“HERE WE ARE, AMAZINGLY ALIVE”: HOLDING OURSELVES TOGETHER WITH AN ETHIC OF SOCIAL JUSTICE IN COMMUNITY WORK

  • Cathy Lynn Richardson Writer
  • Vikki Reynolds Vancouver School of Narrative Therapy
DOI: https://doi.org/10.18357/ijcyfs31201210471
Keywords: solidarity, sustainability, resisting burnout, social justice, belonging, ethics

Abstract

In this paper, the authors describe their orientation to social justice based community work. The tenets of this work include: an ethical orientation towards staying alive in the work, descriptions of social justice, engaging with a hopeful skepticism, responding to privatized pain with justice-doing, and contesting the individualism of “burnout”. This is followed by reflections on the role of solidarity, the sacred, revolutionary love, resistance, and an ethic of belonging in the commitments to staying fully alive in community work. The authors discuss the importance of forging communities of care with other practitioners through shared and collectively held ethics. 

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Author Biography

Cathy Lynn Richardson, Writer
Cathy Richardson is an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Victoria, teaching in the Indigenous Specializations.  Cathy is a co-founder of the Centre for Response-Based practice, assisting in the recovery from violence and mistreatment.
Published
2012-01-17
How to Cite
Richardson, C. L., & Reynolds, V. (2012). “HERE WE ARE, AMAZINGLY ALIVE”: HOLDING OURSELVES TOGETHER WITH AN ETHIC OF SOCIAL JUSTICE IN COMMUNITY WORK. International Journal of Child, Youth and Family Studies, 3(1), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.18357/ijcyfs31201210471
Issue
Vol. 3 No. 1 (2012)
Section
Articles

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