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Tim Wise talks about guilt and accountability.
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April 22-25, 2014
Boston, MA
June 17-20, 2014
Oakland, CA
July 22-25, 2014
Boston, MA
October 21-24, 2014
Boston, MA
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VISIONS is marking
our 30th year!
Join us in as we honor our work and that of our first community partner--
The Wright's Center, an adult day care in Rocky Mount, NC.
April 24th 6-9 pm
McCarter Fellowship Center, Rocky Mount, NC
Cost: $30 per person
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The Advantage of a "4-Levels" Lens
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Deborah Prothrow-Stith, Consultant/Adjunct Professor at Harvard school of Public Health, discusses the social determinants of violence.
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In January, 275 practioners in the fields of mental health, education, criminal justice, community organizing, and healthcare met at a two-day conference hosted by VISIONS, Inc., The Louis D. Brown Peace Institute and Boston Children's Hospital to look at questions such as:
- What new lenses can we use to understand violence and the impact of trauma exposure on communities?
- How does race and ethnicity impact service delivery?
- What are the barriers to providing culturally responsive care?
- How does cultural humility and cultural responsiveness impact working with grief and loss?
In examining these questions, VISIONS' use of the "four levels" lens (personal, interpersonal, cultural, institutional) is helpful for developing strategies to effectively support culturally diverse communities. For example, keynote speaker Deborah Prothrow-Stith raised violence as a public health issue needing a public health approach. Violence prevention demands we look at not only individual criminal behavior but also address the cultural and institutional factors that support violence, such as unemployment, poor schools, and the lack of mental health resources.
Too often social issues are addressed with a single level focus. That thinking often leads to "blaming the target" and an "either/or" framing of the problem. When we can hold a "both/and" perspective and look at multiple levels, we increase our empathy and the complexity of our thinking--leading to increasingly wise and effective action.
Click here for the Conference Facebook page: "Being Culturally Responsive in Urban Settings: A Conference for Mental Health Providers."
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What issue that you face personally or organizationally would benefit from a four-levels analysis?
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