Short article about the social work response that explores Care and Justice NASW

1. MH
FALL/WINTER ■ 2020
SECTION
CONNECTION
NASW SPECIALTY PRACTICE SECTIONS
M E N T A L H E A L T H
Reprinted with permission from Mental Health Fall/Winter 2020 Issue.
TO CITE THIS ARTICLE, PLEASE USE THE FOLLOWING REFERENCE:
*Maschi, T., **Kaye, A., & Rios, J. (2020, Fall/Winter). Co-constructing Community with
2020 Vision of Care and Justice. National Association of Social Work Specialty Practice
Sections: Mental Health Newsletter, pp. 5-9.
*Fordham University GSS Professor **Fordham University GSS MSW Alumnae
*Download a copy from: https://www.dropbox.com/s/1mj8jg0l55o2v4s/CC%20Article.pdf?dl=0
This article is free to distribute to anyone interested in reading it. Feel free to
share far and wide. For more information contact justicecaring@gmail.com

2. The year 2020 has created a
historical turning point in which
we, as a society, have found
ourselves in global “lockdown”
because of the spread of the
coronavirus and its death toll. It
behooves us to continue to
reflect individually and
collectively on its meaning,
especially as we also grapple
with realizing equality and
justice, especially for black and
brown people in America. We
three authors from diverse
personal and professional
backgrounds invite any person
and/or professional who
chooses to engage with us to
entertain a new way of looking
at the same old problems with a
2020 vision of care and justice.
We first ask that you take a deep
breath and reflect upon the
meaning you glean from this
quote by Albert Einstein before
you read further: “We cannot
solve our problems with the
same level of thinking that
created them” (Maschi &
Koskinen, 2015).
With that thought in mind and
the meaning you glean from it,
consider our current local and
global situation. In addition to
social inequality and unrest, we
are in the midst a global
pandemic with a special
emphasis on the misuse of
deadly violence against black
and brown people by public
servants, such as the police. We
also have inadequate health
care that arguably has resulted
in unnecessary deaths. The
economic, political, social
service, and education systems
have also been turned upside
down. In the chaos and loss of
control in the world as we know
it, there also is a rampant
spread of fear juxtaposed
against a belief that faith, hope,
and love will pull us through
these uncertain moments. We
can seize this moment as a crisis
or surrender to the opportunity to
move beyond “business as
usual” as usual that leads to
creative solutions. That is for you
and us to decide as we take this
present moment to consider our
past efforts and what does and
does not serve us anymore
going forward.
Historically, social work was
birthed in the early 20th century
by concerned citizens fueled by
compassion as an act of “doing
good” in response to helping
others alleviate their suffering.
Many communities were
grappling with social problems
such as mass industrialization,
immigration, racism, and
ethnocentrism. The remnants of
slavery as a part of America’s
history morphed into different
forms post-emancipation,
including excluding African
Americans from the early
settlement house movement. The
continued presence of faulty and
oppressive dominant beliefs
influenced the narrative in all
minorities. chiefly racial and
ethnic, but also women,
LGBTQIA+, and any people
considered less than the
“dominant norm,” as
represented by the white Anglo-
Saxon, ruling, wealthy,
Protestant, able-bodied,
heterosexual, male population
(Stuart, 2013).
During the rise of the friendly
visitor programs of charity
organizations and the settlement
house movement in America, we
had an early experience with
home-based and community
interventions “research, reform,
and residence” to assess and
“treat” individuals, families,
community, and societal ills, and
the empowerment and liberation
for vulnerable and oppressed
groups (Stuart, 2013). We then
found ourselves in the 1960s, in
an era of war, and with the
same social problems. The need
led to a resurgence of the civil
rights movement that included
liberation and racial justice for
black, Latinx migrant workers,
and LGBTQIA+ populations
along with women. Sixty years
later, in 2020, we were at
another crossroads, still facing
systemic racism and other
intersectional “isms,” along with
the adverse effects on
the health, well-being,
and safety of
individuals and
communities. Although social
work made some strides as a
profession, we have more work
to do to reach equal status with
other professions and to claim
our true power as a workforce of
largely women and other racial
and ethnic minorities.
To this end, the writers of
this article use one of the
NASW priorities to launch
our discussion, since they
parallel the social structural
determinants of health and
justice that apply to the health
and well-being of the wider
world. The intersectional social
concerns of economic justice
(e.g., poverty), criminal justice,
5
CO-CONSTRUCTING COMMUNITY
with 2020 Vision of Care and Justice
TINA MASCHI, PHD, LCSW, ACSW • ADRIANA KAYE, LMSW • JUAN RIOS, DSW, LCSW

3. juvenile justice (e.g., policing,
mass incarceration, institutional
and community trauma and
abuse), environmental justice
(e.g., pollution), immigration,
health and social issues (i.e.,
health disparities, access to
services and rights), and the
instability of political and
governmental system (political
participation; e.g., voter rights),
lead us to build the case for a
new collective vision of a
compassionate, caring, and just
world (Maschi & Morgen,
2020). We conclude with a
discussion of how social
workers can co-construct
“community” as community
partners, professionals, or
volunteers to develop and
refine solution-focused
interventions for individuals,
families, communities,
and the world.
We propose that the underlying
root cause of a seemingly
divergent social problem is
oppression rooted in fear-based
and dualistic (either-or) thinking
transmitted and sustained in the
four levels of oppression (see
figure 1). For this article, we
illustrate the levels of
oppression (Mullaly, 2018)
to include internalized
(psychological/emotional),
personal (everyday life, clinical
practice), structural and
institutional (organizations,
laws, policies), and cultural
(media and societal attitudes).
As shown in table 2, when fear
is present, the tendency is to be
problem-focused and
pessimistic, negative and
contracted, as opposed to
solution-focused and optimistic,
creative, and expansive. These
fear-based thought patterns
form toxic beliefs and attitudes
that create the basis of
individual and collective
oppression, from racism,
sexism, and other “isms” that
pervade our minds, homes,
institutional policies,
organizations and
communities, and the media.
Oppression at all these levels
must be addressed, especially
the psychological and
emotional internalization of the
collective and cultural
narratives of the dominant
group (e.g., racism, sexism,
homophobia), which leads to a
fear-based or problem-based
thinking. Such ways of thinking
are characterized by survival
mode and result in a mental
contraction in which individuals
tend to see each other as
“separate” (Mullaly, 2018). In
conclusion, we provide some
examples of how these
perspectives may influence
decision making around clinical
assessment and mental health
intervention strategies. For
example, a “positively” framed
United Nations (2020)
campaign uses the title “The
World We Want” (see figure 2
and table 1 in the appendix for
the application of a “caring
justice approach” of moving
from problem to solution-
focused thinking).
Visualizing and Realizing
a Caring Justice
Partnership Society
By identifying the overarching
issues across the different
problem areas, we have the
opportunity to be change
agents in a movement, to pivot
away from the unrest that we
are currently experiencing in
the world around us and create
pathways to compassion
justice. We offer, with good
intentions, a visualization of a
caring justice partnership
society as a new way of
thinking about the same old
problems. Due to space
limitation, we outline a few of
the key elements of a caring
justice model to pique the
interests of social workers in
the mental health arena.
In a caring justice world, the
moral fabric of society is
embedded with an innate sensor
of ethics and values that is a
beacon of light for compassion
and justice for all. Decisions
(thoughts), actions (behaviors),
and ways of being are driven by
values and soft skills of empathy
and compassion, kindness,
dignity, respect, acceptance,
authenticity, worthiness, unity in
the form of inner and outer
interconnections, and justice
(truth, equality, accountability,
and transparency). In a caring
justice society, matters of care
and justice are adopted from the
bottom up as a shared
leadership (power with) model
as opposed to a top-down
(power over) model (Maschi &
Morgen, 2020).
The caring justice approach is
compassion-driven, consistent
with counseling and community
intervention approaches, and
aligns with the Social Work
Code of Ethics and social justice
priorities for all practitioners, but
especially for those of us in
mental health and human rights
work (NASW, 2020). As the
LGBTQIA+ community has
taught us, love cannot be
restricted or legislated out of us,
and love has the capacity to
unify and heal people. Love
lives, or can live, inside
everyone of all ages, and in the
6
Figure 1. Levels of Oppression

4. air, we breathe in and out every
day. Love also knows no
bounds. It lives inside prisons,
foster homes, and community
streets. Caring justice offers us a
basis from which to know and
understand culturally relevant
language, and values within
diverse communities so that we
can develop broad and flexible
principles and guidelines
regarding care and justice work
with individuals, families,
communities, countries, and the
world we live in.
Starting with the self, first:
• Be your authentic, true self.
Love yourself for who you
truly are.
• Treat yourself kindly with
affirmative mantras such as “I
think love, I feel love, I do
love, I am love, love, love.”
• Reflect on this quote by
Mahatma Gandhi, “Be the
change that you wish to see
in the world,” and the
following question, how does
it shape your approach to
your life and/or your
professional practice if at all?
(Gandhi, 2019)
• Practice loving-kindness and
nonjudgmental-ness.
• Document acts of loving-
kindness through words,
pictures, journaling, or other
expressions of your choice;
share with others the good
news you find.
• Identify and transform inner
oppressive narratives about
oneself, and other
individuals, and groups
different than oneself through
inner reflection on outer
dialogues with others.
• Improve your relationship
with affirmative mantras
about “I/You/We” to change
the relational narrative, with
the following in this order: (1)
“I think love, I feel love, I do
love, I am love, love, love.”
(2) “You think love, You feel
love, You do love, You are
love, love, love.” (3) We think
love, We feel love, We do
love, We are love,
love, love.”
• Use positive thinking and
emotions as often as
possible. Be gentle with
yourself when you slip.
• Think, feel, and act once you
are inspired (move beyond
acting reactionary to
responding to a stimulus).
• Prioritize inner transformation
and personal growth to be
the evidence you wish to see
in the world.
• Practice deep breathing and
inner reflection.
• Create safe spaces and
engage in unconditional
dialogue with others.
• Adopt models that are
consistent with a caring
justice perspective, such as
the Truth, Racial Healing, and
Transformation Model
(https://healourcommunities.org).
• Facilitate a caring justice
discussion with family,
partners, friends, coworkers,
and community members (see
examples of prompts
provided via social media
links). Document the
discussion and reflect areas
of common ground.
• Spread the word; share the
vision about Caring Justice
worldwide: Spread the word
via interpersonal
communication and social
media for 30 days. Evaluate
the outcome of your inner
and outer world.
• Engage in contemplative
activism and solution-focused
inspired thoughts and action.
Tina Maschi, PhD, LCSW, ACSW, is a
licensed clinical social worker, researcher,
scholar, artist, and professor at the
Fordham University Graduate School of
Social Service in New York City. She
engages in community, volunteer, and
contemplative activism; e-mail:
tmaschi@fordham.edu.
Adriana Kaye, LMSW, is a social
worker and research assistant at the
Fordham University Graduate School of
Social Service, and a doctoral student
at the Tulane School of Social Work.
She engages in community, volunteer,
and contemplative activism.
Juan Rios, DSW, LCSW, is the Program
Director of the Master of Social Work
Department at the Seton Hall
University in South Orange, NJ. He
engages in community, volunteer, and
contemplative activism.
REFERENCES
Gandhi, M. (1964). General
knowledge about health XXXII:
Accidents snakebite. In: The
collected works of Mahatma
Gandhi, volume XII, April
1913 to December 1914.
Maschi, T., & Koskinen, L.
(2015). Co-constructing
community: A conceptual map
for reuniting aging people in
prison with their families and
communities. Traumatology:
An International Journal,
21(3), 208-218.
https://psycnet.apa.org/doiL
anding?doi=10.1037%2Ftrm
0000026
Maschi, T., & Morgen, K.
(2020). Aging behind prison
walls: Studies in trauma and
resilience. Columbia
University Press.
Mullaly, R. (2018).
Challenging oppression
and confronting privilege.
Oxford University Press.
National Association of Social
Workers (NASW). (2020).
National Association of
Social Workers Social
justice priorities.
www.socialworkers.org/Advo
cacy/Social-Justice/Social-
Justice-Priorities
Stuart, P. (2013). Social work
profession: History. In:
Encyclopedia of Social Work.
https://naswinstitute.inreachc
e.com/Details/Information/8
c419480-649e-4ad8-8642-
11a1e7b4768b
United Nations. (2020). The
WorldWeWant on social
media. www.worldwewant
2030.org/#
United Nations. (2020).
Sustainable development
goals.
https://unfoundation.org/wh
at-we-do/issues/sustainable-
development-goals/
Wronka, J. (2017). Human
rights and social justice (2nd
ed.). Sage Publications.
RESOURCES
Maschi, T., & Kaye, A. (2019).
Responding to the crisis of
aging people in prison:
Promising corrections and
community practices.
Advancing Corrections
Journal, 7.
Maschi, T. (2020, June 22). Co-
constructing community:
Visualizing and realizing a
2020 vision of care and justice.
National Association of Social
Workers (NASW) Webinar.
https://mynasw.socialworkers
.org/events/event-
description?CalendarEventKe
y=50f6a18f-54fc-4f2e-8fc7-
eee649602b2a&Home=%2F
home
W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
(2016). Truth, racial healing,
and transformation model.
https://healourcommunities.org
7

5. 8
APPENDIX
Figure 2: From Problem-Focused to Solution-Focused Thinking and Approaches
Table 1. From Problem to Creative Solution Focus-Part 1: Example Identified Issues/Problems
Problem-Focused Solution-Focused
Fear-Based Thinking (Survival Mode, Contraction)
• Problem-focused
• Stressed
• Pessimistic
• Dualistic/binary thinking
• Ego-driven and intellectual only focus
• Self-preservation
• Self-focused (egocentric)
• Self-centered or either-or impulsive fear-based
decision making
• Closed-minded
• Irrational-biased
• Judgmental
• Competitive
Creative Thinking (Creative and Expansive)
• Solution-focused and mission-driven
• Relaxed and creative
• Optimistic
• Unity/collective (I/We) thinking
• Heart-driven, emotional, compassionate
• Group-focused
• Open-minded
• Collective-centered decision making (for the highest
good of all; sustainable)
• Positive thoughts and emotions
• Fair and nonjudgmental, compassionate caring
• Nonjudgmental
• Collaborative, cooperative
Levels of Assessment
and Intervention
Problem Focus Suggested Solutions
Cultural Level:
Transmitted
through
Cultural,
Community,
and mass
media systems
Negative media messages about the issue
focus (e.g., showing continuous violence on
TV; fear-based strategies about the spread of
illnesses and no focus on recovery)
Lack of truth and reconciliation discussions for
those harmed and those who harmed (To read
more at: Ibhawoh (2019)
https://theconversation.com/do-truth-and-
reconciliation-commissions-heal-divided-
nations-109925
Or W.K. Kellogg Foundation (2016) Truth,
Racial Healing, and Transformation Guide
https://healourcommunities.org
Build a caring justice partnership culture using mass
media; watch positive programming on
TV or no TV; support alternative mass media
programs.
Truth and reconciliation discussions using solution-
focused approaches
©2020 Maschi Permission to Publish
Structural/
Institutional
Level:
Transmission
through social
policies and
institutions
Reactionary social action; Engage policy
campaigns that focus on what we don’t want;
campaigns that use double negatives, such as
end injustice, community violence or gun
violence or end starvation; end poverty
Economic and business systems competitive
and hierarchal
Reflexive social action; engage in positive policy
campaigns of what we do want; Revise campaigns
that use double negatives, such as end community
violence or gun violence, and positively reframe
them to what we do want (e.g., the compassionate
and peaceful community campaign; the equality
agenda; food at every table; prosperity everything,
caring justice worldwide).
Further develop collaborations and cooperatives
businesses; also use barters and good exchange
(food co-ops time banks, microfinancing).

6. 9
Personal Level:
Transmitted
through
everyday
relationships
Uses negative phraseology and disrespectful
verbal and non-verbal behaviors. Describe
people derogatorily, disrespectfully, or by a
label. Does not use humanizing language or
engage in abusive behaviors in personal and
professional settings.
Use new phraseology and respectful verbal and
non-verbal behaviors.
In personal life, tell your loved ones you love them.
Learn conflict resolutions.
In practice, call people by their first names as
opposed to their diagnoses. If needed, rephrase the
description: a person in a recovery program.
Internal Level:
Impact of other
levels on the
psychological,
emotional, and
over the
wellbeing of
individuals
A person who engages in self-criticism and
internalized oppressive beliefs.
Promote self-directed wellness, self-empowerment,
peer-led individual and group support, community
connections.
Research and
Evaluation:
Exploratory,
intervention,
participatory
research
No research on the topic, research abuses, no
participatory research, findings not available
for public consumption.
Control of research and funding by
outside parties and experts without the
lived experience or situation; all stakeholder
not involved
Research for awareness and advocacy, mixed
methods, participatory, emerging methods
(evaluation of interventions at all levels).
Engage key stakeholders in research
Grassroots community-based and led research
initiatives that engages all key stakeholders in
identifying the problem and solutions
Maschi 2020, Mullaly (2018), Wronka (2017)
Suggested Pause and Activity for Life-Long Learners: Review the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. To what extent
do they follow a problem focused to solution focused approach. United Nations (2020) see link in references or at
(https://unfoundation.org/what-we-do/issues/sustainable-development-goals/ ). What if any, would you rephrase and how?
©Maschi Permission to Publish
What the world needs now is #caring justice. Spread the word!