‘Power & Empowerment within a Psychologically Informed Environment’

29.01.2021: Reflecting on this week as the Lead for Psychologically Informed Environments (PIE) at the national youth homeless charity Centrepoint, the theme that has been in the forefront of my mind both personally and professionally has been that of ‘power’ or ‘powerlessness’ and the impact that this concept may have upon our psychological well-being. As lockdown continues, many of us whether working at home, or on the many ‘frontlines’ during this COVID-19 pandemic, have probably and naturally felt quite powerless as there are many things that feel unfair or out of our control. For example, there continue to be many restrictions on our ‘normal’ everyday life, in terms of who we can see, where we can go and what we can do, none of which we can influence (unless we are in government!), and which can make us feel powerless and without a sense of control in our life. This can feel particularly difficult because we do not have an ‘end in sight’ or a date when this will be over, as so much also depends on factors outside of our control (e.g. NHS hospital capacity, rates of infection, speed of the vaccination programme). Contrast this perhaps with our usual state or ‘normal life’, wherein we may feel empowered and in control, and therefore we can achieve our goals, plans or dreams, it is not surprisingly that as this lockdown continues with so much uncertainty, increasing numbers of us are finding it harder to cope.

Thinking this week about my own sense of powerless, I cannot help but reflect on how many of the homeless young people that come into our supported accommodation services in Centrepoint might feel. Many come from situations wherein they had little or no control or power, and this may have been a feature throughout their young lives to date, perhaps moving from one social care placement to another, perhaps even referred to our services with little or no choice or control over this decision. They may have just been expected to enter our services, live in the room they are assigned, engage with what or who is available to meet their needs and perhaps live amongst other young people or staff that they would not necessarily chosen to share their space with. Thinking about this further, and relating back to my own life experiences at this age (16–25 years), this experience seems in stark contrast to what many of us have experienced. It can perhaps therefore not be surprising that this lack of control or power could be quite traumatic in its own right, and result in challenging behaviours, even when their coming to Centrepoint might be a significant improvement on the conditions or situations they were previously in (e.g. rough sleeping, conflictual or abusive family relationships). A lack of control, choice and power over your life can therefore influence psychological well-being significantly.

The concept of ‘power’ and the importance of ‘empowerment’ is therefore critical to reflect upon in order to promote the psychological well-being of those living or working within the PIE. After all, as Keats et al (2012) note in their key PIE paper (c.f. https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/340022/1/Good%2520practice%2520guide%2520-%2520%2520Psychologically%2520informed%2520services%2520for%2520homeless%2520people%2520.pdf), ‘the purpose of a psychologically informed environment is to enable clients to make changes in their lives’ (p.5). Moreover, ‘many clients will have a history of abusive relationships, in other words relationships involving an abuse of power: many clients are therefore acutely aware of power dynamics and of potential, actual or perceived abuses of power. Power should be discussed openly, and should be taken into consideration when conceiving client interactions and client pathways. Change, as in moving on, often require a person to re-evaluate their own relationship to people with power over aspects of their lives. This can be a difficult process, and some boundary challenges can be seen in this light. If staff and management are aware of the impact of unequal power structures, it will be easier for them to manage…’ (p.25). It is important therefore to reflect upon the power dynamics in operation within our services, organisation and society as a whole and how this may impact on us, those we work with and the homeless young people we support.

Thinking about this further this week, I was once again reflecting on community psychology approaches to help understand the importance of ‘power’ and how we can think about the ‘empowerment’ of others. Prilleltensky (2008) note some postulates about power that are worth repeating here, so that we can reflect on the position of power in our own lives, and those around us and whether we need (or can) make positive changes for the future. He notes that power refers to the capacity and opportunity to fulfil or obstruct personal, relational or collective needs and has psychological and political sources, manifestations or consequences. Power can be overt, subtle or blatant, hidden or exposed and apply to self, others or wider collective groups. We may be or feel oppressed in one context, at a particular time or place, yet we may also be oppressors or enjoy differential levels of power at another time and place because of different structural factors (e.g. social class, race, gender, ability, and personal or social constructs that depend on culture).

In addition, as Nelson & Prilleltensky (2010) note, power can be both positive and negative. When we have ‘power’ in our lives, this gives us an ability to achieve our goals and gives us a sense of mastery or control, and improved well-being. However, a lack of power, can impact on our psychological well-being though its capacity to inflict damage on our sense of self, and its ability to perpetuate inequalities and suffering through oppression (Hook, 2007). This latter point about the wider context of power is important, as empowerment and empowering others to have resources is only one step, without social justice and fair redistribution of resources it is not enough (Sandler, 2007). If we do not empower others both individually and where possible campaign for changes to the wider system (e.g. via our Centrepoint Policy Team), we risk maintaining the status quo for many people who are chronically disadvantaged (e.g. homeless young people).

Consequently, Zimmerman (2000) notes, empowerment is about obtaining, producing or enabling power, or put another way, it is a process by which an individual gains mastery over their lives (Rappaport, 1981). Having power or privilege can increase the opportunities for good education, housing, better job prospects and life satisfaction, which in turn increase self-confidence and self-esteem (Lee & Burkam, 2002). Therefore, what can we do to increase opportunities for ourselves and those we support right now whether this be through access to the resources that they need, or the provision of social support that will enable them to take full advantage of these opportunities? Of course, empowerment also depends on context. You can for example feel empowered in one situation or setting but not in others. Empowerment is not a stable state of affairs — perhaps you feel more empowered within your own family setting to make decisions, control the situation or make plans than you currently do in your professional working life. Perhaps it is the opposite right now because of the COVID-19 pandemic? Taking a trauma informed approach to empowerment can also be helpful here, as we know that providing choice and control where possible, within the context of a trusting and safe relationship can be very empowering in and of itself. Even focusing on the ‘little things’ that we can control or have choice in right now can have a significant positive impact on ourselves and those we are working with / supporting.

Consequently, as well as discussing with ‘frontline’ staff in reflective practice sessions how we can empower the homeless young people that they work with, I have also been having some valuable discussions with colleagues across the organisation about how we can empower and support the staff within our organisation as we move forward in this ‘new normal’. Examples discussed have included reviewing and improving our training offer though the PIE informed HOMES (Housing Operational Model) to enable them to manage the challenges of their work even better, through continuing to create spaces for support and reflective practice, and through encouraging leadership that is less hierarchical and ensures that everyone’s voice is ‘heard’ across the organisation. Empowering our staff will not only benefit them but will actually have a positive impact on the homeless young people that they support, because any investment and empowerment of staff is likely to ‘rub off’ on those around them, increasing positive outcomes. In other words, empowered staff are more likely to be able to empower the young people they support, and enable them to bring about meaningful changes in their live to achieve ‘a home and a job’.

Importantly, the more support our staff have (and in turn the more support they can therefore offer young people); the greater the improvements to overall psychological well-being of all those within the organisation, including importantly right now, increasing their psychological resilience in the face of adversity (Ryff & Singer, 2001). Psychologists also know that the more positive interpersonal experiences we have the greater our psychological wellbeing, even if sadly at the moment many of these are perhaps only in a ‘virtual world’. I am very grateful that we at least have the technology to enable these connections in the current pandemic, which are so critical to help us to continue to cope with this lack of power and control in our lives (even if I am also desperately in need of some real face-to-face human contact too!) Specifically, Cohen & Wills (1985) noted in their ‘buffering hypothesis’ that social support helps decrease stress by reducing the perception of the current situation as threatening and something that we have no control over, as well as increasing our psychological resources to deal with any threat.

Finally, the concept of power and ‘empowerment’ is important in a PIE because as the quote at the start of this blog highlights, to empower another person is a critical part of supporting others by focusing not on just their ‘needs’ but also upon their ‘strengths’. So much support or therapeutic work in the health or social care sector can fall into the trap of focusing on what we need to do for another person following an assessment of his or her problems or deficits. Instead, a PIE approach would argue that we should assess not just their needs but also their strengths, current resources, skills and abilities. Following which, our role is to offer our support to build on these, and help the individual to discover further strengths in order to empower them to help themselves and make changes in their lives. Our role may be not to take the easier route of just doing something for another person. Instead it may be to provide the emotional encouragement, within the context of a trusting, safe and secure relationship with them, in order to enable (or empower) them to move forward with something in their life or try something new. As Speer & Hughey (1995) note power (or empowerment) flows through relationships. This is highlighted humorously (if you are a dog person like me!) in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTbbYLvhDSM, which has an important message about the value of empowering others to achieve their goals through a compassionate, supportive, consistent and patient relational approach. Although this may take a bit longer, when someone does something for himself or herself, however small a step this is, this has a significant positive impact on their self-esteem, self-efficacy and most importantly empowers them for the future…