New Theories for Social Work Practice by Kieran O'Donoghue Robyn Munford

Author:Kieran O'Donoghue, Robyn Munford [Kieran O'Donoghue, Robyn Munford]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781784504267
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Kingsley, Jessica Publishers
Published: 2019-07-18T00:00:00+00:00

The therapeutic power of the environment and future challenges

Social workers have appreciated the therapeutic value of the environment for some time. However, many of these initiatives have been used primarily for young people, especially those living in urban areas who were in trouble with law enforcement agencies. Rehabilitation usually takes the form of building up young people’s characters by taking troubled youths into the great outdoors and the wilderness. For example, Outward Bound courses to build character provide them with opportunities they would not otherwise have to improve self-confidence and develop further their social skills in relating to other people. Outward Bound is a UK charity that has existed since 1941.

The therapeutic value of such approaches, especially those labelled intermediate treatment, in the UK is well established, even though they do not work well for all young people. Such programmes aim to build young people’s self-esteem, resilience, capacity to get along with others and to make decisions in a mature manner. For many, such activities turn their lives around.

Intermediate treatment lost favour in statutory social work in the UK in the 1990s, when a number of stories including that of ‘Safari Boy’ highlighted how those who had had thousands of pounds spent on rehabilitating them through expensive character-building trips abroad (for example, on safari in Africa for this particular case) continued with their criminal careers soon afterwards (Gladdis 2012). The media’s hysterical responses unfortunately did not address the issue that having spent time on an intermediate treatment, young people were returned to the inadequate environments that had proved unable to nurture them in the first place.

Such instances highlight the importance of holistic responses to troubled young people as advocated by green social workers who would seek to integrate them into other more sustaining communities and social relationships. This could involve engaging them in training, realizing employment opportunities and being rehoused. But this work requires resources in education, housing and employment that cater specifically for their needs. Sadly, this was not an option favoured by British policy makers then or now. They prefer deficit models of intervention that blame young people for their plight.

Urban gardens have also been used as therapeutic tools. For example, in war-torn Britain of the 1940s, urban allotments were popularized to provide locally grown food, but also spaces where people could meet to chat, have a laugh together and exchange ideas on how best to cook the foods they grew. Similar ideas are being endorsed by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Rusciano, Civero and Scarpato (2017) describe one such example in Naples, Italy, where unemployed people and poor people are using FAO’s ideas to grow food which will save them money in cash-strapped homes and enable them to engage in healthy activities during the day.

Ku and Dominelli (2017) describe how organic gardening can bridge the rural–urban divide and involve an entire community in organic farming, social enterprises and buildings that bring people together to reduce the left-behind migrant nexus in China. Such transdisciplinary initiatives

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