Annette Simmons

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Photostory

Brief Description of the Community

An urban community near a large southern city. this community is predominantly African-American and suffer the effects of poverty on the health and well-being of the residents and community at large. During the Spring of 1997, community residents worked with a University to identify and prioritize 5 community health concerns: elderly, violence, environment, family health and substance abuse. However, representation was limited and three years have elapsed.

They created a “governing board” to revisit the community’s health issues, increase awareness and dialogue related to the broad definition of health, and increase participation and representation within the community and university. This governing board had been in place for about five years.

One needs assessment had been completed but little else had been accomplished. We proposed to this project to use storytelling and photovoice to engage the community in creating a shared vision for a healthy community, a prioritized health agenda, and an action plan for implementation. The project was presented as a needs assessment but my expectation was that it would operate more as an intervention than a needs assessment. If I only knew then what I know now.

Population:

The neighborhood includes 7,600 acres with a population of approximately 33,900 people. Ethnic composition is 79.1% African American, 8.7% Hispanic, 9.8% White, and 2.2% Asian. Twenty-eight percent of families in X Community live below the poverty level and approximately 37% have household incomes under $15,000. Forty-one percent of the residents are employed in low paying retail jobs and 32% of the population over age 25 have less than a high school education

The Idea:
Photovoice was developed by Dr. Caroline Wang – handing out disposable cameras, having a community document their issues as they see them and then reflecting and dialoguing on these issues. We added storytelling to expand the project past a needs assessment and into a combined self-diagnostic/change-creating intervention.

The Basic Plan:

Aug. 27 Eight hours training – hand out disposable cameras to participants

Sept. 1 Cameras to be returned to facilitators for processing

Sept. 8 Distribute pictures and story worksheets back to participants

Sept. 15 Collect two photos per participant accompanied by 5 sentence story

Sept. 23 Facilitate a democratic process to choose 20 photos that are considered by the community to a.) move and inspire b.) tell a positive story without ignoring tough issues, and c.) invite curiosity. Dialogue about the stories the photos tell.

Oct.1-24 Send the PhotoStories on tour inside and outside the community -at the multi-purpose center, community meetings, at the University, and on my website to promote storytelling as a tool of self-advocacy.

Oct 25 Organize a community storytelling concert with slides of the PhotoStories on the day of the annual community banquet

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Victims of Victims

This picture was drawn by an employee of a large bureaucratic organization.  When she lifted it up, there was a hush of recognition in the group.   She said “This is me in the vice.  But it could be any of us, really.  We are all taking turns.  All of these people are just waiting their turn.  When we aren’t on the block getting screwed, we are helping turn the ropes and screwing each other.”   The emotional content of this picture is powerful.  Whereas, this group had verbally described their problem as having too much work and not enough support, this picture shows more of the story.  It reveals how the group was contributing to their own misery by how they treated each other.

Other drawings dealt with more typical good guy/bad guy themes.  One showed a garden (one manager was a sun, the other a cloud).  Another person drew a boat splitting down the middle as the two divisions rowed in different directions.   One side was happy the other sad.  Yet, all it takes is one deep thinker in a group.  Given a chance to effectively share how they see things, one perceptive soul can transform the rest.  This woman held a mirror up to the group that revealed a view they were missing.  It revealed that their problems weren’t necessarily all being caused by those big bad senior managers!  Those big bad senior managers might have provided the vice, but it was the people in the room that were turning the screws on each other!
I could have preached cooperation for days on end, but they needed to see if for themselves.  Once they saw their own contributions to the stress, they were no longer powerless victims.  It was too bad (and very telling) that both directors were “no show’s” that day.  A dialogue about dangerous truths only benefits the people in the room.   But their progress proves that a group can make real improvements even without leadership buy-in.  Reports to date show complaints from the field are down, formal grievances are down, and people are taking more responsibility to solve their own problems.

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Do a magic trick

If you want a story that will “make them see” once and for all, that you are right, you have missed the point.  There are many points of view, you look at mine and I might be willing to look at yours.  But if you over control a story, it makes you very boring and people simply shut down.  No one likes to be told what to think, even if you are pretending to tell a story.

Success can be frustrating too.  When, story creates powerful images that connect to your listener’s goals and inspirations, they may move past your original intentions, achieve more than you expected, and in different directions than you expected.   When you awaken full participation, you will not be in charge.

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Do a magic trick

If you want a story that will “make them see” once and for all, that you are right, you have missed the point.  There are many points of view, you look at mine and I might be willing to look at yours.  But if you over control a story, it makes you very boring and people simply shut down.  No one likes to be told what to think, even if you are pretending to tell a story.

Success can be frustrating too.  When, story creates powerful images that connect to your listener’s goals and inspirations, they may move past your original intentions, achieve more than you expected, and in different directions than you expected.   When you awaken full participation, you will not be in charge.

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Show them how it's done

Certain lessons are best learned from experience— but much of the time you can’t manufacture an experience for someone.  When the experience of failure is too expensive or disastrous to endure – story can simulate an experience so a learner can vicariously live the moments before, during, and after an event in the theater of his or her own mind.  Tell a teaching story that provides what the behavioral scientists call a “cognitive rehearsal” in the safety of the mind’s personal simulator – the imagination. [Read more…]