Why... What... How... Which is the most important?
This is a post from Susan Holdsworth, who is the RECOVER project manager.
I used to think that having a compelling vision was what made all the difference - what made change happen. Like, “Imagine a world where we all have a high quality of life, where our cities are inclusive and compassionate.” Yes, we can all buy into this vision and work towards it in our own ways. But now as I look back on my career with municipalities and an NGO, I can see that it was the approaches, the WAY things were done, that had the biggest impact on our most successful projects.
This is because the WAY things are done really gets at the underlying beliefs that underpin your efforts. And it gets at the models that underpin our systems.
Sound like gobbledy-gook? Think about it this way. Part of having a high quality of life is having a safe and secure place to lay your head. Housing is so important. That’s something we can all agree on.
“The WAY things are done really gets at the underlying beliefs that underpin your efforts.”
However, is your system based on the idea that having this material good is the be-all and end-all? Can we just make enough rooms and send everyone to them? If this was the case, then the HOW might be warehousing people in various “projects,” and we would solve our issues related to homelessness fairly easily.
But if you see connection and healing as the most important aspects of wellbeing, then you would see housing more as a means to achieve that healing and connection, and you might pay more attention to HOW the housing is set up and how it is managed. You might pay more attention to the rules and routines within the housing development and countless other things related to the HOW of the space.
I think that most of us can agree that we care about other people’s wellbeing and that we would like to see all people lead full and healthy lives. The WHY. Sure there are variations of this with important nuance, but it boils down to caring about others and wanting good things for them.
I think that we can also agree on much of the WHAT aspect as well - yes, we need housing programs and a full range of social services. Yes, we need a multitude of supports. Perhaps people might disagree on the proportion of formal/professional supports vs. informal/community supports. There are tensions there, but the place where there is the most disagreement, and, I think, where the crux of the problem lies, is with the HOW. What are your assumptions underpinning your work that influence your approach, your HOW?
These are the shifts underpinning RECOVER’s approach. They are things that have the biggest influence on our HOW. We’re looking at shifting our approach to community wellbeing from the former statement to the latter:
FROM “Wellbeing is the responsibility of individuals and government (and wellbeing as connection to professional help, while broader community connected through charitable acts).” TO “Having whole community responsibility for wellbeing and the broader community is involved through acts of reciprocity and shared learning.”
FROM “Wellbeing as provision of material needs.” TO “Wellbeing as connection to non-material needs (as well as access to materials needs).”
FROM “Wellbeing as managing needs/deficits.” TO “Building capabilities.”
FROM “Wellbeing as seen through dominant settler eyes.” TO “Creating space for Indigneous and alternate ways of knowing.”
What you think about the above bullets will have the biggest influence on your HOW, and on what solutions excite you. They deserve a lot more thought.
RECOVER is now about shifting our culture. Won’t you join us?