Hi all,
I hope you are all well, I wanted to relay my experience of the march last weekend, particularly for those who wanted to be with us, but were unable to. (Maybe....if I am feeling intelligent or brave enough I may try to follow on from some of the discussion points raised by Frederick!)
Despite the slightly biased news reporting, my experience of the march was pleasant, at quite a few points there was a really nice carnival feel to it (particularly Hackney Arts!). There was of course an edge, but in my opinion all good marches/protests should have this. It was really uplifting to see so many people who shared similar ideas, whether they were psychologists or not. It was also really good to put some faces to names off the list, and also re/connect with others. I wanted to say a particular BIG thanks to the West Midlands crew, they brought with them some fantastic placards and t-shirts, in bright colours that did get attention from others!
I had some really good discussions with others about a range of issues which left me feeling energised. For me, this was the most important thing I took away, the feeling of solidarity, shared experiences and understandings and to some extent optimism about our potential strengths. It is an overwhelmingly difficult situation, for a number of reasons that can often conflict between personal, professional and idealogical beliefs. To find that there are others in a similar position, makes it more bearable for me. So when asked by many “what did the march achieve?”, in the wider UK maybe it did not achieve anything, but in my own [personal and professional] life it gave me some strength to continue working in a way that moves towards my idea of a better future, which I happily found was shared by others too. In this way, I hope I am of some use for those in significantly more disadvantaged positions than myself, and importantly as well as myself.
(So here is the anxiety provoking bit…)
I like the points Frederick makes, about psychologists and other like minded individuals getting involved in intellectual advances, however I would add that there also needs to be involvement at policy level. This I understand is a contentious point, there is already a psychologisation of social policy and we don’t wish to further muddy the waters. However I wonder if there is a difference between psychologisation in which we pathologise and psychologisation in which we contribute ideas and understandings. This is not something I have an answer to.
As I write this, I fear we begin to start on a route towards academic thinking. I agree psychology is an intellectual discipline, but it is also many other things. I love that on the list there are these intellectual debates (which I admit sometimes go over my head) because they really get me thinking. What I love more is when I hear about the applications of psychological thinking in action, in things that are referred to as social enterprises, smaller ‘community’ projects etc. To me, this is a strength we have as a group but I’m not sure we share enough of our experiences and learning from these. From my understanding these projects utilize aspects of something that may be seen as community psychology, and by far probably do not fit the ideal definition of what community psychology is (which I don’t know if there is one). Maybe it is a good pursuit in trying to think and determine what community psychology is, however I think we need to be aware of when we are acting as a ‘work-group’ or a ‘basic-assumption group’.
I totally agree when Frederick you say “We need to find new, efficient ways ahead, forgetting labels, overcoming bureaucracy and relating to new social and economic developments”. I think the Section is one method of doing this, it does feel we are compromising on some of our values, and people will feel differently about this, which is healthy and expected. I think it will keep us on our toes.
Something that I think a lot as I write on the list is that I feel the need to be quite defensive, I will and do reflect on this myself, but I think this is not my own individual experience. I hope my post is not experienced as a personal attack, or strong polemic, instead I hope more people are able to share their views, opinions and experiences.
Best wishes
Abdullah
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