Community work in the North – merging economy and psychology

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UiT Norges arktiske universitet

M.K. Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University

Community work in the North - merging economy and psychology

E.B.C. Schjetne

N.M. Melnikova

Alta

Yakutsk

Abstract

The main topic of this article is a presentation of, and reflections upon contributions from the field of Psychology, System Theory, Community Work and Family Therapy in community de velopment projects The projects have been realised through the University of the Arctic, a coop erative network of universities, colleges and other organisations committed to higher education and research in the north. The project partners in those projects are North Eastern Federate University, named after M.K. Ammosov, Institute of Finance and Economics and Develop ment Psychological Aid Centre, Yakutsk, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Russian Federation and Finnmark University College, Alta, Norway. Nadezdha Melnikova and Eva Carlsdotter Schjetne have developed a working model based on three methodological perspectives, Community and Cultural Psychology, System Theory and Humanistic Psychology. In the systemic approach to psychosocial strain and problems the salutogenetic and resilience perspectives are emphasised. The article pays great attention to building an atmosphere of trust, establishing communication between residents by discussion methods, teaching communication based on a subject-subject model, and Virginia Satir's approach to communication; recognition of the unique experience of the population; taking into account the ethnocultural component. The active role of rural women in business development is revealed. The importance of Family Therapy is also being discussed. The role of psychologists in the implementation of interdisciplinary projects is shown. The importance of the psychologist's humanistic orientation in creating a developing situation is also described. The necessity of moving away from the role of an expert is shown.

Keywords: community development, communication, cultural psychology, system theory, humanistic psychology, family therapy. Authors' edition.

Аннотация

Главной темой статьи являются анализ и обсуждение методологических оснований практической работы по развитию северных территорий; рефлексия того вклада, который был внесен в междисциплинарный проект из различных областей науки и практики (психологии, экономики, социальной работы, подходов к семейной терапии и социальной работы с сообществами (Community Work)), а также общенаучных концепций (теории систем). Проект был реализован через тематическую сеть Университета Арктики, объединяющую для совместной работы университеты, колледжи и другие научно-исследовательские и образовательные учреждения Севера. Партнерами проекта являлись Северо-Восточный федеральный университет им. М.К. Амосова - Якутск, Республика Саха (Якутия), Российская Федерация, а именно два его подразделения: Финансово-экономический институт, Центр психологической помощи «Развитие», а также Университетский колледж Финнмарк, Алта, Норвегия. Надежда Мельникова и Ева Карлсдоттер Шьетне разработали рабочую модель, основанную на следующих методологических основаниях: теория систем, культурная психология и гуманистическая психология. При реализации системного подхода в работе с психосоциальным напряжением подчеркивается перспективность использования салютогенетической концепции. Большое внимание в статье уделяется созданию атмосферы доверия, установлению контакта, эффективной коммуникации между жителями путем совместного обсуждения ситуации; использованию методов обучения коммуникации на основе субъект-субъектной модели общения и подхода к коммуникации Вирджинии Сатир. Подчеркивается необходимость признания уникального опыта населения, важность учета этнокультурного компонента. Выявлена активная роль северных сельских женщин в развитии бизнеса. Высокая ценность семейной терапии в контексте общего раз вития поселения также обсуждается. Показана значимая роль психологов в реализации междисциплинарных проектов. Описана гуманистическая направленность психолога в создании ситуации развития в сообществе. Авторами указано, что обязательным условием успешной реализации проекта является отход от роли эксперта, переход к позиции партнера, уважение опыта, стремлений жителей поселения.

Ключевые слова: развитие сообществ, общение, культурная психология, теория систем, гуманистическая психология, семейная терапия

Main part

northern psychologist interdisciplinary

The development work presented in this article has been carried out between 2009 and 2012 in close cooperation between Finnmark University College, Alta, Norway and our UArctic partner, North Eastern Federate University, named after M.K. Ammosov, Institute of Finance and Economics and Development Psychological Aid Centre, Yakutsk, Republic Sakha (Yakutia), Russian Federation. University of the Arctic - UArctic for short, is a cooperative network of universities, colleges and other organisations commit ted to higher education and research in the north. All share the same overall objectives in their joint projects: «[…] to create a strong, sustainable circumpolar region by empowering northerners and northern communities through education and shared knowledge» (University of the Arctic, 2012) [1].

In 2007, a bilateral agreement of cooperation was signed with Sakha State University, now North Eastern Federal University named after M.K. Ammosov, and Finnmark Uni versity College, now the campus of UiT / The Arctic University of Norway. In 2011 this agreement was renewed. The frame of this cooperation was the Thematic Network on Local and Regional Development in the north, chaired by Finnmark University College. The outcome of this agreement was the implementation of five different joint education, research and development projects in Yakutsk and rural Republick Sakha (Yakutia) in the summer of 2009. Over the last four years, cooperation within the UArctic networks grew closer between Thematic Network on Northern Governance and Development, resulting in a Forum for Northern Governance and Development. More villages have been included in the development work, and the project work will continue in the coming years.

Areas of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) involved in the project. Aldan district, Even ki places of residence, Neryungri district (Yengra village, the place of compact Evenki resi dence), Khangalassky ulus (predominantly Sakha and descendants of yamshiks (coach men)), Namsky ulus (mainly Sakha), Oleneksky Evenki National District. Each place is unique in geographical location, climatic conditions, ethnic composition, the prevailing language of communication, which determines the lifestyle, identity with place, tradition al activities, logistics, communication features, the impact of industrial development on the life of the settlement.

Given the high demand of the population for family counseling, training seminars on Family Therapy in an ethnocultural context for psychologists, social pedagogues and social workers of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and students of these professions. In total, five seminars were held during the implementation of the Program in Yakutsk. From 2013 to 2017 - three seminars and three supervisory groups.

The main goal for the projects is to heighten the innovational development in the of ten remote villages in Sakha Republic who are asking for assistance. This is done by creat ing a social partnership, uniting academics and villagers. Scientists are moved out into the villages, cooperating closely with municipality and regional administration and existing businesses in the area. It is essential to create an atmosphere of trust between the partners, as trust is at the very basis of innovation and creativity. In those activities, psychological knowledge can give helpful contributions as will be discussed later in this article.

The practical work in the villages starts with local village development seminars over usually two days, according to the model developed by Sissel Fredriksen and Tor Gjertsen at

Finnmark University College; Workshop: Strategies for future development. This workshop is followed by Business School activities to stimulate local entrepreneurship through new knowledge in economy and business administration. The business entrepreneur does not exist in a vacuum, their success is dependent on financial matters as well as support from the local administration and institutions. However, support and acceptance from family, neigh bours and fellow citizens is equally important. Creating an atmosphere of social as well as economic entrepreneurship, villagers see the importance of successful small businesses for the future community development. The project breeds hope for the future for everybody. By taking an active part, villagers develop a growing awareness of the necessity of developing healthy communities to secure a sustainable development in the region.

Gender aspects, like women's role in business development became actual early in the project period. Experiences from similar development work with women entrepreneurs in Finnmark were shared with the participants of the business school course in 2009 by Eva Schjetne. In Sakha like in Norway, women were in majority among the participants. Like in Finnmark, family matters became a theme in many discussions. They found com mon challenges in securing family stability and family interaction while they engaged in developing their businesses. Here, moral and psychological support from husbands is an important success factor. Family matters and psychosocial wellbeing in families and community also became a theme and participants were asking for advice. Evaluating the results from this first course we saw the importance of seeking local knowledge in psy chology. Contact with Nadezdha Melnikova, director of Development Psychological Aid Centre, NEFU was established. Sharing the same philosophical and scientific approach, this contact became the beginning of a fruitful cooperation between the Institute of Econ omy and Finance, The Development Psychological Aid Centre and the Institute of Social Work at Finnmark University College under the umbrella of UArctic Thematic Network, Local and Regional Development.

Psychological contribution in the projects

In this article we present and reflect upon contributions from the field of Psychol ogy, System Theory, Community Work and Family Therapy in those community devel opment projects. To include the psychological dimension in business development, has proved to ease the working processes. In business, the communicational and relational perspective influence many aspects; marketing strategies, relationships with customers, producers, staff, collective business actions and not the least, relations with the bureau crats in administrations on different levels. Since the start in 2010, Nadezdha Melnikova and Eva Carlsdotter Schjetne have developed a working model based on three methodo logical perspectives, Community and Cultural Psychology, System Theory and Human istic Psychology.

Strengthening the Social Capital in the villages is necessary to secure a sustainable de velopment [2]. Social capital refers to the social networks, informal structures and norms that facilitate individual and collective action [3]. Most research on social capital refers to this original definition of the concept made by Bourdieu (1986) [4]. Lately there has been a growing interest in Social capital and the impact on quality of life for the population. Re search over the last decades has given evidence to, that social capital has significant effects on the effectiveness and functioning of regional and national governance. Social capital of a community is assessed through three dimensions: a combination of its bonding (rela tions within the community), bridging (relations with other communities) and linkage (relations with formal institutions). Economic growth, health and crime prevention are important sectors where actions are desired [5]. Lately, social capital has been given much attention in health research. Recent research in Scandinavia, studying a large population of Swedish adolescents (Aslund, Starrin & Nilsson, 2010) has showed that low neighbour hood social capital and low general social trust were associated with higher rates of psy chosomatic symptoms, musculoskeletal pain and depression [6]. And it is well known that depression heightens the risk for suicide [7]. Research over the last years has found that the presence of social capital through social networks and communities has a protective quality on health. Social capital affects health risk behaviour. Individuals who are embed ded in a network or a community, rich in support, social trust and open information and clear norms, have resources that help them to achieve health goals. These factors can dis courage individuals from engaging in risky health behaviours such as smoking and binge drinking, behaviour common in the northern regions [8].

General social trust is built by humans, the villagers. Understanding psychological aspects like cognitive and social psychology can help community developers identify what may or may not help in mobilising a particular community's formal and informal social assets. Community and Cultural Psychology, System theory and Humanistic psychology can give us valuable advice in communicative actions to build positive relations and trust in communities. Psychological and behavioural factors point to what motivate individuals to engage in building social capital and methods how to maintain and improve that en gagement. Community Psychology perspectives on social capital argues that psychologi cal concepts and research can contribute to community development practice. They even suggest a reframing of social capital theory, using a multi-level ecological system theory framework by Bronfenbrenner, 1979 [9]. Building on our experience from the project period we can easily understand such a perspective. According the well-being of the vil lagers, one should be as engaged in processes on the individual, micro-social level as well as on the collective meso - and macro-social levels, the latter being the main focus from a sociological perspective. Community psychologists argue that this ecological framework provides an understanding how individual empowerment works. To look to humanistic psychology perspectives and learning theories is also recommended, instead of sorely em phasising social cohesion and network bridging opportunities to increase power among villagers like the traditional Social Capital approach [10].

Cultural Psychology Perspective

In the Cultural Psychology perspective culture and mind are seen as inseparable. Therefore, focus is oriented towards the impact of cultural traditions and social practices on theoretical and practical knowledge production and shaping people's life world. The theoretical basis of psychological support for the development of rural settlements was the cultural and historical theory of L.S. Vygotsky and the ethnocultural approach to person ality development, to the development of ethnocultural competence and sensitivity (Ste - fanenko T.G., Lebedeva, N.M. et al.) [4; 11]. As noted by Shweder (1991), we have to be prepared to have an critical attitude towards our own professional knowledge as well as to be sensitive to local knowledge traditions [12]. To be aware of the cultural aspects in trans ference of not only psychological, but to any theoretical knowledge is necessary in our developmental projects. A Positive outcome depends on how well we manage to meet our participants where they are and create a mutual understanding for how we can proceed towards a desirable outcome. Business development projects also has to take into account aspects of Environmental Psychology and Identity of Place. Knowledge from those fields provides a theoretical base and theme for cooperation across professions, municipality functions and local people. Development work in our northern communities frequently have to deal with environmental challenges. Mining and exploitation of oil resources in the arctic region will have a profound impact on primary industries as well as the psycho social wellbeing of the population. Especially in the indigenous regions where the primary industries like reindeer husbandry, fishing and hunting are closely connected to ethnic identity and spiritual life. Indigenous children that were separated from their families in Finnmark, Norway has expressed deep feelings for the loss, not only regarding people but also nature and place [13]. Place attachments seems to represent strong emotional bonds, developed over time, to particular geographic spaces. These bonds are integral to both how we see ourselves as individuals and as a community. The inherent need for both sta bility and change in people's lives and communities is believed to be linked to geographi cal places. Thus place attachment is believed to lead people to stay and protect what they cherish most in their communities while mobilising to invest time, energy and money when the community future existence is threatened [10]. The engagement we have met in the village development seminars supports those findings.

Cultural psychology plays an important role in understanding forces active in creat ing Social Capital. Community psychologists claim that the precursors to Social Capital is largely psychological. These include a variety of other positive community-oriented cognitions, such as communitarianism, place attachment, community satisfaction, pride of place and confidence in the future of one's community [14]. A study among three in digenous communities in Manitoba, Canada has showed how a culture of trust, norms of reciprocity, collective action and participation along with inclusive, flexible and diverse networks are important qualities regarding Social Capital [15]. We recognise similar cul tural assets in the northern villages where we have worked in the Sakha Republic and the Barents region alike.

Humanistic Psychology and the System Theory perspective

Humanistic psychology, the philosophy and the values it represents can be seen as an over all concept and frame of reference for the psychological contribution to the project work, described in this article. Humanistic psychology recognises that human existence consists of multiple layers of reality: the physical, the organic, the spiritual and the sym bolic and phenomenological. The humanistic approach has its roots in phenomenologi cal and existentialist thoughts, from Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger to Merleau-Ponty and Sartre. It has been referred to as the third force in psychology, developed in the 1930s, where Maslow and Rogers are well known pioneers. Humanistic psychology became a complement to the two dominating forces in early development of psychological science, Psychoanalysis and Behaviourism.

Humanistic psychology holds a hopeful, constructive view of human beings and be lief in their substantial capacity to be self-determining. Intentionality and ethical values are seen as strong psychological forces in human nature and among the basic determi nants of human behaviour. Distinctly human qualities as choice, creativity, the interaction of the body, mind and spirit and the capacity to become more aware, free, responsible, life - affirming and trustworthy are appreciated as important forces enhancing development in individuals. Humanistic psychology also emphasises the independent dignity and worth of human beings and their conscious capacity to develop personal competence and self respect. The focus on human growth is not limited to individuals and their inner growth, but reaches out into society; how to develop appropriate institutional and organisational environments in which human beings can flourish. Because nourishing environments can make an important contribution to the development of healthy personalities, human needs should be given priority in social politics and community development projects [16]. Humanistic psychology and System theory are closely linked together in the trust in human capacity. Th System Theory perspective is in our project work and seminars represented by Conjoint Family Therapy (Virginia Satir) and inspired also by Neuro-Lin guistic programming (Richard Bandler & John Grinder), Gestalt therapy (Fritz Pearls) and Communicational therapy (Anderson & Gooliash). When organizing group work, we also relied on the subject-subject model of communication in relation to the construc tion of socio-psychological training, the development of competence in communication (Petrovskaya. L.A., Kharash A.U.) [17; 18]. All those theories and techniques have been developed within the Humanistic psychology paradigm. The works of Paulo Freire, are also inspired by humanistic psychology. He worked for a while together with Rogers, and his freedom pedagogy influence our project work. Humanistic psychology is also phil osophically aligned with the post-modern philosophy of science like the constructivist epistemology, also influencing our scientific approach to our project work.

The holistic, multi-dimensional perspective of the Humanistic psychology has gener ated a wide variety of approaches that expand the range of options for dealing with psy chological, psychosomatic, psychosocial and psycho-spiritual conditions. It is emphasised that psychotherapy is not only of value in dealing with bad mental health, but also in promoting good health and psychosocial wellbeing. In this range we have the Salutogenetic perspective and the Resilience perspective. In his book, Health, Stress and Coping, Antonovsky (1979) describes the salutogenesis concept and how people survive, adapt and overcome severe life-stress experiences [19]. Resilience is a related concept, the result of individuals being able to interact with their environments and the processes that either promote well-being or protect them against the overwhelming influence of risk factors. As stated by Ratter (2008), these processes can be individual coping strategies, or may be helped along by good families, schools, communities and social policies that make resilience more likely to occur [20]. Ledogar and Fleming (2008) indicate that studying resilience in indigenous regions, researchers of indigenous health relate to the impact of culture, history, community values and geographical settings [21].

In the systemic approach to psychosocial strain and problems we were consulted about, as well as in our seminars in family therapy the salutogenetic and resilience per spectives are emphasised. Changing the problem focused attitudes to search for health promoting factors in life situation is in itself health promoting. Narrative therapy tech niques are helpful in this work. Up till now, we have provided Family Therapy seminars. In reality we work from a much wider perspective, therefore Family Work might be a better description of the knowledge we share with the participants in our seminars.

Communication and empowerment

In the present philosophical constructivist thinking, actions are mainly constructed not by systems but by the interaction and dialog between individuals. As a consequence, he focus of our work is mainly on communication, interactions and on building relations. Conflicts and problems are also part of those interactions and relations due to non-con structive or dysfunctional communication. How to solve those problems in a constructive way is a central theme in the seminars.

«To empower northerners and northern communities, to educate and to share knowl edge», as stated in the UArctic strategy document, it is necessary to build trust between sci entists and villagers. The first, important step in such a process is to establish a symmetric relationship with the people in the community, thus giving room for communication and dialogue in collaboration. Many humanistic psychologists stress the importance of social change, the challenge of modifying old institutions and inventing new ones able to sustain both human development and organisational efficacy. Thus, the humanistic emphasis on individual freedom should be matched by a recognition of our interdependence and our responsibilities to one another, to society and culture, and to the future. The bonding con cept in building social capital. These are also ideas we recognise from the works of Paulo Freire, who has had a profound impact on community development.

Individual-level attitudes, emotions and perceptions related to Social Capital have been studied in the community psychology perspective. Empowerment relates to a sense of personal power regarding one's choices in life as well as the development of a sense of collective efficacy, or control over the institutions that affect one's life. Sense of com munity is an attitude of bonding, or mutual trust and belonging, with other members of one's group or locale. Working on the individual level, the following model regarding the individual psychological involvement in building social capital have been useful. The ways individuals react in building social capital has both cognitive as well as behavioural components. The two main cognitive components are: (1) trust in one's neighbours (sense of community) and (2) belief in the efficacy of formally organised action (empowerment). The two behavioural components are (1) informal neighbouring behaviour and (2) for mal participation in community organisations [10].

Systemic approach to family work in villages

Psychosocial wellbeing and empowerment of the village families and their children is equally important in both economic and social development regarding sustainability. We saw the need for family work and communicational family therapy, confronted with the problems presented when we meet both administrative staff and villagers. Drinking prob lems, depression and suicide have to be taken seriously. In addition to being great personal tragedies, they are also threatening the social relations and the level of trust within the community.

Family life is an ongoing dynamic process, constantly interacting with the envi ronment. There is a common cross-cultural, global understanding of the reproductive function; According to United Nations (1989), the necessity of providing a caring and nurturing environment for the children to develop their full potential under safety and protection [22]. We have to bear in mind that crises, troubles and stress are not absent in ordinary families, but those families usually find ways of managing those situations. They trust themselves and are trusted by the village authorities to manage their lives. Therefore, empowerment and trust is needed to help the seriously troubled to find new and better strategies of coping with life-stress. In all the villages of our circumpolar region, there are many families that strive with managing alcohol abuse, violence and other serious problems. Family therapist pioneer Virginia Satir (1967; 1972) has stressed that there is hope for a better future for even the most troubled families [23; 24]. They need help and guidance in managing their lives. What they need is to be helped to recognise their own strength and coping abilities in their own context - empowerment in practice. Far away from institutionalised help people in the remote villages in the north have had to do their best to find solutions on their own or collectively. This has in many cases led to the de velopment of well functioning local problem solving practices. When we, as professionals are asked to help, we have to be observant and sensitive to traditional cultural knowledge. That means listening to local tales and stories representing ethic values, observing local social interactions, habits and rules embedded in the local context.

In the northern culture women's role is strong, as main caretakers of family matters and in many cases also the main providers to family economy as innovators and entrepreneurs in estranged economic situations. In the north, primary industries as fishing and hunting, later mining and industry work often makes the men leave home for long periods of time. The women we meet in seminars represent a long tradition of being the primary caretak ers of the family, while tending to small scale agricultural activities and enterprises, home industry and handicraft. The importance to care for the family's basic needs have been their main responsibilities. Not only basic needs but also supporting learning activities, especially supporting bilingual skills in multilingual areas and motivation to strive towards a better life have been women's responsibility. It is a strong basic cultural value among northern people to care for the wellbeing and survival of the family. Other cultural values fostered among northerners is a mixture of individualism and collectivism as well as democratic ideals of equality and freedom. This seems not to be the situation only in the Scandinavian north, but values to a certain extent shared in arctic circumpolar regions. Pride is connected with values as industrious striving dependent on each other and cooperation for survival, at the same time relying on your own strength to manage to survive when you are alone in extreme situations in harsh environments. A common theme in folk tales and traditions, e.g. the birgit concept in North Sami tradition relating to the individual responsibility for you own survival, as well as modern anthropological research [25; 26].

Working Model - the way the work was done.

As mentioned above, a working model merging the fields of economy and psychol ogy has been developed through the projects. The three methodological perspectives, Community and Cultural Psychology, System Theory and Humanistic Psychology in fluence the way the project is planned, the way we collect information and interpret the needs formulated in the request for help from the village and regional authorities. In the projects we work in three dimensions simultaneously, community level family and individual level.

In our projects, we start on the community level. As we work closely together with the experts from the Institute of Finance and Economics we first meet the villagers and village administration as a team. We have found it important to discuss values and beliefs in humanistic psychology and empowerment together on beforehand, where our role is to be psychological guides in in planning the relational and communicative part of realising our joint project. This helps us to guide and prepare ourselves to be good listeners and to meet the people where they are, in their individual as well as collective life-worlds. How our partners in the villages express their unique local culture? What is told openly and what is told between the lines, what is told by silence? How can we in a respectful way broaden our knowledge? Questions to find answers to in establishing the partnership with local and regional people.

Establishing a symmetrical contact is highly dependent on our awareness and sensi tivity and our abilities and skills to communicate in a way that can ease building a trusting relationship. Communication is not only words, and especially when we as in our case use different languages, attitudes, behaviour and non-verbal messages are of great impor tance. The active listening draws on knowledge from working models in communicational therapy (Anderson & Gooliash, Satir). Although those techniques are usually presented in a therapy framework, they improve the quality where building relations and trust between individuals, in families and between individuals and community is the main goal. On the community level, the collective actions where people take part play an important role. Community organising processes help the community members to unite in concern for the future development of their local community. Communities have to be built from the inside out, by the villagers starting on the individual and family level. Social and economic entrepreneurs are often the same people, and they are often engaged in local, regional or national politics as well. On the community level, administration and institutions, as well as organised cultural and sports activities either institutionally initiated or organised by community members are important actors. Sports clubs and schools often play an impor tant role in the rural municipalities building social capital. In the municipalities, schools and kindergartens, health and social services and local police are important partners in our work, all contributing to the psychosocial wellbeing among the people in the com munity.

To start our work on the community level we get valuable information about the individual psychological Social Capital assets in the community. Here it is helpful, as in the Community Psychology perspective mentioned above, to be aware of the two separate dimensions, the cognitive and the behavioural. To know what should be done, sense of community and empowerment does not always match the behavioural reality we can observe in informal neighbouring behaviour and formal participation in com munity organisations. Known from organisational learning psychology theory, is the difference between espoused theory - your beliefs, what you think is right or desirable to do and theory-in-use, what you actually do [27]. To be aware of this fact helps us to have a realistic approach in our project work and identify the leading lights, people with engagement and commitment (cognitive) and active (behavioural) engaged practically in work that has to be done. Leading lights have the ability to inspire people around them to commit themselves and engage in the necessary activities to realise the goals in their community projects.

To continue our work on individual and family level we need to have a good insight into, and knowledge of the local community, organisation and unique local culture(s) and practices. However, it is important to stress the fact that it is always the villagers who has the first hand knowledge about the context they exist within. Also the individual ways they interpret what their contextual situation is, their life world. Our thorough research of the community only gives us an idea of the social structure that will help us to formulate better questions, and to get more informative answers. When we work with families in their own context the methods from humanistic psychology, conjoint family therapy and communicational therapy are practiced within the client's own culture. This is always important and especially while working in indigenous and multicultural com munities. On the individual level and on family level, our focus is to mobilise power and creativity (empowerment). Such activities are important in order to enable people to find new strategies, to solve problems and make good choices for themselves regarding their lives and future.

On the family level, establishing a symmetrical relationship on equal basis with the family members is just as important as it is on the community level. There is work to be done, problems to be solved, the family are the owners of what we prefer to call the prob lem system. On equal basis with the family members we are participating observers in the problem solving processes. As professionals we are in fact conducting action research together with the family members on the Family in Context System together. The family and therapist together explore the family's resources, their communication styles, ways of relating to each other and people around, their cultural and societal context and cop ing strategies. The family members themselves invent and try out about different coping strategies. Together we search for local solutions, are there traditional ways of mastering crises? In this work, we also pay attention the salutogenetic and resilience perspectives, both in the troubled families and society as a whole. These processes can be individual coping strategies, or may be helped along by good families, schools, communities and social policies that make resilience more likely to occur.

Our capacity of working in families is limited. Therefore we decided to work with professionals and students that worked or intended to work in villages. The first step was to invite last year psychology students and train them in Conjoint family therapy and communicational techniques, the summer school activities mentioned above. The follow ing Family therapy seminar for professional psychiatrists and psychologist, many of them with long working practice, confirmed both the need for alternative psychotherapeutic methods and the usefulness in the Sakha cultural context. Follow up seminars and meet ing has confirmed the long term effect of the participant's new ways of working, not only with individual therapy but with the whole family or rather with the whole problem sys tem where all individuals associated with the client's actual problems take part. Our semi nars broadened their perspective from the traditional psychodynamic individual therapy and the positivistic medical psychiatric treatment/medication adding the alternative con structivist perspective. Next step was to involve other professionals in helping functions, pedagogues, entrepreneurs and lay persons dedicated to community work.

Going out to the villages as part of the business development team, our first focus was to empower the entrepreneurs, giving them communicational psychology knowledge in building relations, tools for analysing power structures and marketing psychology. A growing demand for consultations, from schools, municipality administration and villag ers made us see the need for a separate five day course or seminar in Communicational Psychology and Family Therapy, or as we prefer to call it, Family Work. Although many of our participants have a professional background as nurses, psychologists, social work - ers, doctors and pedagogues, any dedicated lay person involved in humanitarian and/or community work, as youth workers, social entrepreneurs and people representing local traditions, mothers and fathers are welcome to the seminars.

The seminar program is built on the same three methodological perspectives as our practical work, Community and Cultural Psychology, System Theory and Humanistic Psychology. In the seminars we act as process guides and demonstrate though our teach ing the principles underlying the techniques and methods in communication, relation building and family work. The participants try out communicational techniques in exer cises and role plays. Like working with families we have the empowerment perspective, the participants play an active part in finding good coping strategies. We also teach how to analyse and sort out problems and to be aware of the salutogenetic and resilience per spective. Our goal is to enhance the participants' capacity in their different positions as helpers. No seminar is alike as we seek to meet the participants where they stand individu ally and as a group. Every seminar develop their own special dynamics depending on the participant's education and practice. It is our responsibility as process guides to to respect the participants and their contributions and see to that the participants act the same way to each other's contributions. Thus, the seminar becomes a demonstration the practice of constructive communication and Conjoint family therapy.

The response and evaluation from the participants have been overly positive. At the same time, the new knowledge has opened new doors and there is a pronounced need for a follow up seminar in the evaluations. Where we have been able to do so, the learning ef fect is increased to a great extent. It is important to notice that a substantial contribution to this positive result is the participant's sharing of their experiences in using the techniques they have learnt between the first course and the second. Our role is to lead the process, (sometimes asking provocative questions), and adding theoretical knowledge where it is needed or the participants ask for clarifications and deeper knowledge.

Topics for discussions have been breaking the expert role, deeply rooted in our societies, in the East as in the West. Sometimes the expectations from people around will drive us as professionals into such a position. For a short time it can be tempting to accept such a role, but we know from humanistic psychology that it can be devastating for both helper and client. To establish symmetrical relations and true empowerment in helping situations is indeed challenging. We need both awareness and practical train ing. The phenomenological and constructivist psychology tradition, versus the positiv ist and medical tradition in psychiatry is frequently a theme in our seminars as in the scientific community. Our working partners and participants in the seminars feel empowered by their insights in psychological theories, they broaden their understanding and can see how they can contribute positively in the community. As a consequence, their self esteem thrives and they get more confident in their own cultural knowledge and traditional life. They experience how meaningful it is to involve the troubled individuals as partners in the problem solving, and to solve the problems within their own context and their own culture.

Sometimes professionals and villagers alike, talk about negative experiences from psychological and psychiatric treatment based on diagnostic categories. Diagnoses that they felt meaningless or ill fitting, and treatment associated with inhumane and alienating institutions. There are stories of helplessness, lack of control about their own future and social alienation. Those discussions are often triggered by the empowerment experiences and insight in humanistic psychology. Everybody can use new knowledge to develop the ability to communicate and build positive relations with others, family, neighbors and to take an active part in shaping the future of their community.

There are many villages in the districts of Sakha Republic that see the need to heighten their innovational development, thus asking for assistance from the Institute of Economic and Finance and their scientific staff. To create a sustainable social partnership with the villagers, the municipality and regional administrations and existing businesses in the area is a necessary basis for further activities and to accomplish the project goals. We were invited to join the team, by the leader of the institute who acknowledged our contributions from the field of psychology. As presented above, psychological theories can be useful in the diverse working processes aiming at enhancing innovational development. Through our cooperation in the team, it has become more and more obvious how economic and behavioural sciences are intertwined, and how our respective experience and knowledge can shed light over challenges we meet.

The quality of Social Capital is an important precondition for a positive outcome for innovative actions, where psychological knowledge can facilitate the evaluation of relational networks, joining villagers and scientist in finding and mobilising creative forces. Assessing communicational strategies and help building trustful relationships as well as giving advise in solving conflicts in a creative way.

To communicate respectfully with the villagers about their experience and knowl edge is essential. As mentioned earlier, humanistic psychology as well as understanding for Community and Cultural psychology help us to meet our partners with empathy in sharing our respective life worlds, all part of what we usually refer to as mutual under standing in daily speech. According to constructivist philosophy, is created in dialogical activities [28]. This we have to bear in mind in all our activities. Family therapy is empow erment in practice, mere educational than therapeutic in nature. The family therapist in the constructivist tradition is a facilitator, process guide and pedagogue, totally different from the therapist in positivist tradition, offering «treatment», thus objectifying the family and its members.

The positive response and great interest from villagers and partners in communicational psychology and system theory was that they found useful tools. Family Therapy techniques are useful for managing, not only family matters but also every day activities both in business matters and politics. System theory points to the interdependence of pasts in all systems system. For example, change within one element or component of a community system has a ripple effect producing changes in other components of that system. Development projects create changes, usually both good and bad, for existing services, institutions and businesses.

As stated in the UArctic mission, the circumpolar region has unique challenges. It is sparsely populated, with long distances between settlements and administrative centers. It is an advantage that villagers with psychologically related problems get help in their own context. As pointed out earlier, local solutions are both culturally appropriate and we also learned that the locals appreciate them, and take them as their own. Therefore, building up local competence among local health personnel, social workers, teachers, police and voluntary community workers like we do with our family therapy seminars is appreciated in the local and regional administration and not the least, among our participants.

The economy in the remote areas is to a great extent based on primary industries and natural resources, exploited by big national or international enterprises, located far away. Those challenges have to be met with knowledge developed in the north and where indigenous peoples knowledge is recognized. In this respect, both thematic networks, Local and Regional Development as well as The Forum for Northern Governance and Development have developed knowledge through research and project work mainly from Norway, the Barents region and Canada. This knowledge has been used, and developed further in our projects. We sincerely hope this work will continue further in the years to come.

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