Dear Carl 
Thanks for your and the West Midlands Group's thinking on this, and for persevering with organising the event.

My thoughts are set out below:

Do we want to talk about war or globalisation (or both)?
My personal preference would be the impact of war, involvement of psychologists in torture, and/or potential usefulness of psychology in creating/facilitating solutions to war

I'm also very interested in the impact of globalisation on well-being, but think that this probably deserves its own event
 

Do we want to aim for a particular product on the day?
it would help to have some kind of action/aim for the day - but what that is would be dependent on the subject and how the day runs.  A statement to the BPS/press would be a good start, but also thinking of some actions that we could follow-up more locally with colleagues/friends/our own community too
 

Do we want to work with others or amongst ourselves?
I think it would be helpful to have at least one speaker to spark conversation and/or facilitate discussion
 

Does anybody have a proposal for the overall structure of the day including topic, product and any collaborators?
A speaker and then smaller group discussions (depending on numbers) then back together again to form actions??
 

Do we want to define and organise the day in advance or do we think we should arrive with open minds to discuss among ourselves?
An at least loosely defined day would make it easier to justify the journey to Birmingham and day away from clinical work - it would also help in terms of doing some preparatory thinking

I've put the date in my diary and hope to attend whichever way it works out

Best wishes

Lisa

---- Original message ----
>Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2006 10:40:12 -0000
>From: "Harris Carl (R3) BCH" <[log in to unmask]>  
>Subject: [COMMUNITYPSYCHUK] April Event in Birmingham  
>To: [log in to unmask]
>
>   Dear All
>
>    
>
>   This takes about 5 minutes to read through and then
>   there are some questions to consider at the end. It
>   would be helpful to have responses by next
>   Wednesday, after which Christmas and New Year will
>   intervene.
>
>    
>
>   Many thanks for the responses to the questions asked
>   regarding the event in April. We have identified a
>   date and a venue: 20th April at the Midland Arts
>   Centre in Birmingham (the same venue that the
>   national network conference took place at a few
>   years ago). We currently have two rooms booked, one
>   which seats up to 60 people in comfort and another
>   that will seat up to 30, so we have considerable
>   flexibility in how we organise ourselves on the day.
>
>    
>
>   I have been reading through the responses from Paul,
>   Annie, Deborah, Craig, Lisa, Paul (D), Mark and
>   Gareth to try and pick out the issues people want to
>   discuss as well as the products they would like to
>   see at the end of the meeting. I will keep this
>   brief but will be very happy to respond to queries.
>
>    
>
>   Main Issues for Discussion
>
>    
>
>   It was relatively easy to identify the main issues
>   to be discussed, ie war (including torture) and
>   globalisation (which were, of course, the original
>   suggestions following the Great Yarmouth
>   conference).
>
>    
>
>   Suggestions for Products
>
>    
>
>   There have also been a variety of suggestions
>   regarding products and I am going to list just a
>   few: a shared statement like the one produced by
>   Psychologists for Social Responsibility regarding
>   torture; a follow-up of any appropriate actions from
>   the PSR meeting; an examination of Layard's analysis
>   of well-being, plus the production of an alternative
>   set of psycho-social actions that link well-being
>   with more global concerns rather than just to
>   individual therapies; a community psychology
>   perspective which could be shared with people on the
>   ground in Israel and Palestine (and possibly
>   campaign organisations here in the UK); offers of
>   our services as psychologists to anti-globalisation
>   and anti-war movements.
>
>    
>
>   Some of these products are easier to achieve in a
>   day than others. We may be able to make a start on
>   some but would need some way of developing them
>   subsequently (not easy).
>
>    
>
>   The Process of the discussion
>
>    
>
>   This discussion initially involved some suggestions
>   for inviting speakers. This was supported in
>   principle with a request that we ensure that there
>   is a clear community psychology theme to the
>   process. Further suggestions followed, including one
>   that we consider offering our services to
>   progressive organisations. Subsequent contributions
>   offered a critical stance on suggestions that we are
>   in a privileged position to critique "war"
>   (privileged, that is relative to non-psychologists).
>
>   This critique was responded to with a statement of
>   the importance of taking action. This statement
>   referred to processes of power negotiation within
>   our network and the possibility that critical
>   activity could be an obstacle to us taking action in
>   the wider world. Subsequent contributions discussed
>   the relative impact of being shot by bullets with
>   being "shot down" in debate.
>
>    
>
>   The last two contributions referred to the
>   complexity of the situation in which we find
>   ourselves and which we seek to understand. Firstly,
>   war is just one of many forms of violence (many of
>   which appear to be carried out through the
>   corporations seeking profit) and against which
>   critical thought and action could be a weapon of
>   "active passivism". Secondly, social inequality
>   produces poorer outcomes for society as a whole,
>   what are the mechanisms which produce these
>   outcomes?
>
>    
>
>   The process of this discussion has included critical
>   reflection: what do academics add to the critique of
>   war that non-psychologists cannot do for themselves?
>   How do we ensure that our critical reflection
>   doesn't act to stop our positive contributions? We
>   cannot assume that because we have signed up to
>   community psychology that we share politics and
>   express ourselves in similar ways and therefore need
>   not critically scrutinise each other's beliefs and
>   actions.
>
>    
>
>   Implications for the organisation of the day
>
>    
>
>   The activities people suggest for the meeting have
>   implications for how we organise ourselves.
>   [Contributors referred to the potential value of
>   community psychology, while also referring to the
>   scale of the task of comprehending the challenges
>   which face us. They emphasised the need for
>   collaboration in order to explore the value of
>   community psychology and develop our
>   understandings.]
>
>   This leaves us with options to consider and decide
>   between.
>
>    
>
>   Do we talk amongst ourselves (no small task in
>   itself) aiming to produce a statement on a topic or
>   perhaps some ideas for action?
>
>    
>
>   Do we invite people from outside the "network" as
>   participants (ie speakers, audience or
>   collaborators)?
>
>    
>
>   We have suggestions for speakers: Colin Hay
>   (political analysis re: globalisation); Richard
>   Wilkinson (social epidemiologist re: inequality &
>   globalisation); Darko Suvin (war, sorry don't know
>   what else to say here).
>
>    
>
>   We have suggestions for collaborators: Psychologists
>   for Social Responsibility; Amnesty International;
>   Palestinian Solidarity.
>
>    
>
>   Practical outcomes from this process:
>
>    
>
>   If we want to invite outside speakers we need to say
>   who they are and see whether they will come.
>
>    
>
>   If we want to talk among ourselves we just need to
>   make sure that we have a roof over our heads
>   (already sorted), food to eat and some means of
>   facilitating the day.
>
>    
>
>   I would like to say thank you to Gareth for his
>   expression of interest in attending. We are likely
>   to be charging about £20 to cover the cost of the
>   facilities (if more than 20 people give a commitment
>   to attend, we can start to reduce that cost). Coffee
>   and food would be extra (probably about another £8
>   to £10). How does that sound to people?
>
>    
>
>   If we want to invite somebody to speak and they need
>   expenses, then that would need to be added onto the
>   cost.
>
>    
>
>   Questions to consider:
>
>    
>
>   Do we want to talk about war or globalisation (or
>   both)?
>
>    
>
>   Do we want to aim for a particular product on the
>   day?
>
>    
>
>   Do we want to work with others or amongst ourselves?
>
>    
>
>   Does anybody have a proposal for the overall
>   structure of the day including topic, product and
>   any collaborators?
>
>    
>
>   Do we want to define and organise the day in advance
>   or do we think we should arrive with open minds to
>   discuss among ourselves?
>
>    
>
>    
>
>   Best Wishes to All
>
>    
>
>   Carl (on behalf of the West Midlands Group)
>
>    
>
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