PRACTICE
GFSS Explicit Affective Practice
1. Practice Background
We have developed an explicit model of practice which is providing encouraging and satisfying outcomes for families.
Our practice framework is a melding of the principles of 'Restorative Justice' (RJ) which universally incorporate an emotional component to interactions. The success of RJ interventions are widely acclaimed, we assert this success is due to its emphasis on the emotional component and ‘humanness’ in stark contrast to the technical rational process of many bureaucratic practices.
Our motivation for an improved approach grew from experiencing RJ at an emotional level. This affective experience stimulated our interest to develop a practice that could better assist our client group and our “Explicit Affective Practice” resulted.
The Affect Script paradigm developed by Silvan S Tomkins (1911-1991) and its practical application have been made accessible to our clients through our enquiry into and unfolding RJ practices.
RJ processes such as circles, family group conferencing, and young offender conferencing are defined practices where affective interactions result; arguably affective sharing underpins their success. With this knowledge we were drawn to discover the essence of these interactions and to make them explicit for use with our client families.
Tomkins’ Psychology of Affect describes the human hardwiring or the biology that facilitates the expression of emotions, and the subsequent scripts that form during our life; our biography. Our client evaluations demonstrate that the sharing this framework with client families enhances their ability to better understand and thus manage their emotions and subsequent behaviour through an education / counselling process.
"We have developed an explicit model of practice which is providing encouraging and satisfying outcomes for families."
2. Practice development
We initially used the Wagga Wagga Scripted RJ questions in a dialogue with families which assisted them to tell their story and importantly build an emotional rapport with us. These scripted questions elicit an emotional response while the story is being told, the sharing of the negative and positive affect around the presenting issue.
We then began to introduce our clients to the concept affects, by describing their emotional / behavioural responses as aligned with Tomkins’ theory of affects, and began to build what we have coined the “Tools of Life” by incorporating these together with RJ information.
The “Tools of Life”, our behaviour and emotion tool box, are suggested tools to modulate affect and emotions and subsequent behaviours.
The tools; found below; incorporate RJ’s explanatory diagrams such as; the Social Control Window, the Wagga Wagga Scripted questions, (www.realjustice.org)
Other tools have been incorporated from Tomkins theory of affect, Nathanson’s “Compass of Shame”, Tomkins’ “Blueprint for Life” and Kelly’s “Development of Healthy Bonds & Relationships Blueprint”. (www.tomkins.org).
Practice emphasis is always on the harm that has resulted from inappropriate or hurtful behaviours, to explore how this has impacted on significant others, and to identify what learning and understanding is needed to repair the fractured relationship, and to then practice new responses and behaviours. We have identified that strong relationships are the basis for personal resilience and ability to face future life’s challenges, our emotional safety net.
We introduce the notion of the separation of behaviour from the person and suggest that affects are contagious or transferable, we talk about Nathanson’s “Compass of Shame”and how behaviours described “in the compass” impact on relationships. “Donald L. Nathanson, M.D. was a Philadelphia-based psychiatrist with a lifetime interest in the nature of human emotion”. We also introduce our client families to Silvan Tomkins and his research as developed from Darwin’s work on human emotions. We continue to refer to our “Tools of Life” or our “practice framework” during the intake process; families are given snippets of the framework while they tell their story.
We call our interview room the lounge room, which has comfortable lounge room chairs and feels like any other lounge room but with the faces of affect and the compass of shame center stage.
We suggest that we are in the “fair process industry’, as is the philosophy of RJ, and that we can assist families remain together or part with dignity.
Some case studies have been presented to portray our explicit practice. Please go to our Case Studies page, here.
3. “Explicit Affective Practice”
Following an introduction to Restorative Justice and the theory of Affects in 2000, we decided to incorporate this philosophy as a whole of agency approach. This meant adopting a ‘principles behaviour framework’ that set the foundations for behaviours within the agency and in relation to service delivery to clients. With an understanding of Tomkins’ “Theory of Affects” and Nathanson’s “Compass of Shame”, our practice has become uniform among staff working relationships and in our service delivery to client families. Our framework allows for clear separation of behaviours that impact on relationships and incorporates the “Tools of Life” to understand, share the harm and repair harmed relationships.
9 BASIC EMOTIONS THEORY (TOMKINS, 1962)
NINE basic fundamental and universal affects:
1. interest - excitement
2. enjoyment - joy
3. surprise - startle
4. distress - anguish
5. Disgust
6. anger - rage
7. Shame - humiliation
8.Fear- terror
9. Dissmell