SEEKING SOLUTIONS WITHOUT CENTERING PROBLEMS: FROM RESEARCH TO PRACTICE

Abstract

While it is often a commitment to social justice ideals that bring people to the helping professions as practitioners, our theories and approaches to care are often service-oriented and expert-driven. Such an orientation to helping often focuses more on individual change – that is, changing those who are experiencing difficulties – than it does on systemic or collective change. The current article offers one very accessible possibility for practitioners who have adolescent clients. By incorporating photo elicitation into the helping relationship, the social nature of “social” problems can be acknowledged and attended to, gently nudging the boundaries of practice in a way that is more contextualized, centering possibilities rather than problems.