Ethical Community Change- Reflecting on Principles and Practice

Ethical Community Change- Reflecting on Principles and Practice

Ethics can be referred to as the code of behavior or thinking that is governed by social, legal, moral, and personal standards of what is considered right. The meaning of right within a community comprises the guiding principles that most community members agree with. Changes within a community need to incorporate various ethical standards. Therefore, an ethical community change can be referred to as the moral guidelines or standards that guide any changes made within a community.

Ethical planned change means making ethical preparations that will drive a community toward a new direction. The community has the moral obligation to indulge in communal processes that will address any ongoing challenges that are experienced within the community. For instance, if the community experiences such challenges as increased substance use among teenagers, then it would be necessary for the community to indulge in an ethically planned change that will address such problems while promoting individual responsibility, confidentiality, and privacy and also considering such issues as ethnicity and race as well as socially vulnerable populations.

Trauma-informed approaches can help improve safety, peer support, empowerment, mutuality and collaboration, and transparency and trustworthiness during organizational and community change (SAMHSA’s Trauma and Justice Strategic Initiative, 2014).  A trauma-informed approach strives to resist the re-traumatization of the clients. Most organizations and communities tend to unintentionally generate toxic or stressful environments that are likely to interfere with clients’ recovery and well-being. Therefore, in promoting changes in practices, a community or organization using a trauma-informed approach will strive to recognize how any practices might be re-traumatizing to individuals and make critical changes to such practices. My research focuses on the opioid-use disorder. A trauma-informed approach will strive to find out adverse community environments and childhood experiences that might have contributed to the use and addiction of opioids and indulge in necessary steps to prevent re-traumatization and possible relapse.

Anti-racism refers to the ongoing and active process of dismantling systems that promote racial inequality and generating new systems that support racial equity. Anti-racist approaches can, therefore, help promote racial equity, transparency, and respect in organizational and ethical community change. This would mean ensuring that everyone has a voice and that issues of racial inequalities are addressed.

When making an ethical change in a community, it is essential to consider certain essential aspects, namely, respect for diversity, inclusion, and accountability. A community is generally comprised of individuals from different backgrounds. There might be issues of balance of power as individuals from, say, certain races or social statuses might be treated better or worse than others. Therefore, while making ethical changes within the community, it will be essential to ensure that every member is treated with the utmost respect and that racial equity is attained. Every member should have a voice, and non-coercive and non-judgmental services should be offered to the community members.

Furthermore, inclusion is an important aspect of ensuring successful ethical community change. Change can be fostered when there is little or no resistance, and one way of avoiding this is to ensure that every member is included in the process. Inclusion will foster collaboration and trust among the members and facilitate a smooth transition. Inclusion will help empower members and help bring about community and organizational change. Lastly, accountability is required to foster trust and transparency. Accountability to the relevant stakeholders is required as this will also help identify the needs, strengths, and weaknesses that might have been encountered in the community change process.

Subsequent Steps

The next steps would be to gather information about the community, explore professional knowledge base conditions, opportunities, needs, or problems, and develop a working hypothesis. Information on the individuals suffering from opioid use disorder in Richmond, Virginia, will be obtained. It is known that the use of opioids is a major epidemic in the US, claiming the lives of various individuals in Richmond and the country as a whole (American Psychiatric Association, n.d). There is an increment in the number of African Americans who overdose on opioids, which is a worrying statistic that needs to be addressed (Lippold, 2019). Individuals who have suffered some form of trauma tend to experience higher rates of opioid use, and more than 2 million individuals make use of prescribed opioid pain medications. The next step would require the use of an anti-racist and trauma-informed approach to deal with the problem of opioid overuse in the community of Richmond, Virginia.

The community identified is Richmond, Virginia, and the individuals that will be addressed are individuals suffering from opioid use disorder. Research shows that in 2018, there were about 1193 opioid-related overdoses, and in Richmond, Virginia, 70 opioid-related overdoses were recorded in a year (NIDA, 2020). The majority of the individuals at risk of overdosing from opioids are released prisoners. Furthermore, most opioid users suffer from various mental health problems. Research shows an increment of 103 percent in opioid mortality among African Americans between 2015 and 2017 (NIDA, 2020). Caucasian individuals, especially those in metropolitan areas, form the highest number of opioid users in the community. Some of the identified community needs include reducing stigma towards opioid use disorder, enhancing treatment availability, and lessening unnecessary opioid prescriptions.

Based on my information regarding the community, I am now ready to meet the needs identified. This would mean gathering the necessary resources and involving the necessary stakeholders to help attain the community’s needs. One of the best ways to acquire the required resources would be to identify the existing resources first. In this case, social support is considered one of the community’s greatest strengths, helping individuals struggling with opioid use disorder. Support from the community, family, and friends is likely to increase the probability of recovery. The next step would be to find additional resources that are needed to help individuals suffering from opioid use disorder. Such resources should take into consideration the fact that most opioid users suffer from homelessness, co-occurring mental health illnesses, have a criminal history, and come from broken families. Therefore, necessary referrals to organizations that provide mental health services, housing, and rehabilitation services will be required.

Group Process

The group process is a highly enlightening experience, even though it might have various challenges, particularly in regard to making decisions. The process was made easy once everyone’s role was defined, which helped eliminate confusion. Furthermore, the diversity in the group made it possible for various creative and innovative ideas to be implemented. However, such diverse teams also brought about significant trouble in regard to communication. Due to a lack of cultural sensitivity and awareness by some of the group members, working in a diverse team brought about certain conflicts and problems in communication. However, through good leadership, some of the differences were resolved, and the team worked well with the common goal of solving the community problem of opioid overuse.

References

American Psychiatric Association. (n.d.). Opioid use disorder. Addiction and substance use disorders. Retrieved November 5, 2021, from https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/addiction/opioid-use-disorder

Lippold, K. M. (2019, November 1). Racial/Ethnic and Age-Group Differences in Opioid and Synthetic. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved 2021, from https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/68/wr/mm6843a3.htm

NIDA. (2020, April 3). Virginia: Opioid-Involved Deaths and Related Harms. Retrieved from https://www.drugabuse.gov/drug-topics/opioids/opioid-summaries-by-state/virginia-opioid-involved-deaths-related-harms

SAMHSA’S Trauma and Justice Strategic Initiative. (2014). SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach. Retrieved from https://ncsacw.samhsa.gov/userfiles/files/SAMHSA_

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Final Product: The final individual product is a written paper, double-spaced and 4-5 pages in length. The paper is mostly reflective, meaning that “I” statements are welcomed as you speak from your experience. You will also be defining ethical change, and successful papers will cite a minimum of 4 sources using APA formatting on a reference page. Do not exceed the page limit (-5 points for each page over the limit).

Ethical Community Change- Reflecting on Principles and Practice

Demonstrate your knowledge and reflections on ethical community change.
Define ethical community change based on your reading about communities, organizations, and planning change within them.
Reflect on the idea of ethical planned change.
What is the role of trauma-informed and anti-racist approaches to ethical community and organizational change?
What are 3 things you need to consider when making ethical changes in communities? Be specific and elaborate on each.
Identify your next steps.
Look back on the organization you identified, the community that you identified, and their needs.
Based on what you know, are you ready to meet this community’s needs? What is your next step?
Reflect on the group process.
What did you learn through the group process? What is the value and also the burden of working in groups to solve community problems?