Hosted
by:
Department of Psychology and Speech Pathology:
Community Psychology Research (and teaching)Team For
further information about collaboration in research or teaching,
contact: Carolyn Kagan
or,
The entire conference proceedings(pdf)
Some selected papers are accessible on the links below (uncompressed word 6 files)
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INTRODUCTION TO THE CONFERENCE: (see below) or click here for (word6 file)
Carolyn Kagan, Deputy head of Department of Psychology and Speech Pathology, Manchester Metropolitan University and Conference Chair. 4
PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES? COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY AS PART OF THE UNDERGRADUATE CURRICULUM: (word6 file)
Karen Dunne, Natalie Holloway, Carolyn Kagan, Kath Knowles, Rebecca Lawthom, Department of Psychology and Speech Pathology, Manchester Metropolitan University 7
ACTING PROFESSIONALLY IN COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY: A CONTRADICTION IN TERMS? :
David Fryer, University of Stirling 13
SERVICE DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL CHANGE: THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS (word6 file)
Mark Burton Mancunian Community Health And University of Manchester. 20
TOWARDS A CONCEPTUALISATION OF POWER: A CRITIQUE OF POWER-MAPPING
Steve Mckenna, University of Stirling 26
HACKNEY COMMUNITY PARENTING PROJECT
Mary Spence 30
COMMUNITY ORIENTED PRIMARY CARE: THE COMMUNITY APPROACH TO DEVELOPING INNOVATIVE PRIMARY CARE FOR OLDER PEOPLE.
Penny Lenihan - 35
MEN'S HEALTH AND COMMUNITY ACTION
Steve Melluish (Clinical And Community Psychology) and Don Bulmer (Community Development) Nottingham Health Care NHS Trust 42
BUILDING ORGANISATIONAL CAPACITY TO DEVELOP INDIGENOUS COMMUNITY LEADERS: TRANSLATING SOCIAL SCIENCE DATA INTO USEFUL PRODUCTS
Darius Tandon, Univeristy of Illinois at Chicago 48
SELF-HELP AND SOCIAL CHANGE
Ron Coleman, Hearing Voices Network And Handsell Publishing - 52
INTER-GENERATIONAL UNDERSTANDING IN THE INNER CITY: 'EDGE EFFECTS' AND SUSTAINABLE CHANGE IN COMMUNITY ORGANISATIONS (word6 file)
Mal Choudhury, Project 2000, 'New Borough' and Carolyn Kagan, Manchester Metropolitan University 57
UP AND DOWNWARD MOBILITY & EMPOWERMENT
Robert Dalziell, Northamptonshire Council - 72
LOCAL TRIPS HIGHLIGHTING KEY ISSUES FOR COLLECTIVE ACTION AND SOCIAL CHANGE 79
CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS 82
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Carolyn Kagan
Department
Psychology and Speech Pathology,
Manchester Metropolitan
University,
Hathersage Road,
Manchester
M13 OJA
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It seems appropriate to hold the National Community Psychology Conference, with the theme of Collective Action and Social Change in Manchester. The city is the home of the Trades Union movement, the Co-operative movement and the Suffragette movement. These three concerns, workers conditions and rights, people's collective action for the common good in the face of rampaging capitalism and women's rights are issues that community psychology is still rightly concerned with at the end of the century. We have included in the conference programme some explorations of people's collective action in Manchester's historical past and more contemporary dilemmas facing Manchester as marginalised citizens join forces with private capital for urban regeneration.
We have also included in the programme 'open space' sessions, wherein all of us can explore whatever issues come to mind from the talks we hear with whosoever we choose. We have not structured these sessions and leave it up to all of us to create however much structure we want (or not).
In the foyer is an Ideas tree. In your pack are some ideas leaves. We hope to grow the tree, which as you see has its roots in the context of community psychology in Britain - in its history, current activities and links with other types of work. It is up to all participants to place ideas leaves on the tree as the conference progresses. These ideas may have been stimulated by the talks, local trips, workshops, open space discussion, other ideas placed on the tree, or by daydreaming. In the spirit of different kinds of participative and expressive ways of working within community psychology, we will, then, symbolically nurture and fertilise the growth of ideas linked to practice.
Staff and students teaching and learning community psychology at MMU will talk about their experiences later on. As well as teaching community psychology here, we have for a long time practised and supervised the practise of community psychology. Our community psychology can perhaps, be characterised as social and organisational psychology, combined with social and community action and activism. We do not separate research from practise, research from development, training from development, and nor do we distinguish between psychological work and other kinds of community action.
The focus of our work is:
1. The inter-relationships between:
community organisational interpersonal change and development
for example some work with working parents of disabled children explored the linkages between family dynamics, working practices and policies and community agencies and service.
2. Free from specific professional identities
Our community psychology team consists of people with backgrounds in social psychology, social work, counselling psychology, organisational psychology, and environmental psychology.
3. Concern with disadvantage and vulnerability
Much of our work is with people on the margins of mainstream society. For example, we have worked with severely disabled people, unemployed people, people living on peripheral, run down estates, homeless people, those from different ethnic minority communities, and those with long term mental health difficulties.
4. Concern with abuse by social systems, institutions and organisations (including psychology)
We are involved in projects which reveal how human services and other social arrangements confine people in poverty and compound any difficulties they have. We get involved in advocacy work and in investigations of abuse and poor professional practice (these have included investigations of the behaviour of police, clinical psychologists, residential carers, field health and social care workers, employers).
5. Praxis (theory practice)
We consider that theory and practice are inseparable and mutually determinant. We try to work collaboratively with those with whom we work over theory and practise planning.
6. Giving away psychology - many publications for local consumption (professional and academic writing not always a priority).
Despite the pressures in Higher Education to publish in academic journals, our first priority is to disseminate information (via written or other forms) as close to those who are affected by the work as possible. Thus we write local reports and publish some of these with permission in our own in-house series of publications. We give conference papers to those who can make use of the findings. We compile responses to consultation papers on policy change and so on. We also edit an International journal, Community, Work and Family, the aims of which reflect many of our ways of working. In this journal we have a 'voices' section which enables those who would not normally get published to do so.
The themes running through our work include:
Person societal historical context- combined with systems and ecological analyses
Feminist issues and analyses
A magpie approach to knowledge and techniques: multi-disciplinary and multi-professional
Explorations of interpersonal, organisational and policy layers of issues
The creation of new settings in project and service development and change
Disability Research
Pluralistic research methods - emphasis on non-positivist and action and evaluation perspectives
Power
Explicit value positions
Subjectivity and intersubjectivity
Integration of research, teaching and practice
Over the years we have worked hard to develop a broad interest base amongst staff, and to take the lead in developing courses which facilitate explorations of community psychology at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. We link closely with critical psychologists within the discourse unit and other teams of researchers within our research group (the Interpersonal and Organisational Development Group). We have good links with colleagues from all continents. Nevertheless, we now that sustaining this base is difficult and needs constant encouragement and vigilance. Conservative pressures within both psychology and Higher Education make it continually difficult to maintain the kind of work we think is important.