Experts of the streets: The thoughts of experts by experience with a history of crime and substance abuse on working as a team with professionals
| Author | Janika Lindström,Teemu Rantanen |
| DOI | 10.1177/20662203211028250 |
| Published date | 01 December 2021 |
| Date | 01 December 2021 |
| Subject Matter | Original Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/20662203211028250
European Journal of Probation
© The Author(s) 2021
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DOI: 10.1177/20662203211028250
journals.sagepub.com/home/ejp
Experts of the streets: The
thoughts of experts by
experience with a history of
crime and substance abuse
on working as a team with
professionals
Janika Lindström
and Teemu Rantanen
Laurea University of Applied Sciences, Finland
Abstract
Expertise by experience has become increasingly significant in the various fields of social
work. This study examines narratives told by experts by experience who have undergone
an educational expert-by-experience program for people with a history of crime and
substance abuse, with the main focus on the participants’ accounts of their expertise
and how it is created when working as a team with a professional. The stories create
an image of the expert by experience as an agent who is both an interpreter and an
advocate advancing the mutual understanding between the client and the professional as
well as someone who promotes the client’s status within the service system. However,
the experts’ dual role makes it difficult for them to fully recognize their status and roles
in the professional organizations. All in all, the study shows that expertise by experience
has much use in social and personal services, including probation.
Keywords
Desistance from crime, expert by experience, social work, user involvement
Introduction
Over the past few years, expertise by experience has become increasingly significant in
the various fields of social work. The term “expert by experience” refers to expertise that
is based on an individual’s own experiences of using services (McLaughlin, 2009). The
involvement of experts by experience in the provision of services challenges social work
Corresponding author:
Janika Lindström, Laurea University of Applied Sciences, Ratatie 22, 01300 Vantaa, Finland.
Email: janika.lindstrom@laurea.fi
1028250
EJP0010.1177/20662203211028250European Journal of ProbationLindström and Rantanen
2021
Original Article
2021, Vol. 13(3) 226 –241
Lindström and Rantanen 227
2 European Journal of Probation 00(0)
professionals to revise their views as well as expert organizations to give room to experts
by experience in the service system. While social work is dedicated to empowering ser-
vice users, the social workers’ perspective still dominates the setting (Wilberforce et al.,
2020). Therefore, teamwork between experts by experience and social workers requires
a new kind of mind-set and the sharing of expertise.
This article examines how experts by experience who have undergone expert-by-
experience training for people with a history of crime and substance abuse talk about
working in a team with a social work professional. The research data consist of inter-
views with these experts by experience (N = 19) in which they describe expertise as it is
constructed when working in pairs with professionals as well as their roles as experts in
relation to the professionals.
In this study, when we talk about people with a history of crime and substance abuse,
or ex-offenders and recovering addicts, we mean individuals who have been convicted of
crimes and have engaged in substance abuse in the past. They can be presumed to have
knowledge of desistance from crime and abstinence from substances.
The study takes place in the context of Finland where experts by experience have been
particularly involved in civil society organizations operating in the field of social welfare
and also in various public sector organizations (Meriluoto, 2018: 19). In Finland, experts
by experience with a history of crime and substance abuse mainly participate in the func-
tions of organizations that provide services for inmates, homeless people, and substance
abusers, or that run development projects related to these services. To some extent, the
concept of expertise by experience has become an indication of the inclusive and partici-
patory character of any social welfare organization in Finland (Meriluoto, 2018).
While this research was conducted with experts by experience working with social
workers, the findings have wider relevance for work within social and personal services,
including probation. These stories are needed in criminology education and social sciences
for the purpose of developing different practices, public debate, and decision-making.
Theoretical framework
As social work has become increasingly professional, the idea of expertise has gained
more significance in the field. This has prompted discussions on what expertise is in the
context of social work and who can be an expert in the field. Toikko (2016) argues that
one grows to be an expert by experience in individual and collective processes.
Consequently, the individual learning process allows the service user to build their iden-
tity as an expert based on their experiences, while the collective process promotes the
creation of their social role. The concept of expertise by experience can be seen as based
on a new interpretation of expertise, a so-called open expertise. Open expertise recog-
nizes the layperson’s perspective. Expertise is not directly connected to a certain profes-
sion, position, or educational background. The expert status cannot be given automatically
to anyone in advance, nor can it be denied from anyone in principle (Eräsaari, 2002:
23–30; Karvinen-Niinikoski, 2004, 2005).
There continue to be challenges with regard to the status and role of experts by experi-
ence in social work. Peter Beresford (2000) argues that service users should be treated with
the same respect as professionals. This means that their stigmas should not be reinforced,
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