Family Early Help
What Do You See When You See Me?
Social GGRRAAACCEEESSS and Identity
The image above starts to use the social GGRRAAACCEEESSS, a tool often used in systemic work. The GGRRAAACCEEESSS are an acronym that stand for aspects of a persons identity. They can help us notice and reflect on similarities and differences, and consider how parts of our own identity might lead to constructs, assumptions, biases, and unequal power.
This is what the GGRRAAACCEEESSS stand for:
You can print a copy of the GGRRAAACCEEESSS wheel here
The GGRRAAACCEEESSS can be helpful to answer the question "what do you see when you see me". They can help us think critically about power, oppression, who gets heard and how we are positioned in our work with families and with each other.
They can be particularly helpful when we are thinking about the lived experience of race and racism, and challenging social constructs, marginalisation and unequal power.
You can use the GGRRAAACCEEESSS at any time - in your daily practice, in supervision, in reflective group supervision, and in team meetings.
You can find our social GGRRAAACCEEESSS training slide pack here
And you can watch a 3 minute video about the social GGRRAAACCEEESSS from the Tavi's Karen Partridge here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbN49FrvrYI
Tools to Start Conversations About the GGRRAAACCEEESSS and Identity
Research in Practice Identity Tool Kit
This is a brilliant document written by the wonderful Nana Bonsu, Head of Adolescent and Clinical Services at Richmond and Wandsworth Councils and Director of Leadership at the Institute for Family Therapy. Contains a wealth of resources and tools to use to help conversations about identity. You can read it here
Starburst Identity Chart
Here is an example of a Starburst Identity Chart. You could use this as a piece of direct work, or as a conversation starter with a child or family member. There is a printable version of the starburst chart here
(with credit to Facing History for the template) 'Understanding Identity | Facing History & Ourselves)
Graces Conversation Card
Here's a lovely social GGRRAAACCEEESSS prompt card from our friends in CSSW, which you could use with a child, a parent, a family or in supervision
Exploring Our Race Stories - Russian Dolls
These thoughtful resources are from a workshop on using creative methods to explore race, culture and heritage. This might be with children, families, in our teams, or an individual level to explore your own race story.
Russian dolls could be used as a direct piece of work or as a conversation starter to help us share and learn about each other and our stories. Acknowledgement to Rima Sidhpara from Rutland House Counselling and Psychotherapy who led the workshop.
Character Map
This from Facing History looks at identity from a reflective angle. Draw a picture of the person (you could do this with them as a direct work activity) and think about what each of the 'body senses and parts' is telling you.
You can find a printable version of the character map here
Use Yourself! And Reflective Journalling
The curiosity questions you ask, and the respect and dignity of the language you use, can open up all sorts of conversations about identity. Using yourself can help you learn what matters to the child or family member and how they experience being in the world, and help build a trusted, authentic relationship. For example:
- what's a food that reminds you of childhood and why?
- what holidays/celebrations/occasions does your family enjoy most and why?
- what's a really important tradition in your family? Where does that come from?
- where is somewhere really important to you in the community? Could you do this on a walk with a family member, or complete a community genogram together (you can find this here Family Map & Relationship Map | Family Early Help (camden.gov.uk)
As skilled and compassionate practitioners, you ask these kinds of questions all the time. Through an identity lens, we're thinking about what the answers told you about identity, why that matters to the person you're helping and to the help you give.
As well as questions, you could use creative methods like food/shopping/cooking, music, precious objects, photographs, creative writing or poetry.
After a visit, why not use this reflective journal template to think about what you learned about the family's identity, similarities and differences to you, and what you might do next.
Culturagrams
Similar to a genogram, a culturagram helps us to look specifically at the family's cultural context, and to help us reflect and learn more about their identity. You can find more about culturagrams on this link, and you can download this image here
Power Wheel - Intersectionality Analysis Tool
As we learned on our social GGRRAAACCEEESSS training, to simply list the graces is not enough. We must think about the ways in which the graces intersect and particularly how they affect power, privilege, marginalisation and discrimination. That then should influence the help we give and the actions we take. This is key to anti-oppressive practice.
Here is a tool you can use to reflect on this, for yourself and for children and families we are working with. You can download a copy of the power wheel here
Credit to Canadian Institutes of Health Research for the image Meet the Methods Series: Quantitative intersectional study design and primary data collection (cihr-irsc.gc.ca)
Critical Alphabet
A tool shared from friends in the design justice world, this is an alphabet designed to encourage critical thinking and reflection on beliefs, constructs and assumptions. Pick a letter and reflect on the question underneath it. Example below (to use the alphabet, replace the word 'design' with the word 'service' and it works just as well).
Exploring the Cultural Iceberg
This image might be helpful to consider exploring what we see and what we might not see when we think about cultural responsiveness, similarity and difference, and staying curious in our work (image h/t Karen Treisman)
Constructs About 'Family', the Cultural Context and Cultural Relativism
Where do our ideas about 'the right way' to raise children come from? In what ways do we construct an idea of 'family' and what is 'good enough parenting'? Whose definitions, standards and values do we use when we look at that? In what ways might we seek conformity to Westernised standards or values to family and raising children? Do we ever de-legitimize or oppress ways of raising children and understanding family? Is this right or wrong?
One lens we could use to reflect on these questions is cultural relativism. Cultural relativism refers to not judging a culture to our own standards of what is right or wrong, strange or normal, but to try and understand cultural practices of other groups in its own cultural context.
There are critics of cultural relativism, who say that it makes it harder to say something is morally wrong, and what is acceptable and unacceptable.
You can read more about cultural relativism here.
https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat/society-and-culture/culture/a/cultural-relativism-article
and watch a brief video about relativism here
https://www.bbc.co.uk/ideas/videos/relativism-is-it-wrong-to-judge-other-cultures/p06m7420/player
What questions does cultural relativism raise for you about family work or supervising staff? What lens do you look through when you think about 'family' or 'raising a child well'? In what ways might cultural relativism provoke moral or ethical dilemmas in protecting children?
Cultural Humility and Responsiveness
Here is an image on Cultural Humility and Responsiveness from our favourite Dr Karen Treisman to help us think more about cultural responsiveness in family work, and the importance of being curious, reflective and self-reflexive ("why do I believe what I believe"). This could be helpful in lots of situations, for example in thinking about assessments or your hypothesis about a family situation, or in supervision to explore constructs or decision making.
Cultural Contracts Theory
Just as we contract with families in our Resilient Families Practice, Cultural Contracts Theory asks us to reflect on how we contract with each other at a cultural level.
This means asking ourselves how we acknowledge and practice respect for the culture of the other person, not expecting or requiring conformity with our own personal culture or worldview, but also being clear what is acceptable to protect both children and parents (see cultural responsiveness and protecting children section below).
An example of cultural contracting might be doing research into the social history and culture of the family you are working with, using the social GGGGRRAAACCEEESSS to reflect on similarities and differences to your own social history and culture, exploring that in supervision, and identifying ways you can value and reflect the social history and culture of the family in the work you do together.
You can read more about cultural contracts theory here
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-04/ps-irw043003.php
and here is a short booklet about it
In what ways could tools like culturagrams or cultural contracting be helpful to your work with families, or to your work as a supervisor? In what ways might those tools challenge you?
Cultural Responsiveness and Protecting Children
Thinking about the moral and ethical challenges of cultural relativism and cultural contracting are important to hold in mind. For example, cultural assumptions were identified in the Laming Review of the tragic death of Victoria Climbie. Lord Laming reflected on 3 key points:
- Guarding against the effect of assumptions based on race, ethnicity or cultural background
- The dangers of feeling inhibited from acting in a child’s best interests for fear of being accused of racism
- The dangers of considering cultural issues before the primary objective of the safety of the child (child safety comes first)
Below is a snap shot from the Laming review, and you can read the full review here
How do you balance cultural responsiveness with the view that some cultural practices and norms are not in the best interests of the child and may lead them to being in dangerous situations? Where do human rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child sit in these dilemmas?
Making Meaning - Power, Privilege and Resistance
These slides from our webinar with Dr Jasmine Chin helps us to how we, children and families 'make meaning' out of behaviours, experiences and systems. It helps us to think about where power is being exerted or oppressed, and to reflect on power and privilege from the family perspective.
In what ways could you use these two images in your work with families or in supervision?
White Allies and Accomplices
The ideas captured on this website have been developed, in their words "to support white people to act for racial justice; draws from ideas and resources developed mostly by Black, Brown and People of Color, and has been edited by Black, Brown, and People of Color." Lots of ideas for ways to put words into action to help disrupt and dismantle racism, and practice anti-racism. Includes a downloadable PDF of the workbook.
https://www.whiteaccomplices.org/
Unlearning Racism - Workbooks for Supervisions and Team Meetings
Two workbooks from the Racial Justice Network to help support conversations and dialogue about race, racism and becoming proactively anti-racist
Facilitating Difficult Discussions About Racism
Written by Derald Wing Sue, Professor of Psychology and Education at Columbia University, this booklet offers 5 ineffective strategies and 5 effective strategies for having difficult conversations about racism.
Living Room Conversations
Living Room Conversations offers a simple, sociable and structured way to practice communicating across differences while building understanding and relationships. Here, the Living Room Conversations team offer a structure for holding a reflective conversation in a team or group supervision about race, enabling deep listening and respect for each participant. Can be done over a Teams call.
https://livingroomconversations.org/topics/race-race-ethnicity-conversation-series/
Compelling Leaders to Take Action Through Race Equity Dialogue
One for managers to reflect on, asking us some key questions about in what ways are we helping individuals within our organisation understand and feel connected to ongoing, historical struggles of dominance and white supremacy. Plus ideas for what you can do as a leader to help change the course of racial injustice
Leaders to Take Action Through Race Equity Dialogue
