Social Labs 2.0 (Dignity not Stigma)
Good General Health and Wellbeing include good Mental Health and certainly Healthy Epigenetic Expression involves the experience of holistic perceptions of the Self and its meaningful subjectivities and value within a context of community inclusiveness which features autonomy and dignity (as well as agentiality).
Marginalization from the surrounding community or exclusion from a greater community of common affordances (relative deprivation) is not healthy socially and leads to a lower sense of self worth (often resulting in despondency and self injurious behaviors). Contemporary Social Services policies act to insure the greatest integration of the Social Services Consumer within the widest scope of Community possible.
Additionally, the Personality Itself is a Socially Constructed Reality that takes its cues from the context of the surrounding Environment and is brought forth during interactions via the Role(s) that Subjective Experientiality plays within these various contexts.
For Individuals living with Mental Health and Substance Use issues, these Roles become constrained and can seriously restrict the opportunity for experiential interactions within the more privileged affordabilities of the larger adult community. Such constraints may include:
- Limited access; whether by economic hardships or by Mental or physical barriers (or both), access to normal affordances is often restricted. These factors can be successfully addressed, typically in a systemic manner.
- Education and skill-sets; these factors can be addressed and eliminated, often with very positive results, typically at a group or individual level.
- Safety and Security concerns; Mental Health and Substance Use Individuals often are, or feel, more vulnerable to various exploitations and the results may compound pre-existing trauma. While Education certainly helps to address these issues, because the general public is predominantly unaware (or feels unimpressed by any urgency to inconvenience themselves in the matter), there is a convincing need to design artificially safe systems to sandbox the Social Services Consumer from Security threats and safety perils.
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Because of the above, it becomes important to provide our Consumers with Access to the Community in a greater sense than previously conceptualized. We must proactively ensure that our Individuals are afforded the same opportunities (or as close to it as we can come) as contemporary adults in general. And this can only become a reality in a dignified sense once the stigma of MH/SA is finally absent.
Due to the disinterest of general inconvenience (not to mention the willingness of mal-operants to exploit), we can only reinforce dignified non-stigma via the created opportunities inherent in a Supportive Community Experience intentionally built around Safety, Accessibility, Dignity and Self Worth.
If we are truly committed to visionary social programs distinguished by Excellence in a Leadership Context, then we owe it to our Membership to include Social Lab modules in our programs designed for the creation of Dignity (and the elimination of stigma).
This degree of Experiential Security can only be found within the Virtual World of specific ‘2nd Life’ Communities which are closed and constrained semi-enclosed members-only virtual edifices. The crucial need for such Secure Communities to our Membership is in their being a running counter-experience to divisive trolling with its exaggerated stigmatizing.
Additionally, in the current socio-political climate (of extreme polarization and divisive antagonisms brought upon us by the cyber-agents of computational disarray), we should have no trouble in finding ready and untapped sources of direct funding eager to counteract the current trend in on-line deception and societal disruption. Such support would benefit society as a whole while promoting our virtual community Lab-work and see a substantial up-sized return on investment.
Visionary Projects of this nature afford a coherent and focused search and acquisition strategy that facilitates the on-going quest for special funding. Additionally it brings our Leadership Context to the fore while enhancing our reputation as an Environment of Excellence within the Social Services Provider Community and Networked Professionals across the Commonwealth. It further serves to distinguish and distance us from any emerging competition in the field which may result from the growing trend of increased Marketization of Providers and Services.