Dear Wendy,
 
I think that what has emerged for me in the recent discussions about conference planning that you stimulated, is that many people committed to community psychology in the UK are steeped in an NHS and mental health upbringing that influences our every move and utterance. Although we may be critical about mental health systems, we are somewhat restricted in this focus and we are clearly not as critical or imaginative as we could be about theoretical assumptions and methods of working. Some of the recent contributions on the list have been illuminating about this.
 
If we want the conferences to help shift our perpectives, our activities and our critical analyses, and to be stimulating for everyone in the network, we need to open them up further to involve people other than professional psychologists.  Some challenging and thought provoking contributions at the Newcastle Conference came from Community Development Workers and activists and we could make more opportunity for that. And it would be particularly enlightening to hear about community psychology work beyond the UK. I liked Rebekah's suggestions for increasing diversity and generating contributions from a variety of sources, and was struck by the prioritisatiion of the theme of poverty which was in a recent posting about an event in Costa Rica (which had over 550 participants from 25 different countries!)   
 
I am keen to help with the conference if I can, and I am prepared to share some responsibility for the less inspiring aspects of community psychology in the UK which will undoubtedly be reflected in the conference. Having said all that I would like to reiterate that I think we also need to trust you and your colleagues to plan the conference in collaboration with local contributors and subject to local influences, as well as those in wider networks.
 
With high hopes,
Jan
 
 
 
 
----- Original Message -----
From: [log in to unmask] href="mailto:[log in to unmask]">Rebekah Pratt
To: [log in to unmask] href="mailto:[log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask]
Sent: Tuesday, December 13, 2005 3:12 PM
Subject: Re: [COMMUNITYPSYCHUK] On the subject of conferences...

Hi Wendy,
 
Good to hear you back on the list!  I too have been struggling with juggling family commitments, work and the knowledge required to keep up with some of the recent contributions - so that was nice for me to read your comments on that too.
 
Wendy I agree that it will never be 100% right, but I admire the discussions you have initiated and feel sure that will positively impact our next gathering. 
 
I just want to re-emphasize my previous point about raising the stakes in relation to increasing the diversity of our contributions at conferences.  By diversity I personally would like to see deliberate and committed space made for marginalised groups and perspectives, for feminist thought, for LGBT issues, for the area of ethnicity (minority and majority) and I'm sure there are many more ... I'm speaking mainly to my own preoccupations but with the hope it might encourage others to share theirs and make apparent the things that can get made invisible when we get together in large groups.
 
I would like us to move back to the practical and address how we make that happen together, as inclusion requires much more than commitment to the principle.  I understand that generally conferences call for interested people to tell organisers what it is they have to say that is interesting ... what I would like to see more of conference organisers approaching people and supporting them to share what they are doing in these often lesser heard areas.  I am sure that our combined resource on this list means we are capable of generating further concrete suggestions together to support the organisers in making center stage the interesting chat and sharing that, in my experience, often happens on the fringes. 
 
So here are some thoughts...  probably individualistic and over simplifying, but in the name of making a start somewhere for the sake of starting, here we go:
- a longer process of calling for proposals, including nominating others we know and respect for their work in diverse areas
- a system of supporting others who may feel less confident about talking in a conference setting
- specific subsidies to support the costs of people who will add to our diversity aims
- specific reference to diversity in the call for proposals
- thematic segments of the conference to make space for this to happen
- inviting external folk who can help stimulate this area
- sub group networking?
 
Are there any more suggestions out there?  I think if we could share some strategies for expanding our diversity it would be one way to support the conference planning at this early stage.
 
Best wishes,
 
Rebekah

 
From: The UK Community Psychology Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Franks, Wendy - Clinical Psychologist
Sent: 13 December 2005 14:51
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [COMMUNITYPSYCHUK] On the subject of conferences...

...hello again from this thread!
 
Looking at the emails that have arisen on being critical and escaping (or not) the critique, there's a lot of energy about here for a robust debate about critical approaches to psychology. It would be good to have a big enough space for that in the conference, don't you think?
 
I'm aware that we got some way in terms of talking about the conference before things developed in a different direction, so I thought I'd drop in to say what's happening on the planning side.
 
First of all, that some planning is happening, assuming that we'll be organising a conference in Great Yarmouth, sometime during autumn 2006, most likely to be September, but after Clinical Psychology trainees will have had their vivas (to try to be inclusive). We will try to arrange it for during the week, an unspecified number of days, yet to be decided, but probably 2 or 3, and probably with some time to think about action.
 
We will assume, that no matter what we do, we will not get it 100% right for everybody, but aim to be good enough for the majority.
 
We are having a preliminary meeting next week, for a few of us who have expressed some interest in arranging the event. At that time, we'll be thinking about who else we would like to invite to be involved in the planning, and would welcome suggestions. Clearly there is a role for some non-professional community members, and we have some good contacts with people from a number of different communities that we would like to ask. Of course, everyone is busy, and our professional conference may not be a high priority to everyone! There is also space for input from this list. There are a couple of other psychology folk from Great Yarmouth who have recently joined the list, and so can also get involved both in the list discussions and in planning meetings, so it's not just me representing the list to the planning group.
 
I'll take along to the intial meetings the relevant emails that have come out of the list, and report back on how things develop.
 
Best wishes,
 
Wendy
 
 
 


-----Original Message-----
From: Thorne Lisa (Devon Partnership NHS Trust)
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 24 November 2005 11:32
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [COMMUNITYPSYCHUK] On the subject of conferences...


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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