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PS thanks for this book recommendation Erica: sounds great - some playfulness in considering power and its machinations very welcome. I have been enjoying a rather old book that I came across recently: Devid Edwards ( 1995) Free to be Human: Intellectual Self-defence in an Age of Delusions . I believe that the delusions we are being exposed to at present are very very strong and we need every tool of defence and defiance that we can find. A -----Original Message----- From: The UK Community Psychology Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Annie Mitchell Sent: 07 October 2010 08:38 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [COMMUNITYPSYCHUK] Pressure from Health Service connections Dear all, I will be going tomorrow both to the morning meeting and ( part of) the BPS section inaugural meeting ( tho I will have to leave that meeting early because of train times) . For the morning meeting, I was lucky enough to secure funding from my University ( Plymouth) to fund attendance of 2 community women who have been v committed to community psychology over the years here in the south west, plus another academic colleague who has a history of involvement in strong anti-establishment community psychology in South Africa, all of whom I believe will be very helpful and constructive with us in thinking how we take UK community psychology forwards outside the BPS: outside the mainstream is in my view is where the vibrancy and creativity and strength of our collectivity is best placed. When we met to discuss the future organisation of community psychology at the last UK community psych conference, we agreed for pragmatic reasons that the next meeting to do so would be best attended, given everyone's high work/ life load, on the same day in London as the afternoon BPS meeting, because London is central, and because there would be a significant overlap of people involved in both. We were all aware of the tensions involved in choosing this as our next meeting, but it does mean we get a free meeting space in a central location and a chance to influence those who are attending the afternoon meeting. We have not been able over the email list to agree a plan or structure for the morning meeting, so we will have to see what emerges on the day ( with thanks to Elaine and Sally for their work in setting the meeting up) : I hope at the least we manage to achieve: 1) some planning for the handover from the last UK community conference to the next ( wherever it may be) 2) some planning for how and where to take forward plans for establishment of a UK community psychology collective 3) some influence from non- BPS members over how the BPS members could take forward the Section starting in the afternoon's meeting 4) an experience of solidarity together, esp important in the face of the drastic economic/ social circumstances we are currently facing globally and locally 5) perhaps a re-visit/ reminder of our Birmingham Manifesto ( Mark Burton - I do hope you are coming: if so, will you bring a copy of the latest version of the Manifesto??) . For those not familiar, you can find it on the UK community Psych webpage http://www.compsy.org.uk/ I have offered to stand as a committee member for the BPS section because I have been active in progressing this development along with others, as democratically agreed at a previous UK conference. : I have considerable ambivalence about being active in the Section: mostly because of my high workload and consequent lack of capacity , but also because of remaining ambivalence about the value of establishing a potentially radical section within a conservative professional body; and also because I am not sure if I am sufficiently radical myself to fulfil the high ideals of many UK community psychology activists whose work I admire. so I am more than willing to stand down if there are sufficient and more radical others. Good wishes, Annie -----Original Message----- From: The UK Community Psychology Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Erica Brostoff Sent: 07 October 2010 08:00 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [COMMUNITYPSYCHUK] Pressure from Health Service connections Dear All, I would like to recommend the thoughts contained in a chapter in book published this year, which addresses the situation of psychotherapy organisations under pressures from the Health Service to become more accountable. The essential message is that no-one is ever free of pressures and the art is to learn to work within them, to negotiate and use imagination to arrive at reasonably satisfactory ways of working together. This opportunity arises tomorrow, Friday. The book is Play and Power, (eds) Karen Mortensen and Liselotte Grunbaum 2010 Karnac, London, and the chapter is Power and Play: A tale of denigration and idealisation, by Gerhard Wilke. I am not sure how much may be quoted under the laws of copyright, but the final paragraph of the conclusion reads: "To conclude, Winnicott (1971) located playing between inside and outside; I have located power between the self and the other. I hope that these ideas can help readers to re-connect the inter-dependence of play and power and open a space to find strategies for using play power as a counter to the power play we all experience at present in our respective Health Systems." The various options for exploring the reasons for a Community Psychology Section are not limited to those put forward by Craig but the aim of the Section is surely to gain some power through having an second option as a forum for discussion of community issues to that already existing which gives the impression of being rather vague, to gain a different kind of opportunity to exercise power through a different kind of recognition, and also to strengthen the BPS in certain respects (the concept of holding to account is confrontational, why not be rather more creative in the terms used?) ___________________________________ The Community Psychology List has a new website/blog at: http://www.communitypsychology.co.uk/ There is a threaded discussion forum: http://www.communitypsychology.co.uk/cgi-bin/discus/discus.cgi There is a twitter feed: http://twitter.com/CommPsychUK To post on the website blog, forum or twitter feed, contact Grant or David at the email addresses below. David Fryer ([log in to unmask]) or Grant Jeffrey ([log in to unmask]) To unsubscribe or to change your details on this COMMUNITYPSYCHUK list, visit the website: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=COMMUNITYPSYCHUK ___________________________________ The Community Psychology List has a new website/blog at: http://www.communitypsychology.co.uk/ There is a threaded discussion forum: http://www.communitypsychology.co.uk/cgi-bin/discus/discus.cgi There is a twitter feed: http://twitter.com/CommPsychUK To post on the website blog, forum or twitter feed, contact Grant or David at the email addresses below. David Fryer ([log in to unmask]) or Grant Jeffrey ([log in to unmask]) To unsubscribe or to change your details on this COMMUNITYPSYCHUK list, visit the website: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=COMMUNITYPSYCHUK ___________________________________ The Community Psychology List has a new website/blog at: http://www.communitypsychology.co.uk/ There is a threaded discussion forum: http://www.communitypsychology.co.uk/cgi-bin/discus/discus.cgi There is a twitter feed: http://twitter.com/CommPsychUK To post on the website blog, forum or twitter feed, contact Grant or David at the email addresses below. David Fryer ([log in to unmask]) or Grant Jeffrey ([log in to unmask]) To unsubscribe or to change your details on this COMMUNITYPSYCHUK list, visit the website: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=COMMUNITYPSYCHUK