How About Using Therapy to Address the Violence in Philadelphia?
I am an African American therapist who works in North Philadelphia with people recovering from mental health challenges, substance abuse, and incarceration. I integrate hip hop culture in my therapeutic approach to engage those who are resistant to traditional therapy. For the past 20 years, I’ve helped people change unproductive behavior, and I’ve learned that before a person changes a behavior, they have to change their values about the behavior. Violence is a learned behavior, so before people can unlearn or change this behavior, they have to change their values about it, first.
Insights such as this make me wonder why professional helpers (counselors, therapists, and social workers) aren’t leading the movement to address violence in our communities. Professional helpers understand concepts of changing behavior that the average person, however well-intentioned, does not. Community inclusion and the different types of motivation are concepts that can be useful when addressing violence in Philadelphia. I want to start a discussion about making them, and other therapeutic concepts, more prominent in our response to violence in our city.
Philadelphia is one of the most violent cities in the nation, as its homicide rate is second to Chicago. What’s troubling is that the violence is occurring amid a coronavirus pandemic. It seems that the shooters in these cities aren’t practicing social distancing like the rest of us. On social media, residents express their frustration about the violence, but in Philadelphia, our only response seems to be having marches and having meetings (on ZOOM) to talk about the violence.
A few residents have even started calling out organizations that are charged with the responsibility of addressing the violence. One organization that has been called out is the Office of Violence Prevention (OVP), as a few people have asked that they provide data that demonstrates their effectiveness. A few weeks ago, I even read an article that asked if it was time to defund the OVP.
I agree that organizations should provide evidence of their effectiveness, but I think it’s too soon to start talking about defunding the OVP. The organization is only two years old, and in only its second year, the city was planning to slash its budget to give more money to the police department! I think that the OVP should be given some time to get their footing and tweak some of their programs, and the organization should be given the fiscal and community support it needs to make Philadelphia a safer city.
I have heard a few ideas of how to address the violence in Philadelphia. Unfortunately, most of these strategies involve external motivation, and my clinical experience has shown me that strategies that involve internal motivation are more effective. When people are internally motivated, they exhibit behavior for themselves, and because exhibiting this behavior gives them (internal) satisfaction, they’ll continue exhibiting it. When people are externally motivated, they exhibit behavior because of outside influences, and because they’re only exhibiting the behavior because of these influences, when the influences are removed, they’ll stop exhibiting the behavior.
An example of this is when a returning citizen comes home from incarceration and follows his probation or parole guidelines. In far too many cases, this person is only doing this because it’s required of him by the court. It’s possible that if he weren’t being monitored, he wouldn’t be actively recovering from incarceration. On the other hand, a returning citizen with internal motivation would follow his probation or parole guidelines because he’s tired of being in the system and wants to be a better person. This person would recover from incarceration even if he weren’t on probation or parole. He’d continue recovering from incarceration once his probation or parole ended.
External solutions that respond to violence include addressing poverty, increasing police presence, and instituting gun control, but these strategies only offer a temporary reprieve from violence. Someone who becomes non-violent because he was given a job may return to his violent ways if he is laid off, fired, or furloughed from work. A community that becomes safer because of an increased police presence will see a return of violence as soon as the city budget cannot afford to pay police the overtime for their extra hours on the streets. Gun laws that remove firearms from these communities will make them safer only until residents start using other weapons to behave violently.
I’ll admit, the last example was a stretch, as this country will never rid itself of guns because of its relationship with the NRA (National Rifle Association). Besides, guns aren’t the problem. The problem is our values concerning violence. Consider the fact that there are no guns in jails, but there is a great deal of violence in correctional facilities. Some people in this country are so violent, that if all the guns in this country were removed, they would hurt each other with homemade weapons.
Defunding agencies may not be a new idea, but it’s become popular since we started discussing defunding police departments across the country. I’m not sure exactly how defunding a police department would work, but I read that in cities where police departments were defunded, communities and other city agencies would play a more active role in “policing themselves.” Communities “policing themselves” would be an example of community inclusion, a therapeutic concept that’s similar to family inclusion.
When professional helpers engage families, their goal is to empower them, so families are included in every decision made about them and their treatment. Families are taught to solve their own problems because when helpers do everything for them, they enable them. Enabling families can make them dependent, and this can result in them being unable to function when the helpers leave.
Most of the violence reduction strategies that I’ve heard of involve people coming in and saving our communities for us. The OVP is operating from the mindset that those closest to the problem have the best solutions, and they are implementing strategies that empower us to solve the problem of violence in our communities. The OVP is supporting two programs that rely on increased community involvement. They are the Group Violence Intervention (GVI) and Target Community Investment Grants (TCIG).
The GVI focuses on engaging the small group of people who are at the highest risk of being involved in violence. In this model, law enforcement, community members, and social services send this group the unified message that continued violence will not be tolerated. The TCIG gives grants up to $20,000 to grassroots organizations and community members who have ideas that could reduce violence.
I was awarded the TCIG, and I’ve developed and innovative approach to respond to violence. Many of the victims, perpetrators, and witnesses to violence have been traumatized, and they need to heal their emotional pain. Many of these people are also members of the hip hop culture, as their values, language, style of dress, and drug use is influenced by hip hop. That’s why a trauma informed approach that integrates hip hop culture and evidenced based clinical interventions is appropriate.
In times of war, MASH (Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals) provided mobile emergency medical services to soldiers injured on the battlefield. Operating like fully functioning hospitals, these units stabilized wounded soldiers before they reached hospitals. The violence in Philadelphia has residents feeling like their communities are battlefields, and like soldiers at war, experiencing and witnessing violence can cause PTSD, anxiety, depression, and addiction. M_A_S_H is an acronym for Mental Health Support After Sh** Happens, and the M_A_S_H Project is a mobile therapeutic intervention that stabilizes those who’ve experienced violence until they can get therapy.
In the M_A_S_H Project, I will facilitate wellness groups in Philadelphia communities that have been impacted by violence. At these trauma-informed groups, I’ll provide a safe space for people who’ve experienced violence to share their grief, anger, fear, and anxiety. These face-to-face groups will adhere to social distancing guidelines that include groups not exceeding 20 people, with all participants wearing masks, having their temperature taken, and being seated at least six feet apart. There will also be hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes available so participants can wash their hands and wipe down surfaces.
Before we talk about defunding the OVR, we, as a community, should become more active in solving the problem of violence in our communities. We can accomplish this by supporting the efforts of the OVP and other organizations trying to reduce violence. And since the media is a part of our communities, they could highlight some of the work done to reduce violence instead of continually underscoring its existence. Eradicating violence from our communities will be an arduous task, but we have to try. Trying is much better than blaming someone for not doing it for us.
To find out the dates and locations of wellness groups in your area, contact Instagram @whatsfree_honestyhurts, and to RSVP for a wellness group, contact honestyhurts.crc@gmail.com or (267) 354 0812.
“…It seems like nobody’s tryin man / there’s kids dyin…and nobody cares man / at least I’m tryin man. / Don’t ever let that fact that you can’t be perfect stop you from doing your best…” Murs — I’m Innocent
