So, let's get this straight, you spent time "wondering" what to do while
more people got ripped off. Now you are looking for ideas but don't want to
do the obvious. If you knew a company was polluting a local water supply you
would warn the community by naming the company. The community might then
take community action. Is loan sharking not the equivalent?
C
----- Original Message -----
From: "Suzanne Elliott" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2007 2:30 PM
Subject: Re: [COMMUNITYPSYCHUK] 'direct action' against poverty?
hi craig
er... no thanks.
:o)
suzanne
________________________________
From: The UK Community Psychology Discussion List on behalf of Craig Newnes
Sent: Tue 06/11/2007 12:25
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: 'direct action' against poverty?
Name and shame
C
----- Original Message -----
From: Suzanne Elliott <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2007 10:01 AM
Subject: Re: [COMMUNITYPSYCHUK] 'direct action' against poverty?
When I was working in the west midlands a couple of years ago, the cmht in
which I was based became aware that one of those 'loan shark' companies were
extremely active, perhaps even targeting, a few of the neighbourhoods where
people who used our service tended to be housed. We really felt like we
wanted to do something about this, as many people were being taken advantage
of through high pressure direct marketing techniques and 35%+ interest rates
on loans. However, I'm ashamed to admit that nothing came of this 'wanting
to do something' and I wondered whether, should I come across this again,
anybody on the list had ideas about 'direct action'? Although individual
workers in the team took up issues on an individual basis with the company
on behalf of the individual service user they worked with, I'm wondering
whether there was anything we could have done at a 'community' level?
suzanne
Suzanne Elliott
Clinical Psychologist
Treatment & Recovery Services
Swithland House (CTT East)
London Rd
Leicester
LE2 2PL
0116 225 5600
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: The UK Community Psychology Discussion List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Horrocks Matthew
Sent: 31 October 2007 15:27
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: 'direct action' against poverty?
Thanks for your posting John,
Whilst rightly pointing out that people could strive to remain mindful of
areas where we might collude with unhelpful concepts, marginilisation, etc.
I do think that there is tremendous positive value in your suggestion, and I
for one would appreciate as many practical tips as possible from list
members about helping people (including myself) to navigate the mire of
social oppression in all its forms.
Apologies if my wording here isn't as clear and precise as others might be -
I'm in a rush against the clock today and I also feel demonstrably
inarticulate compared to many of you good people on this list, and some of
the recent postings.
Having said that, best wishes to you all and keep up the good work, there
have been some really interesting and useful developments shared here of
late.
Cheers,
Matthew.
________________________________
From: The UK Community Psychology Discussion List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of John Cromby
Sent: 31 October 2007 14:21
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [COMMUNITYPSYCHUK] 'direct action' against poverty?
I think the statement is good and am happy to be associated with it if
that's appropriate.
I also wonder if list members might be able to do more to combat poverty. In
fact I suspect that some at least already are, but that it might be useful
to share 'good practice' in this respect.
An example: a friend of mine works in benefit advice. One of her clients was
being made homeless because she lost her job after being diagnosed with
depression, and so had fallen behind on her mortgage repayments. She tried
to claim for this on her mortgage repayment protection insurance, but was
shocked to find out that she wasn't covered because the policy would only
pay out in cases of 'mental illness' where people are 'under the direct care
of a consultant psychiatrist' or some such wording.
My friend asked me about this, and I spoke to supportive psychiatrist that I
know. He confirmed that the numbers of people 'under direct care' in this
way are vanishingly small, and provided some relevant figures to back this
up. Armed with these figures and some more info on prevalence and service
delivery, my friend tackled the insurance company and made a veiled threat
to publicise a policy wording which effectively excludes almost all possible
claims. She accompanied this with a letter, kindly supplied by another
psychiatrist, who In response to this they immediately offered an ex gratia
'no liability' payment to her client that was sufficient to cover the
mortgage arrears.
I'm sure people on the list have taken similar small initiatives. So what
I'm suggesting is not so much that we share these kinds of stories; more
that we share any resources, advice or tactics that were generated. For
example, I can ask my friend to provide anonymised copies of the letters to
the insurance company; where appropriate, these could be then used as
templates by others.
I realise such initiatives are not without their paradoxes: this one, for
example, involved a degree of collusion with an individualising psychiatric
diagnosis. Personally, I see no contradiction between taking such action
tactically, to help people facing immediate problems, whilst strategically
and publicly continuing to challenge individualising scientifically and
morally bankrupt ideas and practices; but I do realise that others may well
feel differently.
J.
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