Thanks everyone - I'm OK with everything sugested so far (or at least
can contain any desire to further refine and debate!).
Mark


Jacqueline Akhurst (J.Akhurst) wrote:
>
> Dear Wendy, David, Annie, Mark and others,
>
> Thank you for keeping this ball rolling, and I support Annie’s
> comments. I append a short account of the conference, written (at
> great speed) for our staff publication with an eye to promoting
> community psychology in our university (so it has a bit of marketing
> spin on it), and hoping our marketing folk could get something
> published in a local paper (I’ve not heard anything further about
> that). If we are able to have a longer insert in the psychologist,
> some of this may be a start… (and I’m happy for it to be totally
> re-hashed if necessary).
>
> In the next week (once I’ve caught up on my work), I hope to get
> something brief onto EPNET, and out to conference delegates who are
> new to compsy, to encourage folk to join this discussion list.
>
> All the best,
>
> Jacqui
>
> YORK ST JOHN HOSTS THE UK COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY ANNUAL CONFERENCE
>
> For two days in mid-September, the campus hosted a cross section of
> practitioners, academics, students and community representatives for
> the annual conference of the UK Community Psychology network. People
> from all corners of Britain, from Aberdeenshire and other parts of
> Scotland, Devon, Norfolk, the Midlands, the North of England and the
> London area, were treated to a comprehensive programme of speakers,
> workshops, papers and posters. Two of the highlights of the conference
> were addresses by Professor Richard Wilkinson (University of
> Nottingham Medical School) and Julia Unwin, CEO of the Joseph Rowntree
> Foundation (JRF). The first was a comprehensive account of the ways in
> which levels of financial inequality in developed societies are
> directly linked with indices of social deprivation, crime, and
> ill-health. The conference delegates spent valuable time discussing
> these with Prof. Wilkinson, trying to make sense of the data. The work
> of the JRF, to “go forth and find the reasons why” was illustrated by
> Ms Unwin, who outlined their work in the three strategic areas of
> poverty, place (neighbourhoods and communities) and the empowerment of
> people.
>
> The variety of conference presentations is illustrated by topics such
> as: ‘Social webs and community engagement – the value of the
> informal’, ‘Participant-led research in community practice’, ‘Early
> childhood services and supports’ and ‘Critical implications of working
> with spatially defined communities’. Community group members were
> involved in some of the presentations, for example from the Great
> Yarmouth Research and Action Project, and /developing partners
> limited/ from Teeside. There was active discussion in many of the
> sessions, with valuable contributions being made from those attending.
> The conference presentations will be available shortly by links from
> the … webpage.
>
> During the poster session on the first day, delegates enjoyed a wine
> reception, enabling them to mingle and network. Overall, the delegates
> were full of praise about the venue, the catering, and friendliness of
> the context, and the organisers (led by Jacqui Akhurst) are grateful
> to the HLS faculty and conference office staff for their assistance
> with the smooth running of the event.
>
> The event was important in the development of Community psychology in
> the UK - as evidenced by the press release developed in a workshop on
> the first day, and agreed in the plenary at the end: __
>
> _ _
>
> _York__ statement on Poverty:_ We believe that psychologists have a
> fundamental responsibility to join with others to end poverty and
> social inequalities. We call for positive social, personal, economic
> and political action to end the causes of poverty. Psychology has at
> times tended to hide the systemic causes and effects of poverty,
> seeing it as a characteristic of the individual. Instead we call for
> the skills and knowledge of psychology to be used in exposing the
> causes and effects of poverty, and supporting effective action to
> prevent it.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> *From:* The UK Community Psychology Discussion List
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] *On Behalf Of *David Fryer
> *Sent:* 25 September 2007 21:22
> *To:* [log in to unmask]
> *Subject:* Re: Statement on Poverty
>
> Dear Wendy,
>
> Thanks for posting this statement and for providing some of the
> context of its generation.
>
> I was in the group which discussed this at York and also - as you say
> - you and I did have a brief post conference discussion by email about
> some reflections upon issues arising for each of us out of the
> conference and as part of that we pondered how to give the statement
> more persuasive force than just sending it to the psychologist as a
> readers' letter. Even so I want to start the ball rolling with some
> comment:.
>
> As far as the content is concerned I think it has lots of good
> features: it says something important and is pretty succinct,
> relatively accessible etc. but I have 2 main reservations at this stage.
>
> 1. The discussion and the drafting of the statement came before
> Richard Wilkinson's presentation to the conference. The statement
> talks about ending "poverty and social inequalities" There are many
> manifestations of social inequality of course but in connection with
> this poverty statement, I wonder if we might now want to be more
> specific about the destructive consequences of societal income
> inequality, independent of absolute wealth (richer societies with more
> unequal distributions of income appear more destructive than poorer
> societies with more equal distribution)?
>
> 2. Bearing in mind the powerful (to my mind) critiques of Ian Parker
> and others that mainstream psychology is the servant of capitalism,
> perhaps rather than the 'skills and knowledge of psychology' (as it
> is) being deployed to prevent or intervene in relation to poverty we
> would want to call for the transformation of psychology to make it
> capable of being part of the solution rather than problem?
>
> I think you will want to gather feedback at this stage but when you
> have gathered it, I would be happy to help - if you need it - develop
> a statement version 2.
>
>
> I am less clear now how the statement can be used. I think it was
> thought of at the time as a sort of conference press release but by
> late October it will hardly be 'news'. It is a bit short to stand
> alone I think in the psychologist and it could be said to be a claim
> without support. I wonder whether a longer conference report of which
> this is the conclusion might be a good idea? That could legitimate the
> statement in terms of the arguments and evidence of 'conference
> papers' - some clearly spot n relevant like those of Richard W, Mike
> and Jan and the Rowntree presentation and others relevant at slightly
> more remove (such as Claire Russell's powerful personal testimony re
> the distribution of status). This could also flag up that our
> perspective is a community psychological one.
>
> Just thinking aloud really . . .
>
> David
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> *From:* The UK Community Psychology Discussion List on behalf of Wendy
> Franks
> *Sent:* Tue 25/09/2007 15:39
> *To:* [log in to unmask]
> *Subject:* Statement on Poverty
>
> Hello all,
>
> Apologies for the delay in sending this, and also for any cross postings.
>
> I agreed to send this email after a 'workshop to follow the Birmingham
> meeting on Globalisation Themes', in the recent Community Psychology
> Conference in York. Those who attended the workshop considered how to
> take forward the statements that were generated at the meeting in
> Birmingham. After a fair bit of discussion, the majority of the group
> at York voted to generate a new statement on poverty, which was as
> follows:
>
> //We believe that psychologists have a fundamental responsibility to
> join with others to end poverty and social inequalities. We call for
> positive social, personal, economic and political action to end the
> causes of poverty. Psychology has at times tended to hide the systemic
> causes and effects of poverty, seeing it as a characteristic of the
> individual. Instead we call for the skills and knowledge of psychology
> to be used in exposing the causes and effects of poverty, and
> supporting effective action to prevent it.//
>
> At the end of the conference, we agreed that this email would be
> circulated to the Community Psychology discussion list, the list of
> people who attended the Birmingham meeting, and the list of people who
> attended the York Conference. We agreed to ask for comments by 'a
> certain date', but we didn't decide on a date, so I'm suggesting a
> month from today: **25 October 2007**. We also agreed that at this
> point we would ask for vounteers who are interested in taking this
> forward, in terms of producing a pamphlet, or other suggestions of
> what to do now with the statements we have generated.
>
> We also agreed that I would write a brief letter for the Psychologist,
> from the conference (rather than from me personally) to bring the
> statement on poverty from the Community Psychology Network to wider
> attention within the world of psychology. I've briefly discussed with
> David Fryer, and will be getting in touch with the editor of the BPS
> to discuss whether this would be best placed within a letter, longer
> conference report, or coloured panel within the magazine, so will let
> you know how it goes.
>
> Please do get in touch if you'd be interested in taking the statements
> further, and I can pull together a list of names and email addresses
> and send out an email to all who have expressed an interest by the 25
> October.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Wendy
>
> //_Please note: there were some care/of email addresses on the
> conference list: _//
>
> [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>//, please forward to Oz
> Osbourne//////
>
> / /
>
> //Jenny Brock, please forward to: Imran Akram, Mar Appleby, Richard
> Ashton, Janet Gill, Claire Russell, Norma Shepherd & Alison Wilcock.////
>
> / /
>
> //Thanks. ////
>
> / /
>
> /
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