For some of the people who come to us for help with their distress, counselling or therapy, which enables them to make sense of their inner worlds, may be just what they need. For others, the environment in which they live may be one of the main sources of their distress.
At the heart of the Social Response Cycle is the belief that very small initiatives can be of disproportionately large value to individuals or communities.
When Beverley Costa set up her first project using the Social Response Cycle in 2000, she thought that in 20 years’ time it would no longer be relevant. However, it seems that the Social Response Cycle is more relevant, and that the environmental, political, and social issues are even more urgent today. Communities are mobilising. Activism is increasing. People want to implement the ideas from activism but sometimes they don’t know how.
Beverley was moved to take action by her engagement with issues surrounding race, culture, multilingualism, and power. Your concerns may be about other pressing issues. The Social Response Cycle can help you to harness your therapeutic skills and experience to make a difference, at the individual and community level. It can be applied to the issues that matter to you.
It takes courage to step out of the comfort zone with which you're familiar. For psychological therapists that zone is the consulting room. A large step away from that comfort is not always necessary for social and environmental wellbeing projects to be designed and delivered. It may be a drop in the ocean. But we are all drops in the ocean. Without the drops, there is no ocean.