Individual Level

Important considerations

Focuses on people’s potential

Connections between social-political justice and people’s pain and suffering

Developmental process that begins with individual growth and may culminate in social change. (Parsons, 1989- 1991)

Individuals are considered co-builders

Process resides on the person not the helper

The worker

Fellow human being who struggles with issues of daily life in order to develop critical perspective

Challenge his/her own perception of oppression, stigma and power.

Acts as a facilitator.

Assumptions

Individuals are fully capable of solving immediate problems and moving beyond them to analyze institutionalized oppression and the structures that maintain it, as well as its effects upon themselves.

People are able to strengthen internal resources and work collaboratively in their families, groups, and communities to change and empower themselves in order to challenge the very conditions that oppress.

Assumptions

People empower themselves through individual empowerment work, empowerment-oriented group work, community action and political knowledge and skill.

People are capable of praxis: action-reflection and action, action-in-reflection, and dialogue.

The oppressor and the oppressed are damaged by oppression and in need of liberation.

Individuals should

Actively work to change the oppressive environment and mitigate the effects of internalized oppression.

Examine the forces of oppression, name them, face them, and join together to challenge them.

Be the builders

Have the ability to use available resources

Be more in control of interactions and exchanges.

Have the capacity to influence the forces which affect ones life space for one’s own benefit.

Speak openly about power and be engaged in examination of power

Validate peers and a perception of commonality.

See and reach for alternatives

Necessary elements

Critical consciousness and knowledge of oppression

Healthy personality development in the face of oppression

Reducing self-blame

Assuming personal responsibility for change

Enhancing self- efficacy

Personal satisfaction and growth

Heightened self-esteem

Strong support networks and good human relatedness and connections

Motivation

Rewards provided by the environment

Problem-solving skills

Maintenance of psychic comfort (including managing feelings)

Self-direction (think different – act different)

Appreciation of ones culture

Relevant Concepts

Potentialities: the power bases, developed in all of us when there is a goodness of fit between people and environments.

Power of collectivity: People joining together to act, reflect, and act again in the process of praxis. This process is fueled by mutual caring and support.

Critical consciousness raising and dialogue: key methods that help people think, see, talk, and act for themselves

Hopelessness: leads to destruction of self and others, despair, apathy internalized rage, and false beliefs about the worth of the self (Harris, 1993)

Relevant concepts

Empathy: enables bridges to be made and crossed so client and worker can stand together to confront personal blocks to empowerment and injustice.

Ecological perspective: help us to see the interdependence of all living and nonliving systems and the transactional nature of relationships

To envision oppressed people making this effort without changing themselves is to negate the effects of oppression in the lives of the oppressed