Volume 15, No. 1

Jamie Marshall, Philip B. Ward, Russell Martindale, Brendon Ferrier

A Pragmatic Delphi Exploring Barriers and Facilitators to Emergency Responder/Healthcare Workers' Participation in the Blue Light Surf Club Therapy Intervention

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Emergency responders/healthcare workers face significant mental health burdens associated with their integral roles within society. Alongside the need for more mental health support, a major contributing factor to this burden are barriers to accessing suitable support. The aim of this study was to build consensus on the barriers/facilitators to a proposed surf therapy intervention supporting this population, the Blue Light Surf Club (BLSC). Where possible the study also explored pragmatic solutions from the perspectives of potential participants.  Given the primary aim of building consensus, a Delphi method was utilised alongside 18 emergency responders/healthcare workers from a range of different roles in central Scotland (7 males and 11 females; mean age = 38.2 years; standard deviation = 11 years; range 19-54). Participants were surveyed about their perceptions of barriers/facilitators to accessing the proposed BLSC surf therapy programme. Four rounds of questions were required before a priori defined consensus was reached across all generated items.  The outcome of the research was a set of recommendations for the implementation of the BLSC grouped around three themes: Intervention Access, Intervention Delivery and Intervention Structure. These recommendations offer insight and practical suggestions for overcoming established barriers to accessing mental health support for this population. The findings of this study have direct implications for the design stage of the BLSC surf therapy intervention while also supporting a wide range of similar interventions aimed at the emergency responder/healthcare population. These pragmatic recommendations are of value both in terms of their contribution to academic discussion around supporting this population, and the direct support they offer to comparable community-based organisations.

Tanyaradzwa Dianah Mutseura, Julia Mutambara, Tobias Magadure

Gratitude journaling experiences of adults who participated in a 20-day clinical intervention to mitigate stress, anxiety and depression in the Covid-19 pandemic era in Zimbabwe

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The COVID-19 pandemic which was first reported in 2019 in Wuhan, China brought about devastating conditions and eventually ballooned into a global pandemic. Some of the devastating consequences of Covid-19 included loss of lives, closure of businesses, job cuts coupled with on-going daily life challenges. In this dark hour brought about by Covid-19, the health of people became top priority and their mental health a cause for concern. This study sought to investigate the experiences of a Zimbabwean sample that participated in a 20-day gratitude journaling intervention with a clinical psychologist to mitigate stress, anxiety and depression in the Covid-19 pandemic era. A purposive sampling of forty-two men and women (age range 20 to 40) who at one point requested the services of a clinical psychologist was done. Participant selection was not necessarily based on diagnosis. Qualitative questionnaires, in-depth interviews and WhatsApp group discussions were used to collect data. Data were grouped into themes and analysed using content analysis. Participants reported improved sleep, positive coping, reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression, strengthening of social relationships, improved physical health and, psychological health, heightened empathy, and an increase in happiness and creativity. Gratitude journalizing is an important intervention for people grappling with a myriad of psychological problems and/or uncertainties brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Kristina Yarbrough

Theater of the Oppressed as Assisted Regeneration: Challenging the "Expert" and Building a Psychology from and for the People

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Theater of the Oppressed inspired a street theater project that began in Mexico City with graduate counseling psychology students. The theater provoked a Pedagogy of the Oppressed, challenging the students and the epistemologies of clinical psychology as the ‘experts’ and giving epistemological and ontological power to the participants. This article argues a depth psychological comprehension of oppressor-oppressed relationalities and integrity to assisted regeneration are necessary for Theater of the Oppressed projects to have a liberatory function. Public, spontaneous dialogue with embodied representations of social issues such as domestic violence has enduring collective healing potentials for the participants and for the facilitators.

Josal Diebold

White Supremacy and White Antiracism: Practice Implications for Community Practitioners

In the 21st century, though there is no longer legalized chattel slavery or codified segregation, white supremacy is alive and well in the United States, and it shapes the conditions, organizations, and structures that community practitioners work within.  For white community workers committed to being antiracist agents of change, the intersection between white supremacy and antiracism highlights important practice implications. For instance, white antiracist practitioners need to contend with white guilt and create opportunities for popular and political education.  Moreover, they must center relationship building, accountability to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, discovering mutual interest, and building collective power.  White community practitioners have the opportunity to use their position to be an antiracist force, and drawing on lessons from current literature on antiracism can make these efforts all the more effective and grounded.