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Psychologically Informed Environments
Edited by Robin Johnson
Introduction
In this article, we build on our earlier paper ([34] Scanlon and Adlam, 2006) to examine how staff teams working with the "un-housed" can become (dis)stressed , dis-organised and potentially traumatised. We will argue that this happens irrespective of whether the (dis)stressing experience seems to come from the work with clients or from the dis-orienting effects of organisational and social change processes. Using a psycho-social, group-analytically informed systems-psychodynamic approach ([30] Obholzer and Roberts, 1994; [4] Armstrong, 2005; [23], [24] Hopper, 2003, 2012; [8] Campling et al. , 2004; [5] Ballat and Campling, 2011 inter alia ) we explore the complexity of the reciprocal relationships and the social and organisational parallel processes played out between those who provide housing services and those who use them; also between those are employed and those who employ them, as well as between those who commission these services and those who must manage them.
We suggest that, in the current socio-economic climate, all organisations concerned with the provision of housing, care and support will become increasingly (dis)stressed as they find themselves stuck in the middle between the dis-organisation of the systems they work in and the distressing nature of working with the clients they serve: between the "rock" of increasing demand and dependent need and the "hard place" of apparently decreasing resources.
Whether this is simply because there is just too much damage and dis-order and not enough resources or whether it is because we do not care enough about the plight of our fellow citizens to organise ourselves better to think about how better to redistribute the resources is a moot point. But in either case, in order to minimise the damage to all, we suggest that is vital that teams can think together about the importance of opening up reflective spaces for structured conversations, within the wider cultures of psychologically informed environments (PIEs), where these issues can be meaningfully thought about.
We will conclude by re-stating our view that, in order to be able to continue to work ethically, it is imperative that we open up reflective spaces for team development, within which we can struggle together to make sense of these painful and potentially compromising personal, professional, organisational and...