FAMILY EMOTIONAL LITERACY: a CRITICAL EDUCATION CURRICULUM for MENTAL HEALTH PROMOTION Anna L
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University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs Education ETDs Summer 6-20-2017 FAMILY EMOTIONAL LITERACY: A CRITICAL EDUCATION CURRICULUM FOR MENTAL HEALTH PROMOTION Anna L. Dinallo University of New Mexico Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/educ_llss_etds Part of the Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons Recommended Citation Dinallo, Anna L.. "FAMILY EMOTIONAL LITERACY: A CRITICAL EDUCATION CURRICULUM FOR MENTAL HEALTH PROMOTION." (2017). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/educ_llss_etds/80 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Education ETDs at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. i Anna Marie Dinallo Candidate Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies Department This dissertation is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication: Approved by the Dissertation Committee: Ruth Trinidad Galván, chair of the committee Glenabah Martinez Holbrook Mahn Magdalena Avila ii FAMILY EMOTIONAL LITERACY: A CRITICAL EDUCATION CURRICULUM FOR MENTAL HEALTH PROMOTION by ANNA MARIE DINALLO B.A., Psychology, The University of New Mexico, 2011 M.A., Counseling, The University of New Mexico, 2014 DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico July 2017 iii DEDICATION I dedicate this journey to the many children I have counseled in school and community settings. As my teachers, you have taught me resilience by laughter and play. You are my greatest source of inspiration. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thank you to the following individuals who offered relentless support and commitment to my success. This dissertation would have been impossible to write without your help. Darlene Castillo – transcribing and translating Lizbeth Vasquez – translating and software skills Dr. Penny Pence – kind words, organization feedback Morgan Sims – editing and academic coaching Zully Rodriguez – editing Spanish grammar, endless support Alex Pichacz- reminders to rest, play, and enjoy Leigh Luna – drawings v FAMILY EMOTIONAL LITERACY: A CASE FOR CRITICAL EDUCATION AS A MENTAL HEALTH PROMOTION TOOL By Anna Marie Dinallo B.A., PSYCHOLOGY, THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO, 2011 M.A., COUNSELING, THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO, 2014 Ph.D., LANGUAGE LITERACY AND SOCIO-CULTURAL STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO, 2017 vi ABSTRACT This narrative study documents the experiences of seven Latina community educators through focus groups, interviews, and artifact data. Given the stigma of mental health (Bayer, 2005), a lack of culturally centered emotional curriculums (Boler, 1997; Boler & Zembylas, 2003) which are removed from structural oppression (Collins, 2002,1989; Crenshaw, 1991, 1993; hooks, 2014), educators, parents, and communities are in need of mental health promotion tools. According to the American Psychiatric Association (APA, 2015), approximately 70 million Americans annually are diagnosed with mental health issues that disable daily functioning. More relevant to the study population was the loss of three middle school-aged youth due to suicide where educators taught family literacy classes. Suicide is the third leading cause of death for youth ages 15-24 (National Institute of Mental Health report, 2015). Community-centered approaches are highlighted in the Mental Health in Schools Act of 2015, H.R.1211, as a tool to promote culturally relevant health interventions. In response to H.R.1211 and a community-driven focus on “talking about emotions,” the researcher and participants developed narratives based on topics within emotional literacy models (Goleman, 2006; Steiner, 1997) and a critical education framework (Freire & Macedo, 2005; Giroux & McLaren, 1989; Lankshear, 1997, 1993; McLaren, 2000, 2001; Shor, 1992, 1993) that focuses on feminist inquiry (Luke & Gore, 1992; hooks, 2014; Richer & Weir, 1995) and emotionality (Boler, 1997, 1999; Brown, 2006; Brown, 2007; Jaggar, 1989; Jasper, 2011; McLaren, 2010). Narratives across the seven women revealed a need to focus family emotional learning by identifying interpartner violence. Additionally, findings suggest that women who participate in grassroots community organizations have improved perceived mental health as a result of identifying interpartner violence and finding resistance to oppression through critical education and emotional dialogue. The dissertation focuses on four case studies and four storybook narratives as artifacts that demonstrate stances of resistance and empowerment among community educators in New Mexico. Findings are contextualized within a local New Mexico setting, and recommendations for developing emotional literacy for mental health workers and teachers are offered. Key words: Critical family emotional literacy, family education, mental health, social and emotional development, emotionality vii Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................. 8-49 Chapter 2: ................................................................................................................... 50-96 Chapter 3: ................................................................................................................. 97-116 Chapter 4: ............................................................................................................... 117-230 Chapter 5: .............................................................................................................. -231-281 Chapter 6: ............................................................................................................... 275-292 Appendix ................................................................................................................. 293-398 References ............................................................................................................... 398-433 8 Chapter 1: Introduction Image 1. A group of community educators taking notes Pues más que nada estar en Abriendo Puertas y las conexiones que he podido crear por medio de ellos, gracias a ti por las clases de salud emocional por ayudarnos a conocer los sentimientos y como canalizar la energía. Todo eso es importante que tengamos en cuenta que si no tenemos una salud emocional, salud mental nuestra familia tampoco la va a tener y eso siempre se me quedo muy grabado “nadie puede dar lo que no tiene”. — Community educator 9 Because more than anything, my presence in Opening Doors, the connections I’ve made, and thanks to you for the classes in emotional health. Getting to know our feelings and helping us learn how to channel the energy, all of that is important and should be taken into account. If we do not have an emotional health and mental health, our family is not going to have it either, that stuck with me. No one can give what they do not have. — Community educator Opening Doors to Community Emotional Education A person is not able to give to another what they do not already have within themselves. One of the key themes in the Abriendo Puertas (Opening Doors) family literacy curriculum is the concept that parents are their children’s first teachers. In this role, parents are required to learn new tools about a healthy lifestyle that they can share with their children. This healthy lifestyle includes consideration for understanding the language of one’s emotions, learning how to calm down when upset, and role-modeling healthy self- esteem. Many parents, like the community educator above, are surprised to find they do not have all of these tools, but through the act of learning in a welcoming and nurturing environment, parents are capable of building upon new tools and strengthening existing tools. Abriendo Puertas’s informal type of learning from one’s peers in a community setting outside of the university is unique, for mainstream educational curricula are political and push an agenda to reproduce dominant social values. Dominant social values include the belief that you must be licensed to be an educator. Informal pockets of knowledge sharing are key to the cultivation of learning and community support, because they remain unburdened by dominant social values and bureaucracy that often hinder the development of informal curriculum. 10 Knowledge is not neutral; it is political and typically created within institutions (Freire, 1970). As a result, this study, in alignment with other community researchers who seek to produce community-driven knowledge and self-defined ontology, works to achieve the goal of community-defined knowledge. Specifically, the research project has worked with a local group of cultural workers, or community educators, to explore concepts of emotional support, family literacy, and mental health. I refer the fusion of these concepts as an exploration of critical family emotional literacy. Exploring these concepts in an effort to co-develop community-based knowledge requires a deeper understanding of the community setting and organization. To offer context, Chapter 1 describes the partnership organization that has several affiliated organizations that work under one umbrella for community action. I describe The Partnership for Community Action (PCA), the Communities