2020 has been a year the like of which historians claim the U.S. has not experienced since the days of the Great Depression. Even as I write, COVID-19 is breaking records of lives lost across this nation. Our clients, students, and we, ourselves, are filled with uncertainty, facing as Pauline Boss, PhD, LMFT coined, “ambiguous loss.” Many of us—just like those we serve—have been pushed to the limits of our coping-skills as our own lives—both personally and professionally—are marked by these recent events. If you have lost a loved one to COVID-19, I extend my sincere condolences to you for your loss. If you have simply survived the pandemic, then you, like so many, are probably feeling the weariness of strain from this past year.
As systemic thinkers, we witness and conceptualize the greater systems that are shaping the individual, the couple, the family, and society. While at the same time, we are swimming in that same tide, coping in our own spheres, ever mindful of the various impacts that will leave a lasting effect. We grieve, we rage, we mourn, we fight for hope, we gasp for air, and we strive for healthy, loving relationships to promote realized mental health.
Lately, exacerbated by the polarization we’ve experienced throughout our nation and the world, I have found myself engaged even more in consideration about the construct of community. What does it mean to live alongside one another, to understand, to build relationship, to co-exist? How might this inform AAMFT?
A search on the internet turns up helpful statements such as, “A community can… be defined by describing the social and political networks that link individuals, community organizations, and leaders.” This major study (Benjamin, 2011) by the U.S. government went on to state, “From a systems perspective, a community is similar to a living creature, comprising different parts that represent specialized functions, activities, or interests, each operating within specific boundaries to meet community needs.”
In Britain, the government published this statement: “We argue that conceptualising community is very important because of the ways in which interventions are framed in terms of concepts, has an enormous bearing on what is then done in the name of Community” (Walkerdine & Studdert, n.d.).
Due to social media platforms, many now consider the idea of community to be within the confines of a group they have joined. This may mean that they share an idea of being interconnected virtually, seeing one another’s posts for example, while never actually building an interpersonal relationship together outside of the internet. Gamers now define community as the “friends” they game with across the globe.
The idea of community is one that I have been curious about, watchful and considering just how it is lived-out throughout my life. Currently, my own personal working definition attempts to take these complex concepts and bring them together in a broader yet succinct construct of an aspirational goal: Community is a differentiated state of intentional inclusion and respect.
When I consider AAMFT, this complex organism that is an association, a corporation—in fact, multiple corporations under one corporate structure—and a body of members across the U.S., Canada and the world, my working definition opens the gate from exclusivity, while holding the realities of each person/s’ unique selfhood. This allows for differences, intersectionality, common factors, functions, roles, even geography and holds it together intentionally, respectfully.
In October, the World Health Organization put out a news release focusing on the dire need for mental healthcare funding. With most countries funding mental health at less than 2% of their overall health budget, and the severe disruption to access during the pandemic, an even greater need is mounting (Brunier, 2020). This need throughout the world clearly intersects with our profession and practice; these are the communities we serve, the stakeholders. The need is great. They are the individuals, couples and families who define our unique field.
The AAMFT Board of Directors, comprised of your elected officials, is tasked with casting vision, promoting relevancy, and making decisions to ensure the long-term security of this association. As president of the Board, I am dedicated to facilitating healthy board governance so that we can faithfully fulfill our responsibilities and live up to the accountability entrusted to us. As a board, we will function as a governance community, mindful of the greater systems that have impacted lives throughout this past pandemic year and continue our commitment for vision, relevancy and security of this association.
Collectively, we now turn the corner from a year that brought the world unforeseen challenges on every level, and purposefully pivot toward the days ahead. In the advent of 2021, honored to be serving as your president, I look across the horizon at our AAMFT community—living in a differentiated state of intentional inclusion and respect as educators, helpers, and healers by profession uniquely poised as relational mental health professionals—confident that we will continue with steadfast determination to do even more good in the world.
References
Benjamin, R. M. (2011). Principles of community engagement report. National Institutes of Health. Retrieved from https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/communityengagement/pce_concepts.html
Brunier, A. (2020). COVID-19 disrupting mental health services in most countries, WHO survey. World Health Organization. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/news/item/05-10-2020-covid-19-disrupting-mental-health-services-in-most-countries-who-survey
Walkerdine, V., & Studdert, D. (n.d.). Connected communities: Concepts and meanings of community in the social sciences. Arts and Humanities Research Council, UK. Retrieved from https://ahrc.ukri.org/documents/project-reports-and-reviews/connected-communities/concepts-and-meaning
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