Inclusión of the anthropological perspective in a treatment and rehabilitation program for adolescents who consume drugs and comply with a sanction measures/ judicial measures. An analytical auto-ethnography

Abstract

The interdisciplinary approach continues to be a challenge for mental health policies implemented through drug treatment and rehabilitation programs and centers in Chile and Latin America. This article analyzes and discusses the need to include the sociocultural anthropology perspective in the operation of a community and biopsychosocial treatment and rehabilitation program for adolescents who comply with a judicial measure in the city of Temuco, Araucanía Region, Chile. The methodological foundation corresponds to an analytical auto-ethnography, a qualitative research method that intersects the position of the researcher with their position as a social actor. This intersection is found in the author’s participation as an anthropologist-researcher, and at the same time as coordinator of the treatment program. The results project the inclusion of the sociocultural perspective in the dynamics of the program from the definition and operationalization of a notion of culture and cultural identity as a dimension of the transversal reality in three levels of operation: therapeutic intervention approach; relational-organizational dynamics of the therapeutic team, and in intersectoral coordination with other teams in the network. To do this, the training of the intervention team in intercultural competences is established. It is concluded that the auto-ethnographic method is relevant to visualize from a situated, analytical and embodied point of view, the contributions and potentialities of the inclusion of the sociocultural anthropological perspective in the current model of treatment intervention in addictions.