Yes I agree, mental health is just one of a variety of areas of
oppression/resistance and community praxis Suggest don't alternate in
this way, but avoid a clash if possible with Asylum for those (not me)
that want to go to it.
Mark
David Fryer wrote:
> Dear Annie, Grant Rebekah and all,
>
> On this list and at our conferences, the UK Community psychology often
> defaults to a community psychology which seems preoccupied with
> 'mental health' issues. This may in part reflect so many members
> being clinical psychologists, the influence of 'clinical community
> psychology' through the work of Jim (Orford) and David (Smail), the
> treatment of people labelled as 'mentally ill' being so often in so
> many ways oppressive and the influence in UK CP of US CP, which was
> itself heavily influenced by the community mental health movement in
> the USA. However community psychology in other places and times often
> has much more diverse engagement: think of NZ CP engagement with peace
> (Heather Hamerton) , colonisation & racism (Marewa
> Glover) biculturalism (Linda Nikora) etc; Aussie preoccupation with
> work on gendered power (Heather Gridley), US work on heterosexism
> (Gary Harper) & poverty (Tod Sloan); South African work on policing
> (Victor Nell) and gun violence (Jacklyn Cock) etc. We have ourselves
> in this list called for our own engagement with poverty, warfare, the
> environment etc. In the Stirling Community Critical group, work has
> been underway on disabling practices, school exclusion, art-activism,
> unemployment and homelessness); other colleagues in Scotland are doing
> community psychology work on the sex industry and heart failure and,
> as mentioned, I am working (with a BPS group) to mount an event to
> promote new thinking and effective action in relation to climate change
>
> I am, personally, very keen to go to the Asylum Conference but I am
> also keen for community psychology in the UK (and Europe more widely)
> to develop to engage with issues more diverse than mental health and I
> am also very keen indeed for UK community psychologists to get to the
> stage where they can engage collectively with other collective groups
> of community psychologists in other countries, form alliances with
> some and protect each other against community psychology
> hegemony, colonisation and globalisation.
>
> I would thus like to see us in the UK continuing to meet annually
> together as a discrete group, working in solidarity to develop a less
> ideologically problematic, less historically and politically naive,
> more diverse, more activist UK version of community psychology. I
> would be very happy for that meeting to take place in Manchester but
> if so would prefer it to be identifiably separate from the Asylum
> conference and Festival even if temporally and geographically
> overlaid. I would be happier still for the meeting to take place in
> Edinburgh and appreciate Grant and Rebekah's generous offer to
> organise it but hope if in Edinburgh it will not take place at the
> same time as Asylum. Given your (Annie) plea to move to a spring
> annual meeting, the high cost of the Asylum meeting emptying coffers,
> might it (Grant and Rebekah) be possible to organise the UK CP
> meeting for Spring 2009 instead of Autumn 2008? That would have added
> advantages the brilliant weather and long day light we have in Spring
> (if anyone wants to do a bit of travelling too) and of not coinciding
> with the inflated prices and scarce accommodation of Edinburgh in
> festival time?
>
> Finally I am not keen on UK CP conferences alternating with activist
> groups' conferences . . . I would much prefer us to make each and
> every of our UK CP conferences an activist conference.
>
> David
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* The UK Community Psychology Discussion List on behalf of Annie
> Mitchell
> *Sent:* Fri 12/14/2007 09:42
> *To:* [log in to unmask]
> *Subject:* Re: CP Conference 2008
>
> Sounds interesting/ good development to me to alternate conferences
> with activist groups, if our network seems useful - and the
> invitation from Ian from the Asylum conference very welcome.
>
> In relation to voluntary sector possibilities/ opportunities - are
> people aware of the new Big Lottery research funding stream for "third
> sector" organisations - details on www.bigresearchprogramme.org.uk.
>
> Another thought : we do seem to be defaulting a lot in our
> discussions to adult mental health issues - I wonder what that's
> about.. there's lots more we could debate. For example am pleased to
> see David convening a BPS workshop on climate change - there's lots we
> could debate around that. Or about the tough management stuff/
> centralising control that we are all being subjected to in various
> fields. And encroaching privatisation of NHS Etc.
>
> Annie
>
>
>
>
> Annie Mitchell
>
> Clinical Director,
> Doctorate in Clinical Psychology,
> School of Applied Psychosocial Studies,
> Faculty of Health and Social Work,
> University of Plymouth,
> Peninsula Allied Health Collaboration,
> Derriford Road,
> Plymouth,
> Devon
> PL6 8BH
>
>
> Phone Programme Administrators:
> Jane Murch, Emma Hellingsworth
> 01752 233786
>
> Please note I work 3 days per week:
> usually Monday, Tuesday & either Wednesday or Thursday.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: The UK Community Psychology Discussion List
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Suzanne Elliott
> Sent: 14 December 2007 09:18
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: CP Conference 2008
>
> i haven't managed to get to a UKCP conference since brum due to
> funding issues, and if there was one in september next year i wouldn't
> be able to make it as if i get funding i will be going to the asylum
> conference.
>
> i think the idea of alternating conferences between supporting an
> activist led event and doing our own is excellent for all the reasons
> that paul mentioned. i was wondering how 'activist led' organisations
> would respond to our suggestion about this- what would an event
> gain/lose from having us there? i guess each situation might be
> different; it was really nice to feel our group so welcomed by ian and
> asylum.
>
> suzanne
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: The UK Community Psychology Discussion List on behalf of Paul
> Duckett
> Sent: Thu 13/12/2007 16:50
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: CP Conference 2008
>
>
>
> Message forwarded to list from Ian Parker
>
>
>
> Thanks for suggesting this Paul. On the registration costs and
> deadlines, why not keep your own registration costs and
> deadlines,
> but your conference (which still runs) is, to some extent that you
> like, is intermeshed with the Asylum conference), or for you
> as
> a particular grouping participating we honour your existing
> commitments on registration costs and deadlines. We are happy to
> accommodate you on this. The call for papers is attached for the
> Asylum conference, but I would suggest that you handle a
> community 'conference'/'strand'/'stream'/'caucus' and put out your own
> call for papers. I hope this message gets through to your
> list (Paul can you forward it if it does not). Let me know what you
> decide, and we will of course amend our publicity to signal
> your presence here. Best wishes. Ian
>
>
> Discourse Unit Diary is at
> www.discourseunit.com/diary.doc
> Discourse Unit web resources at www.discourseunit.com
> MMU email disclaimer is at http://www.mmu.ac.uk/emaildisclaimer
>
>
> Paul Duckett
> Senior Lecturer
> Community Psychology
> Department of Psychology and Speech Pathology
> Manchester Metropolitan University
>
> Here is the ubiquitous university disclaimer to remind you of how
> litigious and neo-liberal a world some of us live in!
>
> "Before acting on this email or opening any attachments
> you should read the Manchester Metropolitan University's
> email disclaimer available on its website
> http://www.mmu.ac.uk/emaildisclaimer
> UK"
>
> >>> "Paul Duckett" <[log in to unmask]> 13/12/2007 16:26 >>>
> I think it would be great to have the UKCP network conference in
> Edinburgh and am very grateful to Grant and Rebekah for
> offering
> to take this on.
>
> There could be another possibility. We could postpone our next CP
> conference in Edinburgh until 2009 and for this year we could
> have a gathering at the Asylum conference in Manchester instead. The
> conference Asylum organisers would very much welcome us
> there
> if we chose to do that. We could have some spaces around the
> conference where our network could meet to discuss business matters
> and have our own space and place for plenaries, for re-forging our
> social connections with one another and so on, but our
> presentations would be interspersed among the Asylum conference
> presentations. The downside is that the conference deadline for
> presentation proposals is the end of Jan. Also, it might be more
> expensive than our own (£350 for three days) though there are
> bursaries for the low waged and unwaged and people might have the
> option of just attending one or two days for reduced fees.
>
> Here is a description of the conf (more info can be found at:
> http://www.mindfreedom.org/kb/act/asylum-conference)
>
> "The conference will bring together Invited speakers include:
> Peter Beresford, Peter Bullimore, Ron Coleman, Jacqui Dillon, Sandra
> Escher, Rob Evans, Gillian Haddock, Paul Hammersley, Lois
> Holzman, Alec Jenner, Lucy Johnstone, Marius Romme, Dorothy Rowe, Phil
> Thomas, Phil Virden"
>
> "Asylum! Conference and Festival Themes:
> Celebrating Terence McLaughlin - Life, work and change
> Professional and User Involvement - Radical practice
> Resisting Big Pharma - Resisting Big Psy
> Connecting Theory and Change - Academic knowledge and political activity
> Transdisciplinary Experimental Applied Psychology - Critique and
> creativity
> Disabling and enabling - In and against oppressive institutions
> New Social Movements - Linking with social action organisations,
> activists, campaigners and academics working for radical
> challenge and change in mental health. "
> "It will showcase critical work on psychiatry and psychology ('Big
> Psy') and the pharmaceutical industry ('Big Pharma'),
> and alternatives to diagnostic medical labels like 'schizophrenia' and
> 'paranoia'. The conference will run alongside a
> festival of organisations working for a better world. There will be
> guest speakers, academic papers, panel discussions,
> bookstalls, film, art, music and workshops."
>
> I suggest us piggy-backing the Asylum conference for a number of reasons
>
> 1) I am a little concerned that moving, as we have, from having
> biennial conferences to annual conferences is useful in
> providing
> momentum for us and for building our network, but might be a bit
> taxing on network members' resources and we might find it
> increasingly difficult to find network members who are able to host a
> conference (it takes a lot of work and planning).
>
> 2) Having our 2008 gathering at the Asylum conference instead would be
> directly supportive to a broad coalition of mental health
> service user/survivor groups (among others) i.e., be a useful way of
> ensuring the expenditure of our network members would serve
> another network we would, perhaps, like collectively to support if we
> had the opportunity to.
>
> 3) Could counter some problems in the past where service
> users/survivors were poorly represented in the content of our
> conferences and in the audience (being dominated largely by academics
> and practitioners - though the latter remain somewhat
> under
> represented still in CPUK events) and might potentially be an
> environment where academic and practitioners were a little less
> the
> insiders of the conference (inside in terms of being
> familiar/comfortable with the social conventions and practices engaged in
> at
> academic conferences) than service users/survivors
>
> 4) Could be a good way to respond to issues brought up in the final
> session of the CPUK conf in York where we had the chance to
> see what our network looked like from a mental health service
> user/survivor's perspective. I.e., it could give us the
> opportunity
> collectively to test the relevance of our network to mental health
> service users/survivors and to see how we speak differently,
> think differently, interact differently when we are in a different
> conference environment to the one our network is used to and
> in
> and around a different set delegates.
>
> 5) Would give our CPUK conference organisers more time to organise and
> we might find people are more likely to volunteer for the
> next one if they have a longer period of time to prepare for it.
>
> I do have vested interests in this as I am helping to organise aspects
> of the Asylum conference and have committed myself to
> attending it. So, if CPUK helped Asylum in this way it helps me.
> However, irrespective of the network agreeing or not for us to
> gather at the Asylum conference this year instead of having our own
> separate conference, I wonder if we could still consider the
> proposal that we have annual meetings of the network but every second
> one of these is a gathering at a service user/survivor
> event, a political event (such as at political demos, rallies,
> marches, sit-ins etc), a community event and such like. So, at
> the
> end of our next CPUK conference we could ask for volunteers to suggest
> a sister event to support for our next gathering and for
> volunteers to organise our own conference for the year after that.
>
> Any thoughts?
>
>
> p
>
>
>
>
> Paul Duckett
> Senior Lecturer
> Community Psychology
> Department of Psychology and Speech Pathology
> Manchester Metropolitan University
>
> Here is the ubiquitous university disclaimer to remind you of how
> litigious and neo-liberal a world some of us live in!
>
> "Before acting on this email or opening any attachments
> you should read the Manchester Metropolitan University's
> email disclaimer available on its website
> http://www.mmu.ac.uk/emaildisclaimer
> UK"
>
>
> ___________________________________
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