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Meaningful Participation: Designing Prevention with Community Voice · Professor Peterson’s Psychology Classroom

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The future of thought is here.
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All right,
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so here we are. This is now planning community participant
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and assessing capacity.
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So this worksheet asks us to consider something that I believe
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is really central to to the ethical community prevention.
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Are community members simply being invited to participate
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in a program, or are they actually helping shape the program?
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Those are not the same. So imagine that
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we spent several months developing a prevention program.
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We selected activities, established the schedule,
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determined the educational material, and decide
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how success is going to be measured.
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Then, just before implementation, we invite community
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members to a meeting and ask what they think.
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We might describe that as community involvement,
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but how much influence did the community members
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really have when the major decisions have
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already been made? And this is why this
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is kind of at that worksheet 3, at that beginning
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phase.
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Because I want you to imagine this, a new approach to
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this. We invite the community representatives into a planning process
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before the activities are finalized. We ask young people
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what type of activities they would find meaningful.
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We ask caregivers about scheduling and accessibility.
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We ask local service providers about referral
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options and organizational limits.
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And most importantly, we identify which decisions
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community members will be genuinely influenced.
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That's meaningful participation. In a Connected
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Pathways example, our population
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are not simply reviewing a completed plan.
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They may help shape priorities, activities,
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privacy explanations, and definitions of success.
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And consider this last point: who determines whether prevention
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program is successful? An organization might,
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and we've talked about this, they might count things like
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attendance, but young people might, or our population
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I should say, might tell us that success
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means having adults they trust, feeling comfortable
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asking for help, or having opportunities to
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participate without judgment. These outcomes
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are not necessarily competing with one another.
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But if we never ask community members what matters to them,
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we may measure what is easiest for the organization
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rather than what is most meaningful for the participants.
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So, in this worksheet, asks you to identify
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who recommends decisions,
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who has final decision-making authority,
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and how disagreements will be documented.
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The last part is important because
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meaningful participation doesn't require
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everything to be, to be agreed on.
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It requires that different perspectives at the minimum
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are taken seriously and considered.
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That doesn't mean all ideas and perspectives will completely
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dominate the program, but they'll be taken
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into consideration with respect.
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So,
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let's talk about what it actually takes for people
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to participate. We assume that
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inviting someone to a meeting is enough. But participation
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has cost. People, again, we have
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done this time again with throughout this class,
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people need transportation, childcare,
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and they have to check working schedules, school responsibilities.
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If it's a remote program, they need to look at limitations
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of internet access. And in a lot— some cases,
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language can also be a barrier if information is presented in
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one way that isn't accessible or culturally
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appropriate. All right, and I'll
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bring up this example, and I, I, I'm, I'm thinking that
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everyone will kind of do this, is when I first started at TOCC
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in 2017, and I started working with
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the behavioral health out here, one of
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the major kind of complaints that was recognized
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is the lack of Tana'atham speakers
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who can talk with and communicate,
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especially with their older and
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elderly relatives. Nation members.
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And so there was a big gap in language at that time
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that we had. Our service
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providers were getting younger and younger, and so for
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them, the language wasn't as important.
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And then we had a language barrier between behavioral
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health needs for the elderly and the
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capacity to provide that by the program.
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So, I'd encourage you to think about those things as
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you're thinking about what kind of prevention program that
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you're developing, okay? But also,
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especially with substance abuse prevention,
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privacy becomes particularly important.
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So, let's imagine the teenage example
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who wants to contribute ideas about prevention
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program, but worries that attending a meeting will cause
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others to assume they personally use substances.
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That's very, that's a really, that's a
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concern considering that when designing participation opportunities,
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our worksheet, this worksheet specifically asks us to avoid
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requiring personal substance use disclosure,
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that we're inviting people to be
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an active member and contribute,
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but that doesn't necessarily mean that they have to
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disclose their own substance use.
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So we can ask young people,
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We can ask young people what makes prevention activities
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useful without even asking them to reveal their
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personal histories.
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We can ask caregivers about access barriers without
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requiring them to discuss sensitive family experiences.
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And when we gather communities' perspectives without assuming
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that every participant represents everyone who
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shares their background. In other words,
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ethical participation requires more than that invitation.
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It requires attention to power,
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privacy, access, and trust.
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And so from there, we're going to shift from
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community participation to organizational capacity.
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And this is where prevention planning becomes more
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on the practical end. We may have a
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wonderful idea, we may have strong evidence for
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the supporting of the need, we may even enthusiastic
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community members who want to participate.
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But can the organization actually deliver the program?
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Capacity refers to resources,
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relationships, skills, and the system necessary
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to carry out the work.
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So this even includes thinking about staffing.
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Do we have people available to coordinate the program?
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Do they have necessary training? Can they realistically
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take on these responsibilities alongside
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other existing workloads? And also,
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what about the facilities? Do we have suitable
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meeting space? Is it accessible?
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Is it appropriate for the population we were hoping to serve?
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And then, of course, what about funding?
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Can we pay for materials, transportation,
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and participation costs? For the sake of this
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worksheet, I want you to know that I'm not going to have you develop all
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the costs unless you are truly developing
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a program, but I would want you to think about
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the cost. What would it realistically take
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to fund something like what you're coming up with?
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And we should also ask, what are all the potential partnerships?
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Do we have relationships with organizations that can provide support,
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or are we assuming that they'll partner with us later?
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So we haven't established those relationships, but they're going to think,
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oh, they're cool, so let's try and team up with them.
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And from my experience in program development, I will say that
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never really works. And this worksheet
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makes an important distinction between confirmed resources and
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proposed resources. So let me give you
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an example of this. Suppose we're planning a youth prevention workshop
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and we write that the local schools will provide a classroom space.
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And we have to think, has the school actually agreed to provide that space?
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If no, that's not a confirmed resource,
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it's a proposed partnership. And I will say,
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when I did consulting with some
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nonprofits that were trying to do
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some really cool things and programs and violence,
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mainly in the area of violence prevention,
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I would read through their program And they would mention all
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of these partnerships, and I would go through the
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list of partnerships saying, have you actually contacted
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them, and have they actually agreed?
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And for many of the partnerships they said
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they had, they were assumed partnerships.
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They just assumed that the school would love what
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they have. They assumed that the community center would
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be there. They assumed that an
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agency would be a part. And in some
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cases, that was the reason why their programs
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were failing, is because they made an assumption of
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partnership. Okay, and there's
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nothing wrong with proposing a partnership. But just
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remember that that may not be, at the point of writing your proposal,
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a reliable partnership. Okay, so let's
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now imagine we identify 3 capacity
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gaps. We need meeting location,
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some trained— someone trained to facilitate the session,
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and a reliable way for participants to reach the program.
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We don't simply write down those gaps and move on.
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For each gap, we need to identify a possible solution,
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the person, a role responsible
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for addressing it, and what must happen
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before implementation can begin.
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That makes our plan actionable. This is also where
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we begin to think about accountability. If participants have
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concerns, who is responsible?
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If partnership doesn't work as expected,
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who will coordinate a next step or an alternative?
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And when a planning group makes a decision, how will
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that information be communicated to everyone else involved?
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So, a prevention grant program Uh,
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needs more than just enthusiasm. It needs
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the structure that allows people to communicate, address problems,
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and maintain trust.
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And then we get to almost our final
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part, and that is,
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are we ready to begin? One of
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the favorite parts of worksheets 3 is the readiness assessment.
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You're asked to decide whether the program should proceed,
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proceed after specific changes, or narrow
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its scope. Notice that there's no assumptions that
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every proposed program should immediately move forward.
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Sometimes the most responsible decision is to wait.
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Sometimes we need additional community input. Put.
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Sometimes we need to secure partnerships or clarify
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responsibility, and sometimes we
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need to acknowledge that the original proposal was simply too ambitious.
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Imagine that our prevent— prevention team initially wanted—
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hold on— initially wanted— what
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am I trying to say? Did I— okay, I let Brienne, I think.
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All right, so let me restart this idea.
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So imagine that we, our prevention team initially
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wanted to offer weekly workshops across 5 communities.
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But after reviewing our resource,
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we realize we have enough staff
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and funding to support only 1 location.
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Would it be better to promise 5 programs
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that we cannot adequately support or begin with
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1 carefully designed pilot?
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And again, we would probably argue for the smaller.
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And this is again where I want to pause and just let
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you know I'm not asking you to actually really consider
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this. But remember that this should be
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part of your toolkit in the
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endeavors that you choose to. Okay, so I just ask
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for the worksheet that you kind of identify what,
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what might happen.
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And I do want to mention there are other— another consideration.
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If we reduce the program to one location,
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whose access might be affected? So how do
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you choose what community? And this illustrates
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why the 2 worksheets are connected between
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worksheet 2 and worksheet 3, because worksheet
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2 helps us understand what matters,
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while this worksheet 3 helps us to determine what
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we can responsibly accomplish and
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who should who should influence those decisions.
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And I want— and this is why these are being assigned together,
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because neither one should be treated as something we completely
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once and then forget.
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And as we learn more, our assumptions may change.
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Community members may be affected.
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An anticipated partnership may not materialize.
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And all of those things. So we need to make sure that we plan
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for those. So as
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we kind of finish up for today, I want you to think about
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relationships between these 2 worksheets.
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I want you to think about what's happening in this— in your community,
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what conditions may be contributing to
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your concern and what strengths already exist.
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Second, I— who should help
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us decide what to do, and do we have the
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capacity to do it responsibly? These are different
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connections, but they belong together. A prevention program can
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be based on strong evidence and still fail
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to engage the people it hopes to serve.
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Likewise, a program can have enthusiastic community
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support but lack the staffing resources and organizational
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structure. Our goal is to bring those pieces
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together. And so as you complete these workshop— worksheets,
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not workshops, worksheets— I want you
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to remember 3 ideas. First,
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community needs should be investigated rather
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than assumed. Second, community strengths
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and community voices should influence the actual design
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of the program. And third,
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responsible prevention programs must match its goals
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to the resources and relationships available to support it.
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And ultimately, Effective substance
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abuse prevention is not simply about identifying what
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people should avoid. It's also about understanding
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the environment in which people make decisions,
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recognizing strengths that already support them,
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and create opportunities for communities to help shape their own
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prevention efforts.