Cruser-Community Educator Paper

 

Comments on Scott and Jillian's papers. thank you 

 

 

 

Community Educator Roles in Mental Health

Amanda Cruser

Ball State University

 

 

EDAC 648

Professor Bo Chang

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Community educators abound in current and past societies. This abundance is so prevalent that their place and impact on their communities and can easily be overlooked and taken advantage.  The role of community educator can run the gauntlet from the very basic and clearly defined adult education teachers and instructors, the more vague roles of physicians and non-profit administrators, to the obscure, substantially unknown roles of adult life skills instructors.  Community education is a vast profession encompassing those individuals from diverse backgrounds and training while maintaining shared ideas and working toward common goals, adult independence and awareness.  The term community conjures the image of vastness, yet togetherness, which can be made tangible to community members through the utilization of available community education services. 

            Community, as has been identified by various authors and scholars, incorporates the main ideals of many different groups of people living, working, or sharing a centralized locale for services.  Most specifically community has been defined as a “specific geographic location” in which lives a population based in shared ideas, norms, social functions, and “affect-laden relationships” (Warren, 1978; Van Der Veen, 2003).  What these concepts mean to a generalized public made up of these communities is that there are various points in which communities and community members would interact, thus encouraging the development of a larger, more considerable community at large.  Communities consist of populations made up of various cultures, ethnicities, moral and religious beliefs, many different types of people from assorted upbringings, and nomadic individuals who may not stay in one areas long enough to feel apart of any given community or set of ideals.

            Building from the basic understanding and definitions of community there are many various and varied programs available to provide access to community and civic engagement. Community education can be developed to include anything from career education, citizenship awareness, and parent education, to active senior activities.  All of these aspects of educating others are include in community development practices as a means to keep the population informed of and abreast to daily happenings as well as larger, external events that would have an impact on their community.  As Van Der Veen (2003) points out individuals engaged in active social roles within their communities are more likely to have a higher socio-economic standing and more in depth understandings of the daily functions of and their role within their community.  This need for critical awareness and insight reflects the need for community educators to bring their knowledge and involvement to the forefront of their locality to assemble and educate the citizens of their communities.

            Community educators hold vast positions throughout careers in business; training director, human resources, public relations; the medical field; clinical training, patient educator, public health; political posts; consultant, community development, grant writing; and have some impact on nearly every other profession (Career Options, 2013).  The training of a community educator is also vast and encompassing of many different backgrounds, educational levels, and personal interests.  This writer feels the ability to draw from multiple experiences and personal curiosity is what sets the field of community educators apart from that of more structured education roles in secondary education, for instance.   As Zemlo, Clark, Nauff, and Nelson point out in their 1990 article, there has been and continues to be and increased need for highly skilled and adaptable individuals in the field of community education.  The authors go on to describe levels of community education starting at a basic level of scheduling, planning, advising, etc; moving forward to implementation and administrative tasks which culminate in the future generations of educators who will be tasked to demonstrate the process and results of the preceding planning periods (Zemlo, et. al., 1990).  This is the task of any community educator, to bring communities together through creating awareness of and civic engagement surrounding issues and concerns of the local population. 

 In review of Warren’s 1978 article “A Community Model” readers can find more involved criteria on these interconnected communities and the social functions within them.  Warren (1978) points out that there are “five functions of locality relevance” that demonstrate the influence clustering of populations has on individual’s daily activities.  According to Warren (1978), these five major functions are:

1.      Production-distribution-consumption

2.      Socialization

3.      Social control

4.      Social participation

5.      Mutual support

These functions fulfill Warren’s consideration of a community to include a “combination of social units and systems that perform the major social functions having locality relevance” (Warren, 1978).  The five listed functions serve as a means to contribute to the local community by providing the roles necessary for successful daily operations within that local population area.       The first function, production-distribution-consumption can be connected to mental health provider roles in such a manner that providers; therapists, counselors, case managers, etc; produce materials regarding client diagnosis and treatment options to be distributed to clients, those people enrolled in services and are therefore consuming this information.  The function of socialization, as described by Warren (1978), can be seen in group and individual therapy sessions in which the conductor of the session is sharing their knowledge regarding “ways of living” to the client.  This writer believes the functions of both social control and social participation can be seen in a group therapy session.  Group therapy in mental health settings involves both “the process through which a group influences the behavior of its members” and provides a “local access” to that necessary social participation required of all fundamentally sound mental health programs (Warren, 1978).  Finally, mutual support can be seen in many newly developed programs and treatments as organizations are finding new and inventive methods of including clients in the inner workings of the organization.  For instance, various agencies throughout Indianapolis are operating with clients performing basic business functions; cleaning, stocking, gardening, mentoring services, and even boards made up of clients in order for the organization to gain a better understanding of client needs and how the services are perceived.  Based solely in Warren’s community model, is it fairly straightforward to distinguish the community element of mental health programs and treatment services.

            John, as this paper’s interviewee preferred to be known, holds the position of Care Coordinator/Life Skills Instructor at a major mental and behavioral health organization in Indianapolis.  John holds a Bachelor Degree in Psychology from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (personal communication, January 17, 2014).  John reports his held positions utilizing this degree include adult group home employee, child group home supervisor, and now current position working in adult mental health as a life skills instructor (personal communication, January 17, 2014).  John was interviewed by this writer, in person regarding his daily tasks in preforming his job functions, his thoughts on community, and if he considers his position to be that of a community educator.  This writer was able to better educate their interviewee as to the role of community educator and to the degree of which his job position embodies the ideals and concepts of adult community education.

            John shared similar thoughts to that of the text in regard to what a community is and how one is developed.  He simply stated, “A community is a group of people living in the same area” (personal communication, January 17, 2014).  Discuss followed pertaining to getting people involved in their community, “it’s easier to involved children than parents because kids can go to afterschool clubs and events where they interact with other kids from all across the city”; how a community educator receives the job title and what they do, “years and years of schooling in public health mostly”; and what about his current position makes him a community educator (personal communication, January 17, 2014).  John’s misconceptions pertaining to community education may potentially be held by more people throughout many communities, thus echoing a need for the educator to step up and take on a more complete, directive place in their communities.

            Upon first meeting John and engaging in discussion regarding his understanding of community and community education there was a definite apprehension of his place in the realm of community education.  John stated that he felt a community educator was a more prestigious role than that of his own in which the educator is highly trained and holds advanced degrees in complex fields of study and education, none of which reflects his level of undergraduate education (personal communication, January 17, 2014).  While John was open to the concept of his workplace, staff, and clients being a community he was reluctant to acknowledge his involvement in the education aspect.  During the interview John described his day-to-day tasks of “making sure clients take their medication, have medication refills and plan ahead for making refill requests, ensure clients are eating appropriately, tracking money and spending, get them to appointments, go to staff meetings, chart client interactions, and a lot more stuff during the day.”  None of which stood out to him as taking on an educator role.

            During this interaction John was encouraged to share and assess his involvement in the community on both a personal level and professionally. John reports his day to day interaction with clients proceeds as follows:

“I start my day with staffing to discuss current and potential new clients; their needs, what appointments they have coming up, coordinating various care with other providers and staff, update charts and records with this new information from the staff meeting.  I then leave the office for an entire day of home visits, grocery store trips, and doctor appointments;  During the client sessions I address basic life skills that are necessary for the client to continue to function fully and live on their own” (personal communication, January 17, 2014). 

John was then asked to what purpose his role fills if there are, in fact, group home and state hospitals for the client to live if they cannot care for themselves. “Due to state funding cuts and general decline in funding for mental health services, these options have also been limited and many clients have been forced to live on their in the community”, John explains during the interview.  When encouraged to compare his tasks to that of other community educators John found that while they are similar, there is no real tangible training or grandeur within his specific field of life skills instruction that would make him believe he is fully an educator (personal communication, January 17, 2014).

            Drawing from the time spent speaking with John and researching community educators it is clear to see there is any multitude of avenues for career paths and interests professionals may follow.  There are more formal roles to take on such as adult basic education, vocational educator, health educator, and eLearning developer (Career Options, 2013).  Roles of the less direct education route include volunteer service coordinator, public relations, and social services directors (Career Options, 2013).  Along with these roles, one’s education level may vary, as seen through John’s place in community education and how he describes his understanding of community educators.  Many points and implications can be drawn from the lack of direct understanding as to who community educators are and what they do.  It is certain there are never-ending possibilities for those whose interests align with the needs of adult and community education services.

            This writer can pinpoint findings, following the research and interview process, of the need for community educators to be better educated on the role they plan in the community.  John firmly believes his position within the mental health field has no connection to community education although he is providing a priceless service to individuals to keep them living, functioning, and serving in their own communities.  There are discrepancies between the professional, formal field of community education and that of the non-formal, social service providers.  While there are abundant resources and references outlining community educators and education as essential to the health fields; community health educator, nurse educator, clinical coordinator, etc.; there is rare mention of the more minor, but essential roles mental health providers play in the field of community education.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summary of the Community Educator

Items	The main ideas of the interview (Check Findings)	Application of the main ideas in practice (check Implications)
Community educators – who are they? List some examples	Program Coordinator Company Training Community Services Director Outreach and Development Mental Health Providers Financial Planners Staff Development    (Career, 2013; Community, n.d.)	Educators do just that, educate. Any person in a leader role and position of sharing knowledge may be considered a community educator.
Duties/responsibilities	Educate the general public on social issues; Educate students in formal and informal learning environments; Provide necessary services to ensure adult independence; Chart/log/assess programs, services, and usage; Facilitate, implement, and assess	Through public education, the community to better aware of their abilities and how to use those skills in improve their community and initiate social change. The duties of community educators and day to day tasks fulfill this need for community education services.
Working environments	Offices At home (remote/distance) Schools Community	Community educators have much flexibility in their working environments.
Career path	Based in life experience; Formally trained in university, vocational school setting; Possible higher education degree holders; Entry-level teaching, training, administrative, political, health care related positions to get into the field of community education.	In addition to flexible working environments, community educators also draw from various backgrounds and level of education to adapt to social and educational situations to best serve their learners.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

 

Career options. (2013). Indiana university of Pennsylvania. Retrieved from http://www.iup.edu/page.aspx?id=49437

Community education job description. (n.d.) Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Retrieved from http://fscp.dpi.wi.gov/fscp_cejobdes

Van Der Veen, R. (2003). Community development as citizen education. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 22(6), 580-596.

Warren, R.L. (1978). The community in america (3^rd Ed.). New York, NY: University Press of America.

Zemlo, J.S., Clark, P.A., Lauff Jr, S., & Nelson Jr, E.G. (1990). A new generation of community education. Education Digest, 56(1), 72-75.