Trauma and Mental Health Social Work With Urban Populations

African-Centered Clinical Interventions

Rhonda Wells-Wilbon, Anthony Estreet, Rhonda Wells-Wilbon, Anthony Estreet

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000525335
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Ciencias sociales
• Subtopic: Trabajo social

Addressing the social problems associated with trauma and mental health amongst African Americans in urban environments, this book uses an African-centered lens to critique the most common practice models and interventions currently employed by social workers in the field.

Divided into four parts and grounded in traditional African cultural values, it argues that basic key values in a new clinical model for mental health diagnosis are:

• 
  
  

• A spiritual component
• Collective/group approach
• Focus on wholeness
• Oneness with Nature
• Emphasis on truth, justice, balance, harmony, reciprocity, righteousness, and order

Being free from racism, sexism, classism, and other forms of oppression, this African-centered approach is crucial for working with people of African origin who experience daily "trauma" through adverse living conditions.

This book will be key reading on any practice and direct service course at both BSW and MSW level and will be a useful supplement on clinical courses as well as those aimed at working with diverse populations and those living in urban environments.

PART 1

Introduction

Rethinking trauma and mental health for people of African ancestry

1
RECLAIMING OUR RIGHT TO WHOLENESS AND WELLNESS

Rhonda Wells-Wilbon

DOI: 10.4324/9780429276613-2

Being the descendant of a group of people who were literally taken from one continent to be enslaved on another continent for over 400 years is not an easy legacy to inherit. But, when you know that the place your ancestors were taken from is vast and beautiful and filled with traditions and values and people who look like you, the process of healing is something you can begin to believe is possible. Knowing that “to be African” is a gift, (Gallman, Ani, & Williams, 2003) is a rich heritage that those who were taken across the Atlantic Ocean to be enslaved were literally physically and psychologically disconnected from. While many thrive, in spite of a legacy of enslavement, the harm caused from racism, oppression, and consistent hatred cannot be underestimated (Graham, 2005).

One of the most difficult things someone can be faced with doing is to coexist and live in the same space with someone who has been abusive to them. In fact, in the field of interpersonal violence (IPV) victims are removed or encouraged to leave these harmful relationships (Yoshioka & Choi, 2005). IPV is defined as any behavior within the relationship that causes physical, psychological, or sexual harm to those in the relationship (Waters, Hyder, Rajkotia, Basu, & Butchart, 2005). The interpersonal relationship between Blacks and whites, particularly in the United States, is one riddled with the same patterns of behavior (physical, psychological, and sexual abuse) considered so damaging in IPV relationships (Briere & Jordan, 2004), and yet, little has been done to address the horrific attack against Black humanity or reconcile the imbalance of power. In IPV relationships both the victims of the abuse and the abuser are challenged to go through counseling to seek help and support with the hope that healing can take place. Anger management and other cognitive behavior therapies are recommended for abusers, while the victims of IPV are given refuge, counseling, and resources to help them restore their lives (Briere & Jordan, 2004). But for African Americans and other Blacks the question remains, as to what will be done to heal the deep wounds caused by the European slave trade.

African Americans and Black people across the globe, who are descendants of those who were taken from the continent of Africa have suffered great losses and have a right to their anger and pain. They also have a right to reclaim wholeness and be well (Fairfax, 2020). And, each individual person can only be in whatever space they are in, thus we see the diversity of where different people may be for example (economically, educational attainment, family stability, literacy, physical and mental health, etc.) within the Black community. Putting parameters and guidelines around how someone should respond to being oppressed is at best unfair, at worst inhumane, and is in fact itself abusive. The audacity of the idea. The arrogance, control, and privilege one must be overflowing with to assume such a right, to tell those who you oppressed how to respond to their oppressive conditions. And yet, the oppressor attempting to control the narrative of the oppressed is actually the norm (Wallis, 2016).

Crying out or fighting back when attacked is normal behavior, but Blacks are often denied even this basic right without fear of retribution or actual retribution; thus, the deep-rooted wound resulting in Black pain (Williams, 2009). And the outcomes are as tragic: physical and mental illness, self-hate, poverty, poor learning outcomes, violence, addictions, and the list goes on and on marking the dysfunctional results of a difficult past (Lindblad-Goldberg & Dukes, 1985). It is a miracle anyone at all escaped into even the possibility to thrive and be well.

Why focus on urban populations and urban social problems?

Throughout the world, you will find large populations of people of African descent living and working in urban centers. There are a variety of reasons for this clustering. Urban areas often have the potential for access to more needed resources and services, such as transportation, and more outlets for social engagement. But these environments also come with their challenges (Wells-Wilbon, McPhatter & Vakalahi, 2016). Overcrowded conditions, violence, food deserts, low-performing public school systems, environmental concerns, poverty, and substance use disorders are some of the big challenges in urban communities (Wells-Wilbon, McPhatter & Vakalahi, 2016). Perhaps, one of the greatest challenges is the gap between the haves and the have-nots (Farley & Frey, 1994), making the sting of racism and poverty and marginalization felt even more profoundly.

In spite of the fact that Blacks in the United States may live in some of the most challenging areas and neighborhoods in urban environments, urban centers are also places where there are a lot of opportunities. Not only do poor people live in these areas, but people who are highly educated, gainfully employed, pursuing professional careers, committed to service and volunteerism, and community activists are also urban dwellers (Wells-Wilbon et al., 2016). This combination of people, the haves and the have-nots, makes for great opportunities to work collaboratively and engage in social change regardless of socioeconomic background, if the residents of these various communities in environments are willing to build alliances.

Africa and spirituality

Central to the African way of life is spirituality. In fact, many would say that there is nothing greater than spirit. And, while people of African ancestry are very religious, spirit and a connection with spirit is more central and more universal to the way of life of African people than religions (Martin & Martin, 2002). Perhaps, this is an area where Blacks who were not born or raised on the continent of Africa experience some disconnection. Distinguishing between religion and spirituality, as if there is a need to choose between one and the other, not knowing that spirit is so ingrained in the DNA of African people, nothing even enslavement can separate Africans from the God force that is within.

African-centered, what do we mean?

Traditional African values are rooted in wellness (Ani, 2004). Unfortunately, the average Black person who wasn’t born and raised on the continent of Africa is unaware of these core values. Before technology put information right at our fingertips, many Black scholars – Asante (1991); Kambon (1992); Harvey (2018); Schiele (1996); Bent-Goodley, Fairfax & Carlto-LaNey (2017); Bent-Goodley & Rodgers (2018); Carlton-LaNey (1999) – to name a few, devoted their work to reeducating us all. There is a debt of gratitude owed to these great intellectual warriors. In Africa, you rarely hear words like African-centered, Afrocentric, Africentric, and Afracentric. It is not because Africans who live on the continent don’t value these concepts. It is because what these concepts represent in Africa, is such a way of everyday life, there is no reason to call it anything but living.

Unfortunately, for African Americans and other Black people, such as in the Caribbean, whose ancestors were taken from Africa on ships across the Atlantic Ocean to be enslaved, there was a disruption (Kambon, 2012). Mama Dr Marimba Ani (1994) identified this disruption as the Maafa, a Swahili word that means “Great Disaster.” Because of the great disaster of the European slave trade, African Americans and African Caribbeans have been in a constant cycle of reclaiming the wholeness of what it means to be who they are, African.

In “Mental and Emotional Wellness Among African Americans in Urban Environments: What Do We Know? How Can We Improve Outcomes?,” a chapter from the book Social Work Practice with African Americans in Urban Environments (Wells-Wilbon, et al., 2016), there is an Asili Ma’at restoration model which shows the utilization of the virtues of Ma’at to assist African Americans toward mental health and well-being. The principles of Ma’at are a guide for finding balance and practicing rightness and order as a way of life for optimum wellness.

Before we really knew much about Ma’at and other traditional African values, Afro American studies’ professor Maulana Ndabezith Karenga created an African American cultural holiday known as Kwanzaa in 1966. The seven principles of Kwanzaa, also referred to as the Nguzo Saba, are values rooted in African cultural values (Karenga, 2007). This was a time when Blacks in the United States were under intense attack during the civil rights movement and Kwanzaa was a reminder of the collective communal values shared by Black people, it was a challenge to come together. Each year hundreds of Black families celebrate Kwanzaa starting the day after Christmas and ending on New Year’s Day. Practicing the principle of Kwanzaa is an investment in the Black family and Black community. It’s a reminder of a collective identity and connection, one to the other.

The basic key values utilized throughout the book guide the African-centered lens, analyzing and diagnosing mental health needs. The clinical model/approach best fit when working with various African American urban populations include 1) a spiritual component; 2) collective/group approach; 3) focus on wholeness; 4) oneness with nature; and 5) emphasis on truth, justice, balance, harmony, reciprocity, righteousness, and order. Authors offer modifications to interventions/models using a more African-centered approach, where needed.

The African-centered lens represents the varied cultural values commonly identified as grounded in traditional African ways of being and functioning. Authors draw from their own scholarship, teaching, and practice knowledge and experience, guided by what the literature says about what it means to be African-centered. This is what African-centered scholars and practitioners know is important:

• De-emphasize pathology
• Anchored in Kemetic system of Ma’at: divinity (connection with the universe); teach-ability (capacity to learn and show knowledge); perfectibility (being present in the moment, but goal- and future-oriented); free will (consciously choosing to respond to what is real); responsibility (relationships guided by what is moral and socially responsible)
• Honoring: spirituality, interconnectedness, the precedence of the collective over the individual, self-knowledge, and self-healing power that is believed to be within us all
• Honoring: strengths, emphasizing wisdom, faith, and intelligence, wholistic, oneness with nature
• Connecting with the client, facilitating awareness, setting, and working on goals
• Taking action and instigating change
• Assessment/evaluation for purpose of providing client feedback and knowing what works with various client populations
• Processing feedback and monitoring accountability/order

African-centered theoretical perspectives are free from racism, sexism, classism, and other forms of oppression. The more African-centered scholars and practitioners are given opportunities to practice, conduct research, and produce scholarly literature, the more knowledge and information will be available to further enhance African-centered theory, practice, and research...