group, too.

Even if people don’t know the exact name of the organization or person, put down descriptions of what the organizations do or people’s titles. In general community mapping, the goal is to think broadly about who could influence your target. Also, think about hidden power – who might be influencing a problem behind the scenes. At John Jay, there might be a specific city council member who could influence the target.

• Categorize the list – This can help you identify if there are any areas where you are lacking knowledge. For example, at John Jay, you might use categories such as faculty, administrators, student groups, media, politicians, and more.
• Fill in the gaps – Revisit your list, is anyone or group missing? Is there anyone else who has power that you have not thought of? At John Jay, are there alumni or parents who have power?
• Now we begin very specific research – Start putting names to the different positions you have identified. Who are the key individuals in organizations? What are their levels of power? Who is the head of the relevant departments? Every group, organization, department, and institution will be composed “of people with different backgrounds, interests, and levels of power.”^[24]

Further your research on key individuals. You can use the internet, ask people in your group, ask people in the community, review organizational websites, social media, local media coverage, and more. The following questions, identified by NACO (2022), will aid in guiding your research.

• • Who are they?
  • How long have they been in their current role?
  • What were they doing before?
  • Where were they educated and to what level?
  • Who do they know both personally and professionally?
  • If an elected official, how many votes did they win, and what was the turnout at the last election?
  • What portfolios do they / have they held?
  • What are their interest, and what causes do they support?

• Research organizations – in a similar vein to researching key individuals, it is also important to find out what organizations care about. This research can be done in similar ways, with the inclusion of information like annual reports and internal power structures. NACO (2022) identifies more questions to guide this research.

• • What strengths do they have in terms of people, resources, funding, and reputation?
  • What weaknesses do they have –where are they vulnerable?
  • What key metrics do they report against, and who are they accountable to?

After researching these key individuals and groups/organizations, it’s important to ask and answer the following questions: Do they agree or disagree with you on this community-based problem? How much power do they have over changing this problem? Use a paper or device to plot where all these groups land on the problem-you can also do this by degrees. Do they agree? Strongly agree? Disagree? Strongly disagree? Do they have a lot of influence on the target? What kind of influence do they have?

• Identify potential allies – Use your lists and research to identify potential allies for your group. Who is naturally likely to support your group? What power and resources do they have to support changing the problem? Consider which allies you would like to directly reach out to in order to start a conversation about supporting the work of your group.
• Identify and analyze potential opponents – who are the people who are not in support of changing the problem? This step is important whether you want to use consensus building to shift their position or if you want to engage in direct conflict, such as a protest. Who conflicts with your goals? Who does not want to change the status quo? Who benefits from the status quo? What are their resources and forms of power that they can use to organize against you? How many groups and organizations are in opposition to your goal? Identify their relative strength against the strength of your group and your allies. Consider whether you need to increase the number of allies in your group.
  • Update and protect your power analysis – every time you receive more information about key stakeholders, organizations, institutions, groups, allies, and adversaries, keep adding to your power analysis to keep it current. Depending on the problem, consider only sharing your power analysis with those whom you can trust to maintain confidentiality.
• Determine next steps – Now that you have a sense of the power you have and the power you are facing, what steps are you going to take to solve the problem? What are the potential solutions you want to implement?

The life-affirming forms of power, power with, power to/for, and power with, which can be made clearer through community mapping exercises, can lead to the development of more effective strategies for change and improved community organizing and connections. Once a community has decided to solve the problem, analyze and map their power, and experience an increased sense of agency and creativity to solve the problem, they can concretely use this information to identify solutions.

Identifying, Implementing, and  Evaluating Potential Solutions

After a group analyzes their problem, decides to solve it, identifies their power, and engages in power mapping, the group can experience an increased sense of agency and creativity in solving the problem. This leads to the next step in changing community-based problems-identifying potential solutions.

Identifying potential solutions 

It can be helpful to get a group of community members together-whether virtually or in person-to solely focus on generating potential solutions. It’s important for people to be as relaxed and comfortable as possible to promote creativity and open discussion.^[25] Hopefully, the group has gone through the previous steps of problematizing and analyzing life experiences, also described as a power analysis, and has grown more comfortable with one another. However, if there are new people in the group or there are unresolved tensions, then these dynamics should be addressed before engaging in generating solutions. New people should be oriented into the group, and team-building exercises can be utilized. Unresolved tensions should be addressed and solved to whatever extent possible.

There is a range of possible types of solutions to community-based problems. Solutions can be focused on political engagement, with examples such as policy goals, litigation, and elections. They can be focused on shifting community power and movement building via community education and organizing, protests, and direct actions. They can be focused on changing institutions through changing policies and procedures. Nagy & Axner identify a process for generating possible solutions. This process can start with each person in the room suggesting an idea. People can speak their ideas, and/or people can write down their suggestions without their name being attached to the idea. If people are interested, the group can engage in idea writing. This is when groups are divided into smaller groups of 5-6 people. Each person writes their idea on a piece of paper, then these papers are put in the middle of the room, and each person takes someone else’s paper and comments on the idea. This is done until everyone has commented on everyone else’s idea. The ideas are then discussed and/or summarized to share with the larger group. In virtual settings, this can be done with whiteboards or similar apps. The group can engage in a general brainstorming session where someone takes note of all the potential solutions that are shared. Every idea is written down, and none are dismissed. Even ideas that seem implausible can spark someone else’s imagination in creating a more possible solution. During the brainstorm, no one should make comments on how good or bad they think the ideas are. This is not a time for discussion; this is a time to create as many ideas as possible.

(5.8) Evaluating and deciding on potential solutions

Nagy & Axner continue to provide helpful questions for evaluating and then deciding on potential solutions. This process of evaluation is based on people’s thoughts, opinions, worldviews, identities, perspectives, and experiences. Additionally, solutions are based on resources – both financial but also the skills and abilities of group members. There are rarely wrong or right answers, as there are rarely wrong or right solutions. The goal is to find a solution or solutions that appear effective and work for the group. To evaluate, they recommend:

• That you address each idea separately. For each solution, the group or a small group answers the following questions:
  • What do you like about the idea
  • What don’t you like about the idea
  • What the side effects might be
• After answering the first set of questions, the following are asked for each solution:
  • Is it practical?
  • Is it effective?
  • Is it cost-effective?
  • Will it be easy to put into practice? To answer this question, a few more need to be considered:
    • Can it be done by group members, or will you need outside help?
    • How much time will it take?
    • Will anyone need to learn new skills?
  • Will it be accepted by everyone involved? That is, by group members, those who will be affected, and those doing (and paying for) the work? How about the community as a whole?
  • Is it consistent with other things done by the group?

• After going through the process of answering the above questions, the group should have an abbreviated list of potential solutions. Next, the group should revise and modify the solution or solutions you have identified and see if there are any changes to improve them.

After looking carefully at each idea and evaluating it by weighing the pros and cons of each, you’re now ready to make your decision on which solution best fits the abilities of the group, as well as being the most effective to create sustainable community-based changes for a community-based problem. To make a decision, it’s often best to reach consensus. Consensus involves the group going through a process of discussing and debating the identified ideas until everyone agrees as to which one or ones to move forward. This allows everyone to be fully a part of the decision-making process and more invested in the solution because they had a part in deciding on it. The group also has the option to vote on potential ideas for solutions; however, sometimes a simple vote can leave people feeling unheard, not valued, and less likely to fully support the decision

During the discussion, Nagy & Axner recommend the following:

• Avoid arguing blindly for your own opinions. It’s easy to get so caught up in what you believe that you don’t hear what others are saying. Be sure to listen as carefully as you speak.
• Don’t change your mind just to reach an agreement. If you aren’t happy with a solution now, it’s not likely it will please you much more when you are doing the work several months down the line.
• It’s easy to think of this as an “all or nothing” situation: someone must win, and someone has to lose. That’s not necessarily the case. If the group is locked between two different possibilities, see if a third will be more palatable for everyone involved.
• If people are becoming frustrated or you are making no progress, then take a break. Have some coffee, work on something else for a few minutes, or adjourn for the day. Sometimes, just a short breather can give people a new perspective.

After the group has come to a decision, the facilitator needs to ask a final round of questions. “Do you have any problems you would like to air?”; “Do you have any suggestions that might make this better?”; and, “Are you completely satisfied with the solution we have chosen?”

(5.9) Implementing potential solutions

This is the putting it all together section, where we take potential solutions and then discuss how to implement them or put them into action, and assess whether they were effective. Nagy & Hampton offer helpful recommendations. The first step is to plan how to enact your solution-this plan might be simple or it might be complex, but the planning provides a framework that allows for better communication and decreases the likelihood that essential aspects of the plan are not forgotten. For example, if you the agreed upon solution was to facilitate a teach-in about limited funding for John Jay student organizations, it would be important to plan what room, what time, who is creating the slides, who is bringing the food, who is doing the outreach, who is printing the material, and so forth. It is important to ensure that everyone agrees with the specifics of the plan.

In some form of document, it is important to engage with the following questions from Nagy & Hampton:

Decide:

• How much, or to what extent, will the action occur? For example, if you are going to hang posters to advertise a program, how many will you need to be effective?
• Who will do the work? Will it be done by people at the meeting, or will you need to recruit others? How will that occur?
• When will the step take place? How soon? A deadline for action can help participants focus and will almost certainly mobilize them more effectively than an “open-ended ” due date.
• What resources (money, time, et cetera) do you need? Where will you get them?
• What will you do if something goes wrong? What’s the backup plan?
• Which step needs to happen first? Is there an order in which these actions should occur? Should things happen simultaneously? As soon as possible?
• Check in to see if anyone has any additional questions: Did anything come up that anyone’s not clear about? Are there any new issues? Any areas of confusion?
• Does everyone have each other’s contact information?
• What day/time should we meet after the action to evaluate what we did? And celebrate what we have accomplished

For additional support in this process, here is a link to developing an action plan.

Your group has come together with an action plan and decided on who is doing what. Now it’s time to implement your solution!

(5.10) Evaluating the implementation of your solutions

After implementing your solution, it’s important to take the time to evaluate how well your solution is addressing the problem.

• What has changed about the problem? How much has changed?
• What has stayed the same?
• Did each person in the group do what they said they would do?
• Did you meet your goal?
• Is there more that needs to be done?
• How are people feeling about the outcome?

The group can use these questions to continue the work or to celebrate what they have accomplished.

Case Example: A summary of engaging in a power analysis for a community-based problem: Involuntary hospitalization

Now that we have gone through the many steps of problematizing life experiences for social action, we are going to summarize this process utilizing a personal story from Elisa Magon, a Xicanx nonbinary queer trans-femme radical social worker and mad activist.

The process of being hospitalized really shook me. I was sent to John George Psychiatric Hospital … this emergency psychiatric facility was originally designed for twenty-three patients, but exceeded a capacity of seventy to eighty patients. People often slept and ate on the ground…I can personally attest to how the inpatient conditions there are horrendous. When I arrived, there were forty people, mostly Black and Brown folks, sleeping on chairs or on the floor waiting to be assessed and discharged…Only one year previous to my psychiatric hospitalizations, I was shadowing a therapist to visit a client at this same psychiatric hospital as part of my internship. Now I was the inpatient…I had never thought of myself as having mental health issues. But now I did. I as a member of society designated as a threat to myself and others. I was designated as a person who was ‘abnormal’ and required the ‘care’ of professionals…While an inpatient, I witnessed the residential staff physically assaulting another man and forcing him to take medication.

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(5.11)What have you heard about involuntary hospitalizations? What are your thoughts on why it exists?

We often overlook community-based issues that systematically harm groups and individuals. The issue of involuntary hospitalization is one such community-based issue. Involuntary hospitalizations are a legal process where people are both deemed mentally ill and labeled as either a threat to themselves or to others (definition based on the state you are in). People can then be hospitalized without their consent. In New York State, this is called involuntary commitment. They differ from voluntary commitments, where people decide to apply to be admitted to a psychiatric facility. Involuntary hospitalizations are often considered necessary to keep people with psychiatric diagnoses safe. However, people who have experienced them provide a more complicated perspective. This issue is often a central aspect in the fight against the systemic oppression of ableism/sanism. We will be centering the stories and perspectives from Fireweed Collective, The Icarus Project, Institute for the Development of the Human Arts (IDHA), and in We’ve Been Too Patient: Voices from Radical Mental Health. Many more people, organizations, and groups address this community-based issue; these are the ones we have chosen to highlight.

Identifying the problem

Involuntary commitments are said to exist to support the health and healing of people in significant and dangerous psychological distress. However, many people who have experienced this commitment identify loss of agency and trauma as more of their experience than safety and healing.

Identify your community

The Icarus Project was an organization that was created in 2002 and closed down in 2020. What emerged from the closing of The Icarus Project is the Fireweed Collective. The Icarus Project is identified as a “support network and education project by and for people who experience the world in ways that are often diagnosed as mental illness. We advance social justice by fostering mutual aid practices that reconnect healing and collective liberation. We transform ourselves through transforming the world around us.”

For some of the writers in We’ve Been Patient Too Long, The Icarus Project became their community. A space for people who had lived experience with being diagnosed psychiatrically, but had their own ways of understanding their mental states. These were people who had either already been involuntarily committed or were at risk of involuntary commitment.

Analyzing the problem by clarifying the problem and identifying the root causes of the problem

The Icarus Project held up a dramatically different worldview when it came to understanding psychiatric diagnoses. They did not hold to the worldview that reflected sanism, the belief in the need to label people as “normal” with any deviation from normal seen as pathological and needing to be fixed, and leading to the oppression of those deemed not “normal.” Instead, the Icarus Project sought “to overcome the limitations of a world determined to label, categorize, and sort human behavior. We envision a new culture that allows the space and freedom for exploring different states of being, and recognizes that breakdown can be the entrance to breakthrough.” They view experiencing different states as gifts, as reflections of the diversity of human experiences, stating that “Sensitivities, visions, and inspirations are not necessarily symptoms of illness, they are gifts needing cultivation and care”.

What is the problem? People can lose their autonomy, agency, and livelihood, and also experience trauma via involuntary commitments.

Involuntary hospitalizations can lead to people having their rights taken away, In a qualitative study about people’s experiences with involuntary hospitalizations, Katsakou & Priebe (2007) wrote about what people said about loss of autonomy and rights,  “…they are given no option and have no say in decisions regarding their treatment. It was an imposition of treatment – an abuse of human rights”.^[26] They receive no information on their treatment, and their views are ignored. People report feeling that they are not allowed to be responsible for themselves. They are locked in a place where the care they receive is dominated by strict rules they do not understand. There is no flexibility and no room for participation in their own treatment. Other people, such as the police and health professionals, have power over them. Sometimes, they even experienced physical violations and coercion when they were restrained, secluded, or given forced medication against their will…This situation can be frustrating and often leads to feelings of failure and powerlessness. There is a dominating theme of loss, as people feel they lose their liberty, their rights, the power to decide for themselves, and cannot have control over their lives anymore.^[27]

People also identify that they experience no meaningful treatment while committed, are treated as if they have no value, and feel as if they are being punished for having a mental illness.^[28] At the extreme ends, people are subjected to physical and sexual abuse.

Some identify the experience as a trauma. As Nussbaum (2020), an associate professor of psychiatry and assistant dean of graduate medical education at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, writes in his article, “Held Against Our Wills: Reimagining Involuntary Commitment”.^[29] In The Collected Schizophrenias, the novelist Esmé Weijun Wang wrote about being committed to a psych ward three times.

Of her time on locked wards, she wrote: “I maintain, years later, that not one of my three involuntary hospitalizations helped me. I believe that being held in a psychiatric ward against my will remains among the most scarring of my traumas.” When our commitment laws are focused on dangers and procedures rather than on restoring a person to health, our mental health facilities dehumanize and traumatize. As Wang wrote, ’tis hard to convey the horror of being involuntarily committed. First, there’s the terrifying experience of being forcibly put in a small place from which you’re not allowed to leave. You’re also not allowed to know how long you’ll be there, because no one knows how long you’ll be there.’ The work traumatizes those of us who provide treatment, as well. I sometimes feel so implicated by working on a psychiatric unit that I think about quitting and working in a less coercive environment.”^[30]

It can also lead to job loss, disruptions in education, create career obstacles for positions that require background checks or security clearance, high medical bills, and strain relationships with family and friends.

Why does the problem exist?

From the perspective of The Icarus Project, the root cause of psychiatric distress is a “world determined to label, categorize, and sort human behavior” and the oppressive dynamics created to uphold normalcy. The Fireweed directly names oppressive dynamics that have contributed to harm, “the dominant culture in the U.S. that enshrines individualism, ableism, patriarchy, capitalism, white supremacy, and settler colonialism.”

Sanism Systems of oppression contribute to the development of psychiatric difficulties and also get in the way of healing via silencing, shaming, stigmatizing, and discrimination. I

In the story of involuntary hospitalization found at the beginning of this case example, in their full essay, the author engaged in a structural analyses and identifies several contributing factors to their psychiatric hospitalization; police brutality towards Black and Brown people where instead of de-escalating psychiatric situations, they are instead escalated via a brief in the inherent dangerousness of Black and Brown bodies combined with the inherent belief that people experiencing mental health crises are also inherently violent and should expect to experience violence. The author states that they were behaving erratically; however, they were not violent, and the author questions why people who are not trained to respond to mental health crises were the ones who responded to their experience. “I did not deserve to be pummeled to the ground multiple times, repeatedly punched in the face, and tasered multiple times. I was a person in distress, and I should have been treated in a caring and nurturing way when I was most vulnerable”.^[31]

The author is identifying aspects of sanism as experienced through an institutional power. Sanism is an oppressive ideology predicated on the belief that individuals who have psychiatric diagnoses do not have the right to decisional freedom and autonomy.

Who is causing the problem, and who is affected by it? 

Instead of only looking at the professionals who make the immediate decision for people to be involuntarily committed, physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, judges, etc., disability justice advocates draw attention to a broader system of oppression. It is this interlocking system of oppression, the Medical Industrial Complex (MIC), which is grounded in notions of ableism and sanism, that is considered the problem. On their blog, leaving evidence, Mia Mingus posts an image of the Medical Industrial Complex. According to Mingus, “The Medical Industrial Complex is an enormous system with tentacles that reach beyond simply doctors, nurses, clinics, and hospitals. It is a system about profit, first and foremost, rather than health, well-being, and care. Its roots run deep, and its history and present are connected to everything, including eugenics, capitalism, colonization, slavery, immigration, war, prisons, and reproductive oppression. It is not just a major piece of the history of ableism, but all systems of oppression.”

It encompasses, “..the experimentation on black bodies, to the pathologized treatment of and violent attempts to cure queer and trans communities. From the humiliating, lacking, or flat-out denial of services to poor communities, to forced sterilization and dangerous contraceptives trafficked to young women of color. From the forced medicalization used in prisons today, to the days when the mental institutions used to be the jails, and the ways that “criminal” and “mentally disabled” are still used interchangeably. From the lack of culturally competent services to the demonization and erasing of indigenous healing and practices. From the never-ending battle to control populations through controlling birth, birthing, and those who give birth in this country, to the countless doctors and practitioners who have raped and sexually assaulted their patients, and the survivors who never told a soul. From all the violence that was and is considered standard practice, to the gross abuses of power.”

One argument that connects the involuntary commitment to the MIC is that psychiatric facilities profit from people being involuntarily committed. And insurance companies, both private and public, financially benefit from the forced medication given to people. As a December 2022 article headlined And Now They Are Coming for the Unhoused: The Long Push to Expand Involuntary Treatment in America, stated, “A lot of people get put away involuntarily. They get medicated immediately. And they can’t even fight back because they get medicated.”^[32]

Because of the breadth of the complex, anyone can be affected by it. However, like many forms of oppression, those experiencing multiple forms of oppression based on society’s response to their identities are most at risk. And the consequences for those impacted by involuntary commitments are significant.

When did the problem first occur, or when did it become significant? 

According to Spengler (2022), in the United States, the first documented involuntary commitment occurred in Philadelphia in 1752.^[33] However, back in the 4th century B.C, Hippocrates of the Hippocratic Oath was one of the first people documented calling for the confinement of people who were deemed mentally ill. In Western history, there is documentation of people who were deemed “mentally unfit” being involuntarily committed from the Roman Empire to the Middle Ages, with mental asylums being established in 1403. Based on this information, involuntary commitments are a long-standing problem.

The question of significance is a subjective one. We argue that this problem has always been significant. However, more attention has been shown in recent years in New York City with Mayor Adams’ controversial plan that empowers first responders to involuntarily commit houseless individuals who are deemed to be experiencing a mental health crisis.

How much, or to what extent, is this problem occurring? 

Unfortunately, it is not easy to find numbers on how many people are involuntarily hospitalized each year in New York City. These authors wonder why this is the case. Are rates of involuntary hospitalizations counted? If not, why not? If so, why is it difficult to find this information?

One article stated that “ Already, an estimated 54% of admissions to psychiatric facilities in the U.S. are involuntary.” However, the citation for that statistic was not clear.

Deciding to Solve the Problem: Analyzing Power

People who address the issue of involuntary commitment utilize life-affirming forms of power: power with, power to/for, and power within. The Icarus Project identifies these forms of power in its vision statement.

Identifying, Implementing, and  Evaluating Potential Solutions

The Icarus Project, as well as the Fireweed Collective, created a range of interventions. From the Fireweed Collective: “We act on these beliefs daily. Drawing from psychology of liberation, Fireweed strives to educate our communities on the impact of oppression in ourselves and our relationships, to recover ancestral memory and medicine, to exalt the virtue of our people, to co-create healing tools and approaches, to foster healing spaces and relationships, and to act in ways that address both the long haul and the urgent and emergent needs of our people.”

“In this way, healing justice is cultural organizing, inside and outside of our movements…Fireweed is where folks come to connect these dots and access resources for healing ourselves, our communities, our organizations, and movements, and our systems and institutions.

Implementing strategies:

• Addressing the impact of oppression-trainings and workshops on mental health education by mad and neurodivergent people. Fireweed workshops titles have included: Anti-Oppressive Mental Health 101 and Disability Justice 101
• Recovering ancestral memory and medicine shares
• Exalting the virtues of our people-Fireweed Collective and the Icarus Project are both organizations headed by, for, and composed of a membership of people impacted by the sanism, the medical industrial complex, and/or who have psychiatric diagnoses. The groups embody the Disability Justice phrase, “nothing for us, without us.”
• Co-creating healing tools and approaches-brochure entitled Harm Reduction Guide to Coming off Psychiatric Meds, and tools such as Madness & Oppression Paths to Transformation and Collective Liberation, A Mad Maps Guide, as well as Navigating Crisis
• Fostering healing spaces and relationships-offering sliding scale groups, such as Healing Verses: A Healing Justice Approach To Collective Poetry Crafting For POC Folks and Toddlers, are all the Rage
• Addressing the long haul and the urgent and emergent needs-compiling a resource of toolkits and warm and hotlines to support people in distress

Along with broad, anti-sanism interventions, some organizations have directly intervened in the issue of involuntary commitments. IDHA identified a list of articles, trainings, sign-on letters, and resources about involuntary commitments found here: https://www.idha-nyc.org/community-care. They include information from a variety of legal groups, advocacy groups, mental health providers, and people with lived experience. Some of the information found is the webinar, No More Carceral Mental Health Services: Fighting Back Against the NYC Involuntary Commitment Directive, the podcast, NYC: An Addiction to Force and Coercion with Leah Harris (Committable), and the article, I was hospitalized against my will. I know firsthand the harm it can cause, by Ruth Sangree (The Guardian).

It can take a lot of time and effort to go through a step-by-step process in problematizing a life experience. It is a thorough way; however, at the end of the day, the process can be straightforward. It can be asking, what is the problem my community and I are facing? Why is it a problem? And collectively, what can we do about it? And then doing it. Whenever we see a system of oppression operating, we find groups and organizations problematizing and critically analyzing life experiences with the goal of social transformation. It might be the Black Lives Matter Movement addressing racism and police violence, Dreamers addressing xenophobia and immigrant rights, or Water Protectors addressing Indigenous Sovereignty and climate degradation; all these groups and many more centered their experiences, lives, stories, and wisdom in the search for justice and change.

(5.12) What are your reactions to what you have just read?

Self-Reflection Questions

• What have you been taught about power? From your family? From social media? After reviewing the previous chapters of this workbook, how would you define power?

Closing Activity

• What are a few feelings you are experiencing now?
• What is something you can do to transition yourself from this workbook to what you need to do next?

Chapter Resources

Video: Eric Liu: Why ordinary people need to understand power

Video: The Power and Promise of Social Justice Activism | Zohra Moosa | TEDxAmsterdam

Video: Measuring Impact: Samantha Yamada at TEDxYorkU 2012

Video: Mapping for Human Rights and Social Justice

Video: Power-Mapping and Identifying Targets for Organizing | Theory of Change | Lesson 8

Video: Using Your Power-Map | Theory of Change | Lesson 9

Website: Examples of young people organizing, “And the youth shall lead us” https://www.civilrightsteaching.org/framing-movement/and-the-youth-shall-lead-us/

Website: https://www.nea.org/professional-excellence/student-engagement/tools-tips/power-mapping-101

Toolbox checklist for

• Defining and Analyzing the Problem
• Analyzing Root Causes of Problems
• Generating and Choosing Solutions
• Putting Your Solution into Practice

Handouts:

Assessment of worldviews

Multiple forms of power

Power Analysis

Power Mapping

Mia Mingus Medical Industrial Complex

Information to help with creating a handout: 

https://trainings.350.org/resource/power-mapping-activity/

https://www.powershift.org/sites/default/files/resources/files/Guide_to_Powermapping.pdf

What can go wrong, and what to do about it

Into every life, some rain must fall — and for community organizers, the deluge often happens on the day of the community picnic.

Even if the facilitator has led an enthusiastic, dedicated group flawlessly through the problem-solving process, glitches still occur when it comes to putting the plans into practice. Here are some of the most common ones, and what you can do if they occur.

If you have this problem…try one of these possible solutions

The wrong person volunteers for the job

• Suggest something else that person might be better suited for.
• Ask a second person to work with them on the project.

No one volunteers for the job

• Approach someone privately and ask him/her if they’d be willing to do it. This way, you don’t put them on the spot in front of everyone.
• Reevaluate the necessity and overall worth of the task. Is there a reason no one has volunteered?
• Offer some sort of incentive (such as tickets to a concert) for doing the job.

Enthusiasm fails as members feel like the “real work” is done

• Hold a party celebrating your accomplishments and serving as a “kick-off” for the next steps.

The solution is taking too much time

• Delegate duties to a greater number of people.
• Switch leadership, giving people a chance to try something different and bringing a fresh perspective to the tasks.
• Check to see if some goals or jobs can be eliminated or put off, allowing you to focus your energies on jobs that are more central to the solution.

The solution arouses community opposition

Stop and reevaluate what you are doing. There are several different paths you can choose here:

• You can use the opposition as a rallying point, roll up your sleeves, and fight the good fight.
• You can try to appease the opposition, either by further explanation of your project, by finding common ground, or by acquiescing on lesser points.
• You can decide this is not a battle you wish to fight right now, and either put off the solution or choose a different one.

A seemingly new and better opportunity arises

• Evaluate the pros and cons of changing to the new solution. What would you lose by switching midstream? What would you gain? If the pros outweigh the cons, go for it!
• If you are uncertain about the probable outcome, ask for feedback from experts, local leaders, and/or those affected by the problem. What do they think?

The solution doesn’t seem to be working

Ask yourself and coalition members the following questions:

• Are you sure you have given it enough time?
• Why isn’t it working?
• Can some parts of the plan be salvaged? Which ones? Could adapting the plan be enough to save it?
• If you do decide to eventually abandon it, reconsider some of the solutions you had earlier rejected. Do they make more sense in light of current information?