Conclusion: complex dependencies and the dilemmas of modern welfare

Lousada, Julian

doi:10.4324/9780429472503-9

Cited by 7 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…Project workers were subject to contradictory discourses about independence in their work, with psychological literature emphasising the role of compound trauma in creating disconnection and dependence (Bramley and Fitzpatrick, 2015), jarring against a society which values individual responsibility (Cooper and Lousada, 2005). Project workers described the fundamental role of “interdependence” (Williamson, 2018, p. 247), dependable and secure relationships with residents, which could be operationalised as focussing on “small wins” and “scaffolding” support over time to build confidence.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This study has sought to understand project workers’ experiences of building relationships with PEH in context. This context is one in which societal narratives place individual responsibility on PEH and align dependency with “scroungers and malingerers” (Cooper and Lousada, 2005, p. 153); thus, understanding homelessness as a choice and removing a sense of collective responsibility (Reynolds, 2012). It is a context in which personal budgets, services and housing options available to vulnerable people are being cut and discontinued (National Audit Office, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Building connection against the odds: project workers relationships with people experiencing homelessness

Watson¹,

Nolte

Brown

2019

HCS

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Purpose Trusting and empathic relationships between project workers and people experiencing homelessness (PEH) form the cornerstone for their needs to be met. However, under the UK austerity agenda project workers practice in a context of increasing pressure and limited resources; with relationships often characterised by conditionality and disconnection. The purpose of this paper is to report on a study investigating project workers’ experiences of building relationships with PEH living in supported housing projects. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative design was employed in which focus groups were carried out in six projects, using an opportunity sample of 22 project workers. Data were analysed using thematic analysis, within a social constructionist epistemology. Findings Three main themes were identified: “Working hard to build connection”, “Supporting each other within an unsupportive context” and “Draining but sustaining”. Project workers acted out of strong value systems in building relationships with residents against a backdrop of systemic disconnection. Originality/value Clear clinical implications are put forward with in a Psychologically Informed Environment framework. Services supporting PEH need to be psychologically informed and organisations need to embed reflection within their policies and every day practice. In developing services for PEH interdependence not in/dependence needs to be the aim. Finally, the responsibility for improving the lives of PEH should be placed back on society to provide a context in which PEH can thrive.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Building connection against the odds: project workers relationships with people experiencing homelessness

Watson¹,

Nolte

Brown

2019

HCS

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“…There is some available psychoanalytic literature to understand the emotional impact of changes in the NHS and social services (Ballatt and Campling, 2011; Cooper and Lousada, 2005). This article adds a group analytic perspective and highlights how the original commitments of the NHS permeate employees and patients through the social unconscious, creating multiple conflicts when new reorganizations and denied privatizations emerge.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In understanding the reorganization processes as well as functioning of institutions, psychoanalytic and group analytic literature have produced a wide range of theories (we refer the reader to further literature Bell, 2019; Hinshelwood, 2001; Cooper and Lousada, 2005 among others).…”

Section: Foulkes and Group Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Swimming in the waters of a sinking National Health Service (NHS): A group analytic perspective

Malda-Castillo¹,

Anderson²

2021

Group Analysis

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This article examines the psychological effects of the reorganization of the NHS. Through a combination of theoretical and clinical perspectives, the authors describe the psychological effects of the neoliberal and privatizing policies that have changed the landmark of the NHS in England. The article uses Foulkes’ main theoretical viewpoints as well as some Bionian ideas in an attempt to illustrate the losses, challenges, tensions and opportunities that the NHS has experienced in the face of change and pressure. The ultimate aim is to describe how group analytic theory and technique could aid understanding of, and thereby alleviate, some of the pain that the organization has endured through this process.

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“…Our emotional needs and our relationships are dangerous weaknesses that must be seconded to the goal of successful acquisitiveness and the disadvantaged are made to feel responsible for their helplessness. But as Cooper and Lousada (2005) point out, 'being a user, a patient, a recipient, is a role taken up reluctantly, a role that is predicated on the failure of physical or psychic health and/or on the failure of familial, social or economic containers' (p. 87). Lasch (1985) has an interesting take on cultures organized round mass consumption, suggesting that these encourage a particular form of narcissism, seeing the world as a mirror, 'not because it makes people grasping and self-assertive but because it makes them weak and dependent.…”

Section: Hope In Societymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Birth and Death of Hope

Knox¹

2023

Brit J Psychotherapy

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I discuss the origins of the capacity to hope, its roots in the infant's experience of a loving and secure relationship with their caregiver. The infant's awareness of his or her own mental and emotional agency can gradually develop and so the capacity to channel desires and impulses, and to expect an attuned response. I suggest that the failure of this intersubjective developmental process gives rise to an enduring sense of hopelessness, an expectation that emotional needs and desires will never be met. The key role that play has in the development of hope is discussed from psychoanalytic and neuroscientific perspectives. The impact that a patient's persistent hopelessness has for psychoanalytic psychotherapy practice is explored, its function as a defence against any new, spontaneous relational experience which might activate trust and hope. Internal and external change and transference dependence are resisted as the patient fears becoming vulnerable to being abandoned or rejected by the analyst. I explore some socio‐political aspects of hope and hopelessness, such as the belief that people deserve their success in society and the self‐blame, shame and hopelessness that result from an experience of economic or social failure. I discuss the possibility that hope in human relationship and in our humanity can survive in the face of overwhelming catastrophe.

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Conclusion: complex dependencies and the dilemmas of modern welfare

Cited by 7 publications

References 0 publications

Building connection against the odds: project workers relationships with people experiencing homelessness

Building connection against the odds: project workers relationships with people experiencing homelessness

Swimming in the waters of a sinking National Health Service (NHS): A group analytic perspective

The Birth and Death of Hope

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