Before I come to actual descriptions/critiques of modalities that I consider helpful I would like to discuss the presence of what I will describe as complex variables (things that are complex, and are continually varying, or changing), and their significance in family support work. (If you have skipped to this post it might be helpful, before you read on, to read the post on complexity in the Chapter on Systems Theory).
In addition to the real-life examples of the incidents in the last Sub-Chapter, this Sub-Chapter offers a theoretical rationale for the selection of some modalities over others.
Having studied mathematics and physics in some depth I became familiar with complex variables.
When I first learned about them (or tried to), they applied in engineering, and in electronic communications in respect of transmission of radio waves and such matters.
Because I went straight from the world of radar and radio to the world of helping people in distress I often pondered on what I carried with me – and how they could be applied, that is, if they were of any practical use.
The thing that struck me when I thought about it a bit was that the understanding and use of complex variables for the benefit of humans was primarily in the mental sphere of our being.
But in the emotional sphere, there is complexity also – though of a different kind.
Compare the heart (what we feel – complexity – fluidity – aliveness – uncertainty) to the head (what we think – complicated – separate moving parts – mechanical – certainty).
That is not to say that one doesn’t get emotional about matters of the head, i.e. mathematics – it can be an immensely exciting and at the same time frustrating discipline! But when it’s done it’s done, and the same equations can be applied at different times and in different places and give us the same results. And a radio wave transmitted from Ulaan Baatar will have the same properties, and will be similarly affected by different factors at both its point and path of transmission, as one transmitted from Lesotho.
As I gained more knowledge and experience of psychotherapy, social work, youth work, community work and such disciplines I learned words and phrases such as social capital, person centred work, developmental milestones, resilience, pro-social behaviour, recidivism and many more.
These terms replaced the terms that I was accustomed to using up to that time, such as communication, propagation, attenuation, amplification and complex variables!
I was often struck at how some of the terms could be applied in both fields.
The most striking one that was common to both was, of course communication. Electronic communication and personal communication are quite different, but there were other less obvious ones.
For example, the uncertainty principle (which I first came across in quantum physics) I recognised to be of particular relevance in the field of helping people. Another word propagation (which has a specific meaning for radio waves) – has a slightly different meaning in the human context.
And, having come from the Army, words like security and secure (locks, bolts, guardrooms armaments, secrecy) have completely different meanings in the military and the security forces to the meanings that they have in the world of relationships and helping people. Remember the secure base in this post?
And finally, the above mentioned complex variable, a term that I don’t remember seeing in a social work, psychotherapy or community work manual or book, is, (as I will argue in the next post) very relevant in the world of helping people in distress.