Moving down a level to the experience of individual planners we will now explore how therapeutic planning looks like in a specific public engagement process. We will use the public meeting as a stand in because of its prominence as a public engagement tool, but these recommendations can be applied in any public engagement or public consultation process.
To begin, before an engagement activity even takes place it is important to understand the socio-emotional space of the community that is being engaged. Not all planning contexts will have the level of community conflict and trauma as planning with indigenous communities because colonialism is a rather embedded and complex harm. Some communities will bring that level of emotional complexity to the situation in which case the more specialized therapeutic communication techniques like deep democracy should be applied. However, in most contexts a simpler intervention may be required. One of the strengths of therapeutic planning is that it equips planners to respond to a wide range of communities.
Public meetings carry a legacy of trauma for both communities and the planners that facilitate them. A preliminary reflective process can help planners unpack the dark side of public meetings and how they can create space for transformation. Special attention should be paid to the potential for indigenous communities and other marginalized groups to be further harmed by this process. When preparing the format of the public meeting planners should ask themselves how they can create space for that history and for the emotional experience of participants.
Designing an engagement activity like Sarkissian’s speak out (1) allows the emotional experience of participants to be held and creates the opportunity for transformation and healing. Even with the inclusion of such an engagement activity, the public meeting is still a planning process where the goal is to move through the emotional experience of participants towards collective decision making. Recognizing the emotional experience of participants allows trauma and conflict to fuel that decision making rather than inhibit it.
Therapeutic planning requires an engagement team with the facilitative skills to hold conflict and trauma. Depending on the context, you may need to bring in therapeutic practitioners with more specialized skills. However, for most situations planners should be trained to recognize the role history, trauma and conflict play in the decision-making process and create space for them to be worked through. Throughout the public meeting it would be advisable to incorporate elements of reflective practice and mindfulness to help participants be present to their emotional experience, manage planner bias and address other problems as they arise. To continue with the iterative learning required for such care a final review of the evening should be undertaken addressing participant experience.
Recommendations for planners conducting public engagement processes:
This site has provided planners with some concrete recommendations to begin implementing the principles and techniques of therapeutic planning in their practice. While the responsibility for a more therapeutic approach to planning is great, planners need not fear. As this section has shown, there is ample opportunity to begin moving forward in planning education, professional bodies, planning firms/departments and in everyday public engagement activities. The recommendations above are to be used as a launch pad; inspiring planners to examine their practice for the possibility of care. The transformative power of therapeutic planning begins when planners are able to transform their self-perception of themselves into community caregivers. Implementing even one of these recommendations creates space for planners to begin to embrace the therapeutic imagination.
To begin, before an engagement activity even takes place it is important to understand the socio-emotional space of the community that is being engaged. Not all planning contexts will have the level of community conflict and trauma as planning with indigenous communities because colonialism is a rather embedded and complex harm. Some communities will bring that level of emotional complexity to the situation in which case the more specialized therapeutic communication techniques like deep democracy should be applied. However, in most contexts a simpler intervention may be required. One of the strengths of therapeutic planning is that it equips planners to respond to a wide range of communities.
Public meetings carry a legacy of trauma for both communities and the planners that facilitate them. A preliminary reflective process can help planners unpack the dark side of public meetings and how they can create space for transformation. Special attention should be paid to the potential for indigenous communities and other marginalized groups to be further harmed by this process. When preparing the format of the public meeting planners should ask themselves how they can create space for that history and for the emotional experience of participants.
Designing an engagement activity like Sarkissian’s speak out (1) allows the emotional experience of participants to be held and creates the opportunity for transformation and healing. Even with the inclusion of such an engagement activity, the public meeting is still a planning process where the goal is to move through the emotional experience of participants towards collective decision making. Recognizing the emotional experience of participants allows trauma and conflict to fuel that decision making rather than inhibit it.
Therapeutic planning requires an engagement team with the facilitative skills to hold conflict and trauma. Depending on the context, you may need to bring in therapeutic practitioners with more specialized skills. However, for most situations planners should be trained to recognize the role history, trauma and conflict play in the decision-making process and create space for them to be worked through. Throughout the public meeting it would be advisable to incorporate elements of reflective practice and mindfulness to help participants be present to their emotional experience, manage planner bias and address other problems as they arise. To continue with the iterative learning required for such care a final review of the evening should be undertaken addressing participant experience.
Recommendations for planners conducting public engagement processes:
- Conduct a preliminary scan of the community to identify any community traumas or conflicts that could influence participant experience of the process.
- Conduct a review of how the proposed process could contribute/mitigate the experience of trauma for indigenous communities and any other groups that have been harmed by past planning actions.
- Design an engagement process that treats emotions and conflict as valid expressions and creates space for them to be held in a respectful manner.
- Select/train an engagement team with skills in therapeutic communication.
- Incorporate elements of reflective practice and mindfulness throughout the process.
This site has provided planners with some concrete recommendations to begin implementing the principles and techniques of therapeutic planning in their practice. While the responsibility for a more therapeutic approach to planning is great, planners need not fear. As this section has shown, there is ample opportunity to begin moving forward in planning education, professional bodies, planning firms/departments and in everyday public engagement activities. The recommendations above are to be used as a launch pad; inspiring planners to examine their practice for the possibility of care. The transformative power of therapeutic planning begins when planners are able to transform their self-perception of themselves into community caregivers. Implementing even one of these recommendations creates space for planners to begin to embrace the therapeutic imagination.
1. Sandercock L. (2003). Cosmopolis 2: Mongrel cities of the 21st century. London: Continuum.