Youth Community Organizing Groups Fostering Sociopolitical Wellbeing: Three Healing-Oriented Values to Support Activism

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This is a fascinating manuscript, and I greatly look forward to reading and citing the final version. With that said, a few notes:

First, and most simply, there are some very minor editing errors that were noticed throughout - missed commas, what seems to be a missing word here or there - that copy editors would surely catch, but might also be addressed prior to that step. 

Second, I encourage the authors to reevaluate the framing and discussion of the opening anecdote, as it leads into the rest of the paper. K's story is heartbreaking, and her positive experiences in EE wonderful, but the proposition that healing-focused YCO/SPD experiences are an antidote to clinical depression, and medical treatment for such conditions, is, at best concerning. I am hoping, and assuming, this is not the intended message, but as it reads now, the paper seems to draw a stark, either/or line between social and medical interventions. It is, I think, very possible and likely that K needed both the involvement and healing stimuli she received from participation in EE, AND antidepressant medication. While there is surely a broader systemic issue in which psychiatric medication is prescribed without culturally-responsive attention to the social, cultural, and political conditions of patients, the first several pages of this article seem to suggest that, in an odd inverse of that problem, SPD alone can fix and heal depression. This framing then has the concerning prospect of a) potentially further stigmatizing mental health treatment (already heavily stigmatized in many communities of color and global south communities), and b) dismissing in a very 'bootstraps' way the very real brain chemistry issues we know exist as the roots of depression and anxiety disorders, and need and require medical and pharmaceutical treatment for long term wellness among many people. As a reader, I am glad K found support from EE. As a youth organizer, I am actually concerned about the medication stigma her comments suggest, the short, transient time frame she in this anecdote casts as 'healing', and the lack of mental health treatment this may lead to in the future. Again, I hope and assuming this dismissal of the substance of mental health is not the intended suggestion of the authors, but as it reads, that is the effect. A reframing of this anecdote could greatly improve that conceptual contribution of the paper. 

This all relates to my third and final point: as a conceptual paper, I would greatly like to see more clearly articulated definitions of what is really, fully meant by healing, including its limitations and caveats. One of the strengths of the paper is calling attention to the often transactional way policy driven YCO/SPD can lead to burnout, racial battle fatigue, etc. and calling more attention to the importance of things like HCE and radical healing frameworks. The latter, ethnographic parts of the paper give us wonderful examples of youth engaging in the three dimensions proposed here (collectivized care, spiritual activism, freedom dreaming), but don't really take the leap to explain how some of the data amounts to a clear vision of healing reflective of HCE/radical healing. How, for instance, is check in questions actualizing Neville's call to attend to the root causes of historical trauma? I don't think that leap needs to be epic or overstated, but more explanation in the interpretation of data is needed, in large part because HEALING remains quite nebulous, and especially given the impact of the opening anecdote. As a reader, I would like to see a section earlier in the paper where the author(s) make this definition clear - helping others engaged in YCO/SPD work see precisely what is meant and conceptualized as healing, including its purposes, and limitations. Doing this would not only contribute theoretically and conceptually, but also help to draw lines between an SPD/YCO idea and focus of healing, and a medical/psychiatric one, and allow the author(s) as noted above, to ensure they are not stigmatizing and confusing the therapeutic and ontological benefits of YCO/SPD work that includes attention to some notion of healing, with mental health care. 

Again, a very strong, well composed and organized manuscript, and I look forward to reading the final version.

Author Response

Dear Editor/Reviewer,

Please find attached our Response Letter to your constructive and valuable comments on our manuscript. In the attached Response Letter we detail our revisions to the manuscript, how and where we have addressed each of your comments, and why we believe this manuscript is an improved version and earnest reflection of our best work. We appreciated the opportunity to revise our manuscript, and to integrate, and attend carefully to your very valuable comments and recommendations. 

Sincerely,

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Overall, this paper is well written and well organized, making a valuable contribution. I have three main concerns:

On page 4 authors state "Naming power and oppressions, the root cause of inequities, and seeing ....".  I am not sure that I understand the conception of power being used here.  Power in itself is important for transformation and comes in as many oppressive as liberatory forms.  I think your ideas around power need clarification.

The theme of spiritual activism seemed unclear to me and needs some additional conceptual explanation and support. Spirituality usually involves a sense of being connected beyond oneself to something divine and then spiritual activism is bringing that sense of divine connection to activist work.  I do agree it has healing value, but I just struggle to see the spirituality elements in the data or the analysis. So, this section needs more explanation.

 I have some similar questions about the term "Freedom Dreaming".  While I definitely recognize the healing value of hope through dreaming.  The data does not seem to be from people who understand themselves as unfree, but rather those exercising their freedom to challenge oppression.

So, I have some concerns with the thematic organizing of the data which does not quite make sense to me and, at a minimum, needs further explanation and support from the literature.

 

Author Response

Dear Editor/Reviewer,

Please find attached our Response Letter to your constructive and valuable comments on our manuscript. In the attached Response Letter we detail our revisions to the manuscript, how and where we have addressed each of your comments, and why we believe this manuscript is an improved version and earnest reflection of our best work. We appreciated the opportunity to revise our manuscript, and to integrate, and attend carefully to your very valuable comments and recommendations. 

Sincerely,

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf