Dear all,

These definitions were collected together  from a variety of people in preparation for the  Community Psychology Conference in Exeter, some years ago now.

The first definition is from Greenroots in Devon - Rachel and Steph are community members - not professional psychologists.

The sorts of  effective collective activity which Erica describes in her email seem to fit well within Rachel and Steph's definition of what community psychology means to them - and to me too.

It is hard to sustain a critical edge in our nasty  capitalist  world .  Despite  my own aspirations towards working with others to challenge  oppression and abuses of power, much of my everyday work could be readily and rightly critiqued by others as complicit with divisive forces,  Perhaps the best, in critical terms, is the enemy of the good?


We live in a world structured by inequality,  - and we do lack socialist critiques... but that's a collective lack, for which surely we would not want to blame ( especially here!) individuals ( workers and other citizens )   who suffer from that lack.

here in Britain right now ; what do our  election c"choices" mean for community psychology values and practice?



Annie Mitchell





________________________________
From: The UK Community Psychology Discussion List [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Penny Priest [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 26 April 2010 15:38
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [COMMUNITYPSYCHUK] Activity on the Tybalds Estate

Well, they're not MY definitions. I guess some of the people who put forward those definitions, including people on this list (e.g. David Fryer) might respond to your points.
----- Original Message -----
From: tim anstiss<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, April 26, 2010 12:55 PM
Subject: Re: [COMMUNITYPSYCHUK] Activity on the Tybalds Estate

exactly. What make it psychology? the level of analysis? they professional background of the practitioner? I've always thought this list more about philosophy and politics rather than psychology. Tim

--- On Mon, 26/4/10, CRAIG NEWNES <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:

From: CRAIG NEWNES <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Subject: Re: [COMMUNITYPSYCHUK] Activity on the Tybalds Estate
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Monday, 26 April, 2010, 12:48

As ever, "Community psychology" is whatever a psy professional says it is. Most of Penny's definitions could begin "Local politics is.." "Neighbourhood action is.." with no need for psychology in there at all
Craig

--- On Mon, 26/4/10, Penny Priest <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

From: Penny Priest <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: [COMMUNITYPSYCHUK] Activity on the Tybalds Estate
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Monday, 26 April, 2010, 9:58

Gosh, it often suprises me how heated things get on here sometimes.

I have found Foucault very difficult to read, myself...and makes me wonder a bit whether there's possibility of oppression of people who can't grasp heavy intellectual texts and therefore maybe excluded from some of these discussions (speaking for myself, and also anticipating retort from likes of Craig suggesting I know nothing about oppression...).

Anyway, just thought I'd post the following which was from one of the UK Community Psychology Conferences (which I didn't attend) but which gives different people's ideas about what community psychology is:

Definitions of CP

When social groups and organisations accept and acknowledge individuals fairly, they can support, nurture and protect them, rather than undermine, incapacitate and bully them. When community operates in this way it becomes a self supporting system that requires less energy than one that is constantly tripping itself up as it tries to walk forward.

(Steph Meadows and Rachel Parcell, Greenroots, Devon)



Community psychology aims to promote public mental health through reducing and preventing social causes of distress and contesting oppression and social injustice. It seeks to do this through the critical and continual reflection and action of praxis, by working with others in a collaborative approach and in the context of the real world.

(The Stirling Community Psychology Group)



Community psychology offers a framework for a way of working with those marginalised by the social system, that leads to self-aware social change, with an emphasis on value based, participatory work and the forging of alliances: it is a way of working that is pragmatic and reflexive, whilst not wedded to any particular orthodoxy of method.

(Carolyn Kagan, Manchester)



Community psychology is one alternative to the dominant individualistic psychology typically taught and practised in the high income countries.  It is 'community' psychology because it emphasises a level of analysis and intervention other than the individual and their immediate interpersonal context.  It is community 'psychology' because it is  nevertheless concerned with how people feel, think, experience and act as they work together, resisting oppression and struggling to create a better world.  Community psychology tries to offer its (pretty rudimentary) insights and tools, with humility, to movements of people who are (or are at risk of being excluded or marginalised, hurt or threatened, impoverished or oppressed, and to those trying to help people in  these situations.

(Mark Burton, Manchester)



Community psychology attempts to correct the individualistic bias in psychology by considering 'persons in context'.  It is therefore about trying to understand and assist people in their natural settings and social systems.  It is concerned with individual and families within their informal social networks, their neighbourhoods, their communities, their towns, the interest groups with which they identify.  It is particularly concerned to use psychology to combat inequality and injustice and to promote acceptance of diversity.  Community psychologists tend to work with marginalised groups and more deprived communities.  Empowerment, social support and sense of community are amongst its leading concepts.

(Jim Orford, Birmingham)



·         Critical debate of key issues in community psychology and related approaches;

·         Personal health, human development and social justice;

·         Progressive influence of community psychology on practice and policy;

·         Dismantling and/or circumvention of disabling societal barriers and psychologically damaging contexts and practices;

·         Wider awareness of, and teaching, training, research and practice in, community psychology;

·         Solidarity, collaboration and mutual respect between community psychologists and marginalised, disempowered and oppressed people;

·         Social change to nurture and sustain psychological, collective and physical well-being.

(Statement of draft objectives from the draft constitution of the proposed new European Community Psychology Association which it is hoped will be formed at the fifth European congress on community psychology held in Berlin, 16-19 September 2004.)



Community psychology is a way of sharing psychology - we are all "psychologists" in everyday life as we try to understand and support one another: we need to value non-expert knowledge and offer professional psychological knowledge for the service of our communities. Community psychology can inspire us to put relationships and mutual respect at the heart of our lives and work; push us to nurture strengths, resilience and creativity in ourselves and others; keep us humble yet optimistic in drawing on both our everyday and expert knowledge of psychology; encourage us to act in solidarity to challenge the silencing and oppression which we can all both suffer and inflict on others in our diverse communities. Community psychology can be as much a way of being as a way of knowing or doing things - and while it can be a place where people share ideas and values, we also have conflict, disagreement, uncertainty and doubt.

(Annie Mitchell, Exeter)



Community Psychology is concerned with the fact that economic and social configurations of power and resources generate adversity and pain for communities and individuals. Injustice and inequality translate into psychological experiences of powerlessness so that disadvantage is cumulative. Community Psychology is a perspective which seeks to:

·         clarify the ways in which individuals and social structures interact to influence psychological and social well-being and distress, and to analyse the inherent use and misuse of power

·         facilitate, share and if appropriate, represent issues common to particular communities and groups

·         promote social and environmental change in order to prevent rather than respond to peoples' difficulties

The scope of work in community psychology is wide- ranging, not limited by particular professional allegiances, and aspires to be radical, critical and egalitarian. Activities may take the form of Action Research, co-working with community groups, and influencing social policy.

(Jan Bostock, Newcastle)



I would add that community psychology also provides a frame of reference encouraging a transparency to our work. Working towards a psychological transparency includes:

·         Sharing with others rather than doing to others

·         Using ordinary language rather than specialist language

·         Working with humility and modesty rather than expertise

·         Accepting unfamiliarity and not knowing rather than predictive certainty

·         Learning from others rather than prescriptive knowledge.

(Bob Diamond, Nottingham)





Community psychology - it's not rocket science (it's much harder than that!)

(The Stirling Community Psychology Group)







----- Original Message ----- From: "Erica Brostoff" <[log in to unmask]<[log in to unmask]" target="_blank">http:[log in to unmask]>>
To: <[log in to unmask]<[log in to unmask]" target="_blank">http:[log in to unmask]>>
Sent: Monday, April 26, 2010 7:01 AM
Subject: Re: [COMMUNITYPSYCHUK] Activity on the Tybalds Estate


> Dear Jacqui,
> Thank you again for your reply, it was a very positive response to  the efforts we have made in a confused situation in the London  Borough of Camden.  I apologise again for my hasty reply to you,  incorrectly addressed,  as I have had my head down in a presentation  to a postgrad seminar in London, pursuing my own research interest as  a retired psychologist, and have just surfaced.
>
> Your e-mail suggests that you have no overwhelming quarrel with the  way in which I have presented my material on the discussion list,  although my contributions have been completely a-theoretical.  Or,  alternatively, that in the circumstances the lack of theory is less  important than a positive outcome, if it is viewed as a positive  outcome.  However,  one of the leading members of the network has  taken me to task in a personal e-mail, over my contributions as not  being "community psychology", and, equally not being "critical  psychology", and  urging me to read Foucault and others.  The strong  feeling was left that my contributions were not appropriate
> on this website, as I say, not being "community psychology".
>
> I run the risk of stirring up difficulties between members by writing  to you, and this is not my intention, as it is counterproductive.    However, I would like to explore this with you to get a possibly  alternative view, as I find the situation personally painful., and  somewhat worrying academically.   I feel that issues of principle  should be addressed openly in an website, and that it is possible to  do this in a civil manner.   Thus I would like to achieve a more  positive perspective on what I have contributed, and also find some  resolution to a sense of having acted unprofessionally in doing so.
>
> I have replied yesterday to the correspondent, asking that person for  an EXEMPLAR of a similar situation or issue which HAD been addressed  in a manner which fitted the concept of "community psychology": which  i feel is a reasonable request.   I have also canvassed yesterday
> in the local community management to see whether there are other  issues, such as "youth facilities'" where a research or action  approach which is deemed more "community psychology"
> might be applied, and I may receive a preliminary reply this week.   For information, one of the
> community psychology fraternity (Dr. Tim Anstiss) did offer his  services free, but our committee has not taken this up, as I have  just reminded the local manager of the community centre).
>
> My background is a B.Sc. (Experimental Psychology), and M.Sc. (Social Psychology), both London degrees and the latter from LSE.   In  scrolling down my in-box for the name of the local
> community centre manager re future research, I noted your name as a contributor to the website earlier, and that you, yourself are from a Social Psychology background.   Therefore, I feel reasonably  comfortable writing to you on this topic.  My correspondent pointed  out that you had been extremely active in trying to promote the   Community Psychology Section, and I think this is sorely needed.   When we started research here, I did not know that there was such a  thing as community psychology, and we were winging it.  ( Also I have  personally benefitted in my own research through my contact with Dr.  Cameron, though that is a side issue).
>
> When I posted my first contribution about difficulties on the estate,  I received a personal reply from Craig Newnes, suggesting that "the problems may be your fault"  i.e. my fault.  There was no attempt to explain what this might mean, and I was simply furious about this.    A discussion
> about this with certain other members ensued, and I found it so  painful and infuriating that I probably still have some of the e- mails unopened. There are times when one can deal with this sort of  thing and times when one cannot.
>
> As regards the overall situation, I have some sympathy with the  complaint just made to me that this is, in a sense, not "community  psychology". Yet it does show the ambiguities of action in the  community in full light, which it is more than likely  that academic  reports may smooth over so that they appear more clear-cut in their  application than is likely in real life.   I simply do not have the  time nor the wish to present this material in a more sophisticated  way.   One reason is that
> there are behind-the-scene issues which we are never going to be able  to access, such as the
> complex of factors which have led the staff and line-managers in the Housing Office covering our estate, to be more forthcoming with money  and more co-operative.  The reasons may be quite arbitrary, or they  may be quite subtle and hidden.   One factor, is that, I personally,  went out of my way to be accommodating (as Secretary of the Tenants  Assocaition, literally encouraging access to contractors on Decent  Homes work, to use facilities that could be modified as offices,  which were empty here, thus facilitating work which was behind  schedule for the whole of Holborn, and I always try to act in that  positive spirit)
>
> I was very struck by the positive way in which you dealt with Craig Newnes complaint about IAPT
> and think your response is a model of how these issues should be  aired. Without reading any Foucault or other recommended readers, I  feel that Craig in particular is not living in the real world, and  has some idealised vision of idealised social action which simply  doesn't happen without some strong motivation behind it.  From time  to time social situations become so intolerable, with someone  sufficiently energetic and able to provide a focal point, that action  does occur which can make a substantial difference.    In a sense,  this is what happened on our estate, though the element of  intolerability was long term and grinding, rather than arising out of
> serious hazards which occur on other estates.
>
> I am really putting myself in your hands to an extent, because social psychology also has its
> hard-edged side in experimental work, such as "Embodied  Grounding" (2008) Semin. G. R. and Smith, E. R. Cambridge, Cambridge  University Press and much of this work is valuable.  However, there  is always the gulf between theory/experimental work, and practice.  I  have been concerned that in the field I am working in which is  roughly "intuition" I have received another personal attack, as I  perceive it, questioning my truthfulness as regards some data I offered.
> I have written to a senior woman psychologist in the BPS about the  issue of personal attacks, even if they are not in public, as I think  this is a serious professional issue, which has a potential to be cut  short serious debate about the nature of acceptable data in  psychology.   My current
> correspondent in the community psychology network is not consciously trying to do this, but, nevertheless, by failing to offer an  exemplar, I think is putting the burden upon me, when I have already  offered something which I consider to be valuable, in favour of some  rather nebulous
> ideal.
>
> I am sure you are extremely busy, but it has eased my sense of having acted in an unprofessional manner by posting the material about  Tybalds, by sharing some of this burden with you.   I would be  grateful if you could take it at face value and NOT try to locate the  source of the comments at this stage.  Perhaps you could see a way in  which this issue might be aired ont the network, as I have also had  one or two positive comments, that what I wrote was helpful - seeming  to suggest that others were grappling with situations which theory  was not able to accommodate readily.  I would also love to see Craig  Newnes state what it is he is
> seeking in terms of "community psychology", so that we could be  spared random firing from his direction.
>
> Finally, I am putting forward the notion of a one day symposium on Innovative Psychology, to be run in London each year, to Dr. Cameron  who has feet in several camps and who organisedthe postgrad seminar  jointly between the Positive Psychology group and the London  Section.  My aim would be to  attract the attention of the media and  put pressure on decision makers to be more innovative.  A consultant  child psychologist at  the postgrad day was bemoaning the fact that  there were many innovations his research team would like to offer  mothers and babies in distress, but could not get them sufficient  attention within the present system. I  hope to discuss this shortly  with Dr. Cameron, whose remit is positive psychology, which has come  under some attack recently, and so"innovative" might be more  appropriate.  Do you have any views about this idea, and do you feel  community psychologists could contribute to such a day.  I asked my  correspondent about this, but the point was not answered.
>
> Thank you for your patience.
> Yours sincerely,
> Erica Brostoff, M.Sc.
> (BPS Member 002118)
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 20 Apr 2010, at 14:17, Jacqueline Akhurst (J.Akhurst) wrote:
>
>> Dear Erica,
>>
>> It is encouraging to hear that your persistence and the work of some
>> courageous people have resulted in improvements for all of you. In  this
>> time when we seem to be assailed by stories of failure and difficulty,
>> it is good to hear an account of hopefulness.
>>
>> Jacqui (A.)
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: The UK Community Psychology Discussion List
>> [mailto:[log in to unmask]<[log in to unmask]" target="_blank">http:[log in to unmask]>] On Behalf Of Erica Brostoff
>> Sent: 20 April 2010 00:19
>> To: [log in to unmask]<[log in to unmask]" target="_blank">http:[log in to unmask]>
>> Subject: [COMMUNITYPSYCHUK] Activity on the Tybalds Estate
>>
>> Dear Network Members
>> I have posted information about our Estate in Central London on two
>> previous occasions and I am writing to report enormous progress, at
>> least in the physical appearance of the estate and the satisfaction
>> of the committee and facilities for residents.   The Holborn Housing
>> Office, is apparently making real efforts to make good the neglect of
>> the estate in previous years, and from various pots of money
>> available either through competitive bids that this estate can make,
>> or from government initiatives or Decent Homes finance, the following
>> improvements have been made.
>> 1.  Changing a dog toilet to an orchard
>> 2.  Significant raised beds for plants which match in design and
>> materials a new recycling area
>> and also matched wooden bollards to a design chosen by the committee,
>> which is very harmonious to look at.
>> 3.  New lifts in two blocks
>> 4.  Plans in train for a survey of underground services (gas,
>> electricity, water etc.) in a central area, prior to a design to
>> rehabilate this for better recreation
>> 5.  A Pathfinder semi-natural playground updated from the former
>> playground (Government funds)
>> 6.  Closure of one of the exits to make the estate less vulnerable.
>> There are still five or six exits, so a complaint from one resident
>> that it is becoming like a ghetto is somewhat surprising.
>> 7/ Plans for thorough cleaning of stairs and landings, with
>> consultation with tenants
>> 8. Vastly improved relations with Housing staff, for which there is
>> credit on both sides, but particularly that the Housing staff are
>> less defensive.
>>
>> I think credit is due to Dr. Sean Cameron, who conducted a research
>> into residents' needs two to three years ago, and to myself in
>> sticking it out as Secretary when the situation was almost
>> intolerable, and when the rest of the committee would have resigned
>> if I had done so.   At the time the committee as a whole judged that
>> this would have not have made any real impact, but what did make
>> impact was the  Council ignoring their own planning rules and causing
>> disruption which could be challenged by Councillors, thus putting the
>> Housing office at a disadvantage.    Also, as mentioned previously,
>> the input of psychologists into the selection procedure for new staff.
>>
>> I am prompted to write now, as Craig seems to have a view that
>> psychologists have nothing to offer society, even if they happen to
>> be, among other things, qualified in Social Psychology with
>> backgrounds also in Sociology and Anthropology.   Although he has
>> indicated strong feelings
>> it is not quite clear what his view is of how improvements in
>> people's well-being is to be achieved and it would be helpful if this
>> could be made explicit, as he is such a frequent contributor to the
>> network, and not necessarily known personally to all.
>>
>> With thanks,
>> Erica Brostoff.
>>
>> ___________________________________
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>
> ___________________________________
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To post on the website blog, forum or twitter feed, contact Grant or David at the email addresses below.
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To unsubscribe or to change your details on this COMMUNITYPSYCHUK list, visit the website:
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