Learning Objectives:

• To increase awareness on the interconnectedness of the impact of stigma, oppression and social injustice on individuals and communities
• To increase awareness on multi-level, collaborative strategies to address stigma and oppression

Materials: Two sets of cards – A) 3 to 4 cards of affected people; B) 12 – 15 cards of issues/challenges Case Scenario Worksheets 4.4(A) & 4.4 (B)

Time Required: 2 hour 30 minutes

Activities & Instructions

Setup:

Participants sit in a circle; co-facilitators sit across from each other. Facilitator invites participants to take part in a mindfulness grounding exercise by providing the instructions below in a gentle calming voice.

Instructions to Participants:

Facilitator says,

• “We have all learned a great deal in the last few sessions. To try to help us integrate all of these learnings, and to explore how we can apply them in real life to address stigma and discrimination, we would like to invite you to spend the next couple hours to work on case scenarios based on your personal or work experiences. From these realistic lived experiences we will work to develop different strategies and role play them out, as a way to consolidate our learning. Based on our experiences, this is also a very fun exercise where you will get to showcase different aspects of your creative talents.”
• “Since we encourage you to develop these scenarios based on real-life struggles you or your community members experience, we are mindful that this can be triggering and painful for some participants. To ensure we maintain a safe and supportive space for our community learning and sharing, we would encourage you to not over-dramatize the trauma and violence in the scenarios, but focus more on how to showcase the resilience and strategies against these oppressive realities. We would invite you to be open and trust the process, but we would also respect your decision and choice to participate to the extent that you feel comfortable. If you feel you need support during any of the activities, please talk to one of the facilitators.”
• “Now, are we ready to embark on the grand finale exercise of our training? (Facilitator Check for participant acknowledgement) That is great. This activity is divided into a few steps. I am going to explain to you how this will work.”

Small Group Set Up Instructions (5 min)

Facilitator say,

• “First, we would like you to work in three small groups to develop case scenarios on HIV and related stigma. Before we begin, let’s count off from 1 to 3.” (Co-facilitator will use the time to hand out copies of the Case Scenario Worksheets, 4.4(A) and 4.4(B).)
• (After the counting is done) “All the 1s will get together, all the 2s will get together and so on. Now please find your team-mates and sit together.”
• “Now that you are all in your groups, we would like to go over the instructions.”

Part A: Case Scenario Development (40 min)

Facilitator say,

• “We have two sets of cards. One set consists of different social issues, such as… (give example from cards). The second set consists of the various main characters. (Facilitator will place each set of cards into two separate containers/envelopes and shake or shuffle them) Please have one member from each group come to the front to select one card from each of the containers/envelopes. These two selected cards will determine the main character and social issues to be explored in your scenario.
• “Now that you have your character and social issues, you will create a story for your scenario by:
  • drawing from your collective personal/community/work experiences
  • including the social issues that you have drawn
  • creating a story that is realistic and emotionally engaging”
• “Spend some time in your group to discuss and develop the story of your scenario. Write down the story of your character’s experience in 100 words or less on Worksheet 4.4 (A). The story should have enough details for you to highlight the background, the context and challenges faced by your character. Do not provide the strategies in your case description. You will be giving away your case scenario for another group to work on.”
• “Discuss the questions on worksheet 4.4 (B) as a group to come up with the ideal strategies to deal with the challenges in your case scenarios. Use your group’s collective “ideal” answers to complete the rest of the sections of the worksheet. You will have a chance to share your ‘ideal’ answers after another group role play the scenario you have created.”
• “You will have about 40 minutes to work together as a group for this part. I would suggest you spend about 20 minutes developing the scenario, and then 20 minutes to discuss your strategies. I will give you a time reminder after 20 minutes. You may begin!”

Part B: Exchange Scenarios and Role Play Practice (30 min)

Facilitator say,

• “For the second part of the activity, each group will work on a scenario created by another team.”
• (Have the participant groups exchange the scenarios they created with Worksheet 4.4(A) Groups do not exchange Worksheet 4.4 (B) or discuss the responses they created to the scenarios.)
• “Using the discussion guide on Worksheet 4.4 (B), discuss the best strategies to address the challenges you have identified in your assigned case scenario.” (15 min)
• “Once you have discussed your assigned scenario, this is the moment that you get to show off your collective talents – we ask that you role play the scenario with the strategies your group have created. You will only have up to 10 minutes to do your role play, so budget your time wisely to make sure you illustrate the challenges faced by your character, as well as the resilient strategies they use to address the challenges. Try to highlight as many diverse strategies as possible, and make sure they reflect your real-life experiences.”
• “Some ground rules for the role play:
  • You may use props
  • Don’t overdramatize the trauma, focus more on strategies
  • Focus on the person’s own strengths and utilize as many resources from different sectors/community partners as possible
  • Be creative, fun and powerful”

Part C: Group Role Play Presentations and Debriefing (75 min)

Facilitator say,

• “Now it is time to show us your acting skills! Each of you have up to 10 minutes to role play out your scenario. Remember to focus on the strategies.”
• “After each presentation, other participants will have a chance to provide feedback and suggest further strategies.”
• “The reason we want to provide feedback is that we want to build on the strengths of our community’s strategies. Therefore, we want our feedback to be constructive. There are a couple of ground rules that we use to help make sure we provide constructive feedback and we ask that we all try our best to observe and follow them. “
  • “Start by appreciating and recognizing a specific example of what the group did well. (e.g., examples of excellent strategies)”
  • “Provide constructive feedback by providing specific suggestions on alternative or additional strategies that could be used to best meet the holistic needs of the affected person in the case scenario (i.e., avoid “only” pointing out a weakness/problem and provide concrete solutions/strategies)”
• “The order we will be organizing our feedback and debriefing are:”
  • “The role play group will have 2 minutes to self-reflect.”
  • “The group that created the scenario will have up to 3 minutes to provide feedback and alternative/additional strategies.”
  • “The other group(s) will have up to 2 minutes to provide additional feedback and other strategies.”
  • “Please do not repeat points that have already been made.”
  • “The role play group please just accept and appreciate the feedback, there is no need to explain or defend what you did.”

Debriefing Questions:

• What were the effective strategies demonstrated by the group?
• What specific CHAMP skills (ACE processes) have been applied in the group’s strategies?
• What additional strategies or resources can be utilized or mobilized?

Key Summary Points:

• Our individual challenges are often linked to various forms of social injustices, stigma and discrimination.
• To address the underlying social injustices, we need to recognize our internal strengths and access our community’s collective resources.
• Since many forms of oppressions are interlinked, we also need to draw our strengths by building coalitions and developing collaborative strategies with other marginalized communities and groups from different sectors and backgrounds who are concerned about social justice.
• Working together, we are able to recognize that there are many ways to take action and create positive social changes.

Source:

Li, A. T., & Wong, J. P. (2011). SJCB protocols for CHAMP Study. Toronto, ON: Community Alliance for Accessible Treatment

Worksheet 4.4 (A) – Case Scenario Description

Group Name:                                                         

The Case scenario:
(in about 100 words, tell the story of the situation affecting the people in the case)

Title of your story:

Worksheet 4.4 (B) – Case Scenario Development & Discussion Guide

Development Guide

Group work Instructions:

Creating a Case Scenario on HIV stigma and related challenges

1. Work in small groups to create a case scenario on HIV and other related stigma by:
   1. drawing on your collective personal and work-related experiences;
   2. drawing on the list of words provided in the envelop; and
2. Create a story that is realistic and emotively engaging, based on the character and social issues described in the cards drawn by your group. You may create additional characters in her/his/their life as needed.Create the case scenario and provide sufficient information for you and your peers to apply the following questions to come up with collective strategies.
   1. What are the main challenges people in the story face? (e.g. lack of healthcare coverage)
   2. What are the underlying social conditions that contribute to these challenges? (e.g. racism)
   3. What are the changes we want to make?
   4. What can be done at the individual, interpersonal/community, and government/policy/societal levels.
   5. Who needs to be influenced to make the changes? What needs to be done to influence these people? How can we influence these people?
   6. What resources do we need?
3. Complete this worksheet with your ‘ideal’ scenario and ‘ideal’ answers.
4. In Part 2 of this activity, your scenario will be given to another team, and you will receive another scenario created by another team.
5. Using the discussion guide, develop the best strategies to address the challenges you have identified in the case scenario.
6. Now is the moment to show off your collective talents – each group role plays and performs the stigma reduction and HIV champion strategies, not the background stories of the character. Your strategies must include what can be done at the individual, interpersonal/community, and policy/societal levels. You only have 10 minutes – therefore do not use time on the problems and challenges and focus on the strategies
   1. You may use props like big name tags
   2. You may have a narrative
   3. Be creative, fun and powerful

Group Name:                                        Name of your scenario’s main character: