Whether self-help or helping profession, the act of improving the human and their well-being will become increasingly relegated to the efforts of algorithms. ChatGPT and its siblings are merely the latest and most visible actors in this game. The use of robots to provide physical help and company to the elderly, apps that surveil and […]
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What follows is an experimental essay I originally drafted in April 2013 applying Bakhtin’s exploration of the polyphonic to a standardized and simplified model of social work case notes. I lean on Timothy Lensmire’s interpretation of Bakhtin for use in teaching writing and Janis Fook’s exploration of radical case work. The essay was originally titled […]
I began this post on Yom Kippur of last year–and glad I started it then, because I have a tendency to forget these moments of insight if I don’t write them down. Thoughts on this subject have been percolating ever since. Actually, it may be more accurate to say that this essay has been percolating–the […]
This weekend, I read several papers by Ann Masten and colleagues (see references below) on the topic of Risk and Resilience. Risk is defined as anything which endangers positive and healthy development–trauma, war, violence, abuse, and so forth. Resilience is the “ordinary magic” that helps “people overcome risk or adversity to succeed in life” (Masten, […]