Working with communities using the Community Future Dialogues method. A qualitative research on the views of professionals and community members

In community social work, social workers are asked to involve community members in planning social interventions aimed at solving problems and promoting community well-being. Community Future Dialogues (CFDs) are a collaborative method, based on the Future Dialogue technique, designed to address growing concerns shared by community members and practitioners and to define a plan to improve community well-being. CFDs promote participatory decision-making processes that encourage people to identify new and creative strategies to address community problems. This article presents the results of a research aimed at investigating CFDs in community social work projects implemented in a municipality on the outskirts of Milan (Italy). The paper presents the results of four focus groups with twenty-two participants in the CFDs. The purpose of the focus groups was to collect the participants’ opinions, feelings, perceived benefits and limitations related to their participation in a CFD. The results show that CFDs help to reflect on community resources and how its members can take care of themselves and develop strategies to deal with the problems of their community. Participation in CFDs allows community members to build important relationships and make decisions to solve common problems. If properly prepared and facilitated, CFD sessions can help community members cope with their problems by defining new and unexpected strategies and solutions to take care of themselves.