Hi Wendy, ( and all)

Yes - echoing what Lisa says here from Exeter _ I'd be glad to give support 
from a distance based on our previous experience. I'd love to come to the 
east coast. Also to hear about local issues from where you are.

I wonder if one possible theme could be community psychology and 
sustainability - this seems to flow from some of the good stuff we had at 
Newcastle, has been an issue that the community members of the Southwest 
network have brought to us.It's a growing pre-occupation of mine - has 
anyone read Jonathan Porrit's latest book - Capitalism as if the World 
Matters - there is so little from psychology in the debate around 
sustainability and yet we could/ should be be contributing .. Links with 
the need for us to be active about political/global issues, violence, war, 
inequalities etc.

Also there is another worry  about the growing political move towards 
cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) as an proposed answer to alleged 
nationally growing levels of individual and collective levels of 
unhappiness and distress (and the consequent cost of this distress to the 
Treasury) . I had a concerned email today from a member of Exeter DClin's 
service user advisory group about the narrow perspective taken in recent 
national public pronouncements about obsessive compulsive disorder, for 
example.

Has anyone seen the recommendations coming out via the work of Lord Richard 
Layard regarding  the aspiration to train (many)  more CBT therapists ? See 
http://www.strategy.gov.uk/downloads/files/mh_layard.pdf> for the original 
presentation to the cabinet office and 
<http://www.bps.org.uk/dcp/news/layard.cfm> for a discussion on this in 
clinical psychology ( Tony Roth) ). Could we have a conference theme on 
challenging the CBT hegemony perhaps? And on how we could raise awareness 
politically about issues of prevention and victim blaming etc in relation 
to distress? Maybe we could invite Lord Layard who I believe to be 
sensitive to issues of social inequality and give him some input regarding 
other ways beyond clinical psychology and CBT that psychology could 
contribute??



Good wishes,

Annie






--On 24 November 2005 11:32 +0000 "Thorne Lisa (Devon Partnership NHS 
Trust)" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Hi Wendy
> Really pleased to hear the enthusiasm already brewing in
> Great Yarmouth - it will be lovely to be beside the sea!!
>
> Having been involved in the organisation of the Exeter
> conference, I would be quite happy to take a backseat and
> leave you to plan the conference locally with the occasional
> email to the group, perhaps simply to discuss a theme/focus
> as this was something that there wasn't time for at the end
> of the conference in Newcastle.  I do think that it would be
> helpful to have some space to think further about the role
> of community psychology in commenting on political/global
> issues - the conversations that took place in Newcastle were
> very thought provoking but i'm not sure that we managed to
> come to a an agreement about how/when/where to make any
> statements on such issues.
>
> However, if you are asking for help/advice, I'm sure we at
> Exeter would be able to fill you in on any of the challenges
> & how we overcame them + practicalities etc - & offer
> anything else we can from a distance - just let us know!
>
> Good luck with it!
>
> Lisa
>
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Annie Mitchell
Lecturer in Psychology,
Clinical Director, Doctorate in Clinical and Community Psychology,

School of Psychology,
Washington Singer Building,
University of Exeter,
Exeter,
EX4 4QG

Phone 01392 264621 or
Liz Mears, Programme Administrator 01392 403184

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