Resiliency

The above clips illustrate the same story told in two different ways. One is told in a way that gives the person inflicting violence a voice and silencing the survivor. The second clip illustrates the survivor telling their account of rape and giving themselves a voice. Traditionally social work has aimed to write on a client as if they were a blank slate. Debates exist in social work on how to treat clients, whether we should treat them in a one size fits all solution or offer differential services. There is no real prescription of how social worker’s should practice. We cannot be taught in dialogues or role plays of what to say to a client when they come into our agencies. We cannot ask professors in class “what would you say to a client who says “this”. It isn’t fair to practice in such a way as it does not give us an understanding of ourselves or the clients, the roles we play, the power imbalances, and historical circumstances that have shaped the client’s lives. Foucault stated that “clients do not exist outside the historical activity of social work” and that social workers do not start from where the client is, they start inside social work (Foucault, 1999). There is a specific link that exists in practice, and power relations are evident. We cannot argue that we don’t hold power over our clients. Having the right to take away a child from his/her parents is a clear indication that we do have power. This power rests within our agencies mandates, documents and laws, as well as specific historical discourse. But we are part of our agencies, we cannot separate ourselves and say that we do not exist within them. What we can do is try to create social change and emancipation for marginalized groups.

In working with a client and hearing their story we can either use a strength based approach or we can simply ignore their resiliency and write on them like a blank slate. We can either help them re-tell their stories or we can hear their story offer them resources and send them off. The reason why I have included these two clips is because most of the clients I worked with at Safehaven had experienced sexual abuse throughout their lives. They were survivors of the abuse but mostly viewed as “victims”. It is important to “recognize and reframe victimhood as resistance and survival against remarkable odds (Fook & Pease, 2002).” Although our program’s mandate was to use strength based practice and implement resiliency the overall mandate of the agency did not coincide with the mandate of our specific program. The broader agency viewed these young women as “dirty”, “violent”, “poor”, “scary”, “criminals”, “impolite”, “drug addicts”, “alcoholics”, “prostitutes” etc. In reflecting upon my experiences within this agency I remember having to do a lot of paper work one day and only one client being in the program that day. I wanted to spend the day with her, I knew her boyfriend had just been thrown in jail, that she was pregnant not feeling well, and that she was feeling very lonely. I told her to hang out with me as I did paperwork and that when I was done we could go out for a movie. I brought her downstairs to go to the fax room with me. This room was part of the Ivory Tower, it was where all the bureaucrats sat. It was where the “professionals” were, the management, the executive powers. It was not at all welcoming, not even to the shelter workers. She stood there and we chatted about life. We went back upstairs and spent more time together. My supervisor came in later and asked me if I had taken the client into the fax room. I nodded yes I had taken her downstairs with me. The supervisor stated that the Executive Director does not like clients from the shelter coming into the fax room. This is a clear representation of institutionalized practices, and how institutions may be in place with a mandate of “helping” marginalized groups but in their very nature are oppressive institutions. The executive director never cared about this young girl’s life story, her feelings, where she came from and what she went through. This young girl to me was always and will forever be a survivor. I cannot ever imagine living on the streets and building tools of survival and having the strength that this young girl had.