“Real Partnering” Through Vamos Juguemos
As told by Jessica Nunan of Caminar Latino
Many times when we start our programs, we are working to meet a need in the community and do not start with a clear and specific strategy. We notice a gap in services and spring into action to fill that gap.
Caminar Latino started like this in Atlanta, GA in 1990 when Dr. Julia Perilla was invited by Sister Barbara Harrington to address the domestic violence related injuries among Latinas she was seeing in her mobile health clinic in the community. Based on the convention of the time, Dr. Perilla started support groups in Spanish to address the language barriers to accessing existing DV resources. However survivors quickly exposed the assumptions in that model. For them, leaving their partners was not only unrealistic but also not always desirable.
These and many more insights inspired Dr. Perilla to shift her approach and begin to lift up survivors as experts on what would actually be helpful and supportive to them as they managed relationships with people who were using violence. They called for services for their children as well as for their partners. They knew intuitively that in order for there to be deep long lasting change in their families and communities, men, women and children all needed support.
This start for Caminar Latino led to many other powerful opportunities to live their principles of authentic partnerships, positioning survivors as experts and inviting their guidance on the way forward on programs. One such experience was the Vamos Jugemos (Let’s Play) program.
Vamos Jugemos was designed to investigate non-traditional ways to enhance the relationship between the child and the ‘non-offending’ parent. They wanted to create opportunities for families to be together without any barriers like planning, cost or transportation. These opportunities could be baking together, going camping, watching a soccer match or just watching a movie. Program developers were interested in whether these kinds of opportunities had the same, more or less impact than traditional family therapy.
In the first year, program staff came up with ideas and solicited feedback from program participants on satisfaction and ideas for future improvement in a continuous monitoring process. This process pushed them to challenge all their assumptions and ask about everything in detail. For instance, when planning the baking activities, they realized that they had to ask basic questions like “do you have a working oven” and if not, they had to strategize a work around to ensure that family’s participation in the program. They were able to focus on meeting people where they are with what they needed. They also consistently checked in about communication style and noticed that even though something appeared to be working for a while, a new strategy brought new voices into the conversation. Mixing up how they reached people actually increased engagement.
Hearing from diverse perspectives also revealed some important growth edges for the program. They are still learning more about how to meet the needs of families with children who are on the Autism spectrum. They are exploring creative strategies to support families who cannot miss work to participate. And prioritizing activities that are inclusive, considering all kinds of family structures and members, such as grandmothers and new boyfriends.
As with any program, Vamos Jugemos faced some challenges that raised important questions about their strategy. From the start, they operated with the assumption that family therapy included both parent and child. They realized that they needed to be more flexible and offer therapy to parents independently at times to deal with parenting struggles independent of the violence in their relationship. Putting parents and their children together for longer periods in this program also exposed difficult situations that they had not planned for like how to deal with parenting styles that included punishment. The tough conversations this generated created new opportunities to address what it means to decolonize parenting.
Learn more about Caminar Latino’s FVPSA funded SSAPC project.
