Poon – creating systems maps

So we were able to go to different communities across the province and we really wanted to ask the question is, from your perspective as a community – this is where the lived experience part of it comes into play – from the perspectives of those in the community, what do they see as the key factors influencing the rise in social and emotional vulnerability? So, we were able to draw from our networks within particular communities to come together for a series of sessions and posed that very question is what do they see as key factors influencing what’s happening in their community. And so with that, we had them brainstorm variables and we went through the process of defining what we meant by a variable and just thinking about what do you see, what do you see as important factors. Starting from square one, it was a simple circle. So, it was a series of maybe, you know, three or four variables that an individual might put together. Then we went into a process where it was in with a small group. So, having the conversation about, okay, what did you think was happening? What does your circle look like? How does that compare with my set of variables in my circle? Comparing and contrasting, looking at what some of those similarities and differences were. The research team would compile all of these maps from that session and really analytically look at where the similarities were and where the interconnections were. So, the map increasingly grew bigger, and if you’ve seen them, they are very complex and that’s all from community. What we did as a research team was we were connecting the dots. But those variables that were coming forward were really driven from them. And the group that was there was, you know, it varied in numbers, but they represented different sectors. They represented different organizations. Mostly of providers and decision makers who were really actively working on supporting children as part of their day-to-day work. So, we went back to them and took our draft map and then we asked them to expand on it and to react to it. And so, it grew again. And then we take it back and then we try and piece it all together. And it was a process of, I’d say, if you want to call it member checking, it’s a validation process where it’s repeating the question because we we actually have new people joining all the time and we thought that was definitely an asset to have new people, new voices contribute to the map. And then we would carry it forward. And this happened over a series of months where we would just increase the complexity based upon what they would tell us, and then we would come back to them and ask them to refine it.

So through the process then we come up with the map, but it doesn’t really end there. It’s viewed as a live map, and we’ve taken that forward with the next part of the project. So, we know that the community systems maps as they are, are not something that are easy to work with on a regular basis. So, what we did is we thematically organized them. So, when we see areas, we clustered them into different groups and then we shared that back with community and then we asked them, you know, “Does it still look right to you?” And what are some areas that are that are particularly of interest to them that they’d like to explore for the next phase of the work moving forward.