Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Question about severe emotional distburbance/mentalillness in cohousing

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

> On Dec 13, 2008, at 10:51 AM, Joanie Connors wrote:
>
> >
> I don't think they are talking about overt physical abuse mostly, but
> psychological abuse and misbehavior. Physical abuse is horrible, but  
> easy -
> you call the police. Who do you call for psychological abuse?


And in high performing, comparatively wealthy communities,  
psychological abuse can occur while the child is receiving care well  
above what a typical kid on the street would get. Which standards do  
you use? The child's feelings are still abused.

> My sense is that cohousers, like most nonprofit groups, tend to err  
> to the
> side of tolerance and giving people who cause harm many chances to  
> reform.
> As Diana suggested, perhaps there needs to be better boundary  
> setting -
> specifying what is not acceptable and finding reasonable  
> consequences for
> them?


Well said. Cohousers, however, largely define themselves as people who  
are rejecting all the norms out there and finding new ones. Their own  
norms are better. All it takes is community.

I think we need to know the differences between pathology, which often  
has physiological causes, and social deprivation. What are the markers  
of pathology? How much social deprivation can we make up for?

Sharon
----
Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing,Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org