Listening in structured conversations

Alliance-building, power and rhetoric in social network interventions

Why study social network interventions?• Alliance-building - a structure to make collaboration work? • The rhetoric - the empowerment, democratic discourse vc the

traditional power of the of the expertise is an unsolved question

• Draws on deeply rooted indigenous ”essential” way of problem solving

• Widespread frame of thought and applications internationally and in Sweden

• Local authorities in Sweden: 38 % specialized teams, 29 % other qualified network interventions, 14 % multisystemic therapy (MST)

Questions

• How could power be understood in a method that claim to be more democratic – could there be power i disguise?

• In what way is the partipant’s voices heard?• How does the network leader execute power in

network meetings?

The process in network meetings

Retribalization

Polarization

MobilizationDepression

Breaktrough

Exhaustion/captivation

The power of good will

Network leader (NL): And father then, what is it that is so good about your son Mohammed?

Father: NothingNL: Nothing. Okey, let us continue to the next person. -----NL: Exiting then to have a meeting about a guy who is bright, has

come a long way in his development, influenceable, a loveable guy, courageous,reflecting, is honest in his will to change, daring, wise, caring, a guy who cares. This is good prerequisites to go on with the meeting.

The power of positioning

Mohammed: If I had not wanted the treatment and wanted to change, I would not sit hear. I have lived in denial. I have lied ever so much. I have realized that I have been close to killing people. It is not fun to spend time in gangs. I have risked my life.

Police officer: Above all it is the one you have committed the crimes with that is the problem. They are not a good companionship. You have reached an insight, but they haven’t. To this you are involved in a conflict whith some of them. It is not any ”nice” crimes you have done before. But we can forget about them now. You seem to have come to an insight. You don’t want to keep on that kind of life anymore. This is a golden opportunity. I’m worried about you coming home. You have to be very strong to stand up to your conviction.

Mohammed: The guys in the gangs haven’t changed a bit. (…) Everyone took what they wanted. We wore masks to our faces. We laughed och had fun but deep inside we hated eachother. If we hadn’t we should not have said the things we did about eachother. If I go back it will be the same shit again. I don’t want to go back to the same misery again.

The power of darkness

Social service officer: Let me make one thing clear. We have no possibility to offer anything else (then support in the home environment). We have assessed different solution strategies. You can reject the offer. But we don’t have anything else.

Father: But if we don’t have any alternatives we don’t have anything to turn down. NL2: I sense a lot of tension in this situation. It is a kind of Cath 22, it’s the feeling I

get. I sense a lot of fear from many of you. The picture that is presented gives the impression that the environment isn’t good. You can feel that automatically. We have Mohammed well functioning in a treatment facility at Södergården. The police describes a lot of risk factors in the living area in Göteborg, you can feel that. The solutions just aren’t here, I sense a lack of courage to think differently. Think in a very different way. I hear that the social service has reached their limitation and has no more resources. So I really feel powerless, I’m worried that there aren’t any solutions, and I always can se such otherwise. But I feel and I really hope that this meeting will be able to think differently, that is thinking courageous, because it is really needed in this situation with so many risks involved. It ows it to Mohammed.

The puzzling power

NL: So apartement in a social contract block, the weekends at your cousin’s, looking at the possibility to move to antoher city. These are your wishes. What about the social support and treatment of your drug addiction Mini Maria, Narcotics Anonomous – the change of care. Are these something you se as an important parts in the continuation?

Mohammed: Yes, they are important to be able to continue as now. NL: And what do you think about having a support person?Mohammed: That’s totally okey by me. I think that would be good too.NL: Everyone wants you to have a vey full schedule. Including going to school,

developing occupation, good things to do in your free time, that you should see people to talk with so that you develop yourself. What do you think about eight, ten hours a day to be occupied?

Mohammed: In a way I am already used to it. In the treatment home I do a lot of things.

When social networking worksWhen you sit alone and are suppose to disclose

something in your life that you experienced since many years it all becomes overwhelming. But if you in that situation are together with others, you ain’t alone anymore and everyone is united. In that moment something happens. In our case it has meant that we were able to go on in the collaboration with the network, we can get help from the network as a whole and have meetings regularly.

Ethical awareness

• The will to make ”good” meetings is booth natural and legitimate - but how can one be aware of the governing rules for those?

• What kind of group dynamic power and socio-psychoogical processes are engendered and how do one use them ”securely”?

• How can the meeting leader continuously be aware of his/her power?

• The power of good will and the hope for a better future are important parts of benign change processes - are there any room for critical reflections?

• Is it ethical to start a process and rise hope if a network meeting is not linked to a continuous support?

Conclusions• A powerful method • A method that is helpful in building alliances, installing hope and

to start a process of joint action from the participants• Frank & Frank (1991): Indegenous problem solving: Install hope,

emotional arousal and giving a sense of control • Still - a method to be understood as a part of the ”system”, the

welfare bureaucracy not the ”life world”• The expertise still in power by their access to the agenda• Thus a method that demand for ethical awareness• And a method that needs to be linked to continuous social

networking