Publishing Details

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About the authors and this book

This book was developed as part of Kate Lucas’ and Fletcher Curnow’s student placement at Community Stars, when they were completing their Master of Applied Psychology (Community Psychology) at Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia. Kate and Fletcher have recently commenced their journeys as community psychologists. Kate has focused on working from a holistic approach to promote wellbeing in schools . Fletcher has a passion for working with young people and designing, implementing and evaluating community projects.

Dr Peter Streker is a community psychologist who is the Director of Community Stars, a small business that specialises in writing, training, supervision, fundraising, strategic planning and various other interventions on topics such as family violence, racism, complex trauma, street sex work, homelessness, drugs and alcohol and community engagement and empowerment. Peter is also a Senior Fellow at the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry, and Health Sciences and a member of the Australian Psychological Society’s Public Issues Advisory Group and the Ethics Committees of the Good Shepherd Australia and New Zealand and the Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture.

For more information see www.communitystars.com.au

© 2017

Working with Huge Couches:

What Do Community Psychologists Actually Do?

Introduction

When a community psychologist reveals their secret professional identity they typically brace for some predictable reactions.

Sometimes the audience is inspired to learn that there’s a new style of psychology that they’ve never heard of before – one that mixes elements from other fields, such as social work, sociology and community development. A few people occasionally look down their noses as though you are part of a feral fringe that gate-crashed the practice of ‘real psychology’. But most just look puzzled, wondering how you could possibly psychoanalyse a whole community on just one couch.

After several minutes of explanation, most understand the basic philosophy behind community psychology – that lasting change requires work at multiple levels of influence across individuals, groups and cultures. While the value of this approach may seem clear, many are less clear about how psychologists apply these methods in practice.

This book aims to help ease some of those anxieties with concrete examples drawn from the working lives of 19 Australian professionals who have used community psychology in their work. They explain why they were attracted to community psychology, who they were influenced by, the skills they developed and how they applied this approach across a broad range of jobs and social issues. Some may not formally regard themselves as community psychologists, although they have used this line of education and training to progress their work. While job advertisements for community psychologists may be rare, the demand for community psychologists’ skill set is not.

The community psychology veterans that feature in this book include:

Dr Anne Pedersen

Dr Iain Butterworth

Catherine D’Arcy

Prof Jenny Sharples

Catherine Keating

Dr Julie Kruss

Assoc Prof. Christopher Sonn

Dr Julie Morsillo

Colleen Turner

Dr Julie van den Eynde

Emma Sampson

Karen Spehr

Dr Harriet Radermacher

Prof Paul Duckett

Heather Gridley

Robert Curnow

Helen Killmier

Dr Renzo Vittorino

Rudy Gonzalez

Why Good People are lured down this strange path: Big Ideas, Big People and Big Toolkits

Big Ideas: Synchronising Small, Medium and Large Scale Change

Most of the community psychologists we interviewed were initially interested in pursuing the classical goals of psychology, such as caring for others or helping people improve their lives through counselling and behaviour change. Many developed an interest in community psychology later as it offered them the opportunity to continue this work and undertake new opportunities to fuse traditional psychological practice with the ideas and skills of other disciplines, such as community development, social work or applied sociology and influence change across a broader platform.

Many noted that individuals’ potential to sustain personal change would be enhanced if they were supported by larger, sociocultural forces, such as community attitudes that did not excuse family violence or stigmatise people with mental illnesses; or public policies that reduced discrimination against marginalised population groups. Most were also attracted to community psychology’s capacity to prevent serious social problems before harmful patterns became deeply set and contribute to sociocultural environments where people could thrive. The breadth of topics that could be assisted by community psychology also helped participants weave in different combinations of psychological skills, theories and approaches, such as those from social psychology, feminist psychology, environmental psychology and health psychology.

Some told us that values of community psychology such as social justice, empowerment and the celebration of diversity enabled them to find a practical, professional outlet that expressed their dearest personal values. One said that community psychology was such a close fit with her personal values that she felt like she had found her professional home.

Big People: The Giants of Australian Community Psychology

Most of the community psychology veterans we interviewed mentioned that their career choice was heavily influenced by the work of other community psychologists. The following people stood out as the Giants of Australian Community Psychology.

1. Arthur Veno
Professor Arthur Veno arrived in Australia in 1974 from the USA and had a powerful influence in the early days of community psychology in Australia. Arthur encouraged psychologists to challenge the preconceptions that they had about psychological practice and think about how psychology could be applied differently. His book Psychology and Social Change (1992) featured many examples of how psychology could be applied to fascinating social topics and his series of books on life in outlaw motorcycle clubs demonstrated how psychologists could use a fearless, grassroots approach to understand complex social issues in parts of the world that exist a long way from their offices.

“He was the sort of guy who always challenged me and asked me to do challenging stuff and terrorised me all the time. I thought I could never do any of those things.” Julie van den Eynde

“Arthur was a very unorthodox character, sometimes very controversial. He organised the Maralinga trip, where 28 psychologists got on a bus to Maralinga where the nuclear tests had happened, which was very memorable.” Heather Gridley

2. Heather Gridley
Heather Gridley, who is now the Manager of Public Interest at the Australian Psychological Society, was ordained by one of our interviewees as “the Queen of Australian Community Psychology.”

Heather was instrumental in setting up Victoria University’s Community Psychology course and relentlessly fought for community psychology’s legitimacy and survival within Australia. People spoke of Heather in the same manner as that favourite aunty who never raised a fuss, but you knew would always be there for you when you needed her, fighting for your rights with everything she had.

“She’s really been like the clarion horn, a beacon in Australia for keeping a legitimate face for community approaches” Rob Curnow

She was also warmly remembered for influencing many community psychologists on a personal level, through supervision, mentoring, teaching and career guidance. If you want to know who’s who in the community sector, Heather is the human Google search engine that people turn to.

“My fourth supervisor was Heather Gridley, who was been a real mentor for me throughout my career. She just has this amazing way of encouraging everybody and including people in a way that no other lecturer I have ever met has.” Catherine D’Arcy

“I love working at the APS with other community psychologists like Heather. I love listening to her speak - everything she says… I just wouldn’t have thought of it in that way. I think you constantly need prodding and fuel to continue what you learned in the course, otherwise you go back to the status quo.” Harriet Radermacher

3. Adrian Fisher
Another Australian community psychologist who inspired the establishment of Victoria University’s community psychology course was Professor Adrian Fisher. Adrian was not just influential in his academic output – he is one of the world’s leading academics on the topic of a psychological sense of community, social inclusion and exclusion – but also in his administrative skill that secured community psychology as a genuine career pathway for many Australian psychologists.

“Adrian Fisher helped get the course off the ground …it was then when psychology started to become more interesting. Adrian was big in those early stages.” Catherine D’Arcy

“He is an enabler…He set up the conditions for community psychology to survive at Victoria University and I really admire that. He’s one of the last ones standing.” Julie van den Eynde

4. Isaac Prilelltenksy
Professor Isaac Prilleltensky is community psychology’s true global citizen, practicing his art in Argentina, Israel, Canada, Australia and the United States. Isaac already had a fierce reputation for pushing the edges of psychology into the dangerous terrain of politics and ideology before he arrived in Australia to teach at Victoria University. Books such as Critical Psychology (1997), Doing Psychology Critically (2002) and Community Psychology: In pursuit of liberation and wellbeing (2010) inspired psychologists to reflect on uncomfortable, often painful practices such as our own contribution to oppression and social control and reconsider what steps were required to develop genuine community well-being.

“Isaac Prilleltensky is my hero. He talks about poverty so much, he talks about community well-being, positive psychology, critical psychology, radical psychology and liberation psychology and those just ring so true to me.” Julie Morsillo

“Isaac Prilleltensky was one of those people who actually set the scene for discourse, new thinking and critical psychology…I personally need to be inspired by people who are going to push the envelope in terms of the language, thinking and philosophy.” Iain Butterworth

5. Maritza Montero
Some community psychologists also highlighted the influence of Venezuelan psychologist, Professor Maritza Montero, particularly for her work on the role that political ideologies play in prohibiting or enabling community action. Professor Montero’s work courageously addressed many of the most controversial political topics that are taboo to many psychologists. Her work enlightened many community psychologists about the sociopolitical forces that reinforce oppression and domination, stymie alternative approaches and maintain the status quo. Her books include Ideology, Alienation and National Identity (1985) and Psychology of Liberation (2009) – co-edited with Assoc. Professor Christopher Sonn.

“As I grew up in Uruguay, Maritza Montero’s work was very important. I believe that community psychology developed in Uruguay as a response to the dictatorship process.” Renzo Vittorino

6. Julian Rappaport
Many were also influenced by the work of distinguished American academic Professor Julian Rappaport. Rappaport wrote extensively about the various dimensions and possibilities of community psychology in the 1970s and brought the notion of community empowerment into popular discourse. His insights are still relevant decades later.

“Rappaport was the big one. I remember reading his 1977 book and still have it on my bookshelf. The language and comments from back then are still very relevant. His work on empowerment and ecological theory are still really important theories that I keep drawing on.” Catherine D’Arcy

Rappaport was also well-known for generating influential messages by expressing quality research through compelling story-telling.

“One of my favourite articles of all time written by Julian Rappaport called “Community narratives: Tales from terror to joy” and he links that into an old Biblical story, which is amazing, and it’s about people telling their community stories and using their stories to improve their identity…Then Isaac Prilleltensky invited me to speak at a community psychology conference in the USA. I met Julian in person and got invited to his retirement party at his house!” Julie Morsillo

Australian community psychologists were also influenced to pursue work in this field by many others, such as Tony Love, Delwyn Goodrick and Abraham Wandersman. Other psychologists, social workers, sociologists and social change agents who were mentioned included Sigmund Freud, Melanie Klein, Kenneth Gergen, Jacques Boulet, David Morowitz, George Albee and Nelson Mandela.

Big Toolboxes: The Systems Tweakers

The community psychology veterans were also impressed by the extra tools that community psychology offered. In community psychology, every psychological microscope comes with a free pair of binoculars!

On top of the traditional psychological skills our veterans learned, such as mental health assessments and therapy, they also learned methods of influencing sociocultural factors that shape an individual’s living conditions, choices and behaviour (e.g., building communities of support and a sense of belonging; and attending to issues such as employment, racism and disadvantage). This amplified the power of their interventions as they could stimulate the participation of larger groups of people to join a wave of social change.

Others were impressed that community psychologists acknowledged the political dimensions of the work. Community psychologists, such as Isaac Prilleltensky and Maritza Montero, highlighted the social harm that could accrue if psychologists stayed silent and upheld the status quo of the prevailing political systems. The status quo will almost always advantage some people and disadvantage others. Community psychologists are encouraged to be brave enough to acknowledge when they are part of the problem. It is therefore not enough for a community psychology researcher to merely finish a study and publish – the outcome of the research will typically aim to benefit the participants or lead to social action as well.

The broader focus community psychology has on the intersections between individuals, groups and communities brings its practitioners into frequent contact with the tribes of other disciplines such as social work, sociology, youth work, environmentalism, activism, politics, policy development, medicine, psychiatry, and art - just to name a few. These interactions have led to the creative cross-pollination of ideas, frameworks and practices. However, it is also important to note that while these tools and skills are central to their perspective of community psychologists, they are not exclusive to them, as Professor Paul Duckett wisely explained:

“There are aspects like prevention and empowerment that populate other areas of psychology, but not in a dominant way. Maybe they just dominate in community psychology. I don’t think community psychology is as different from other forms of psychology as some of us like to think.”

But there are no jobs advertised for Community Psychologists in Australia. What do you actually do?

Okay, we hear you say, “We understand why people might follow this path, but we’re still not clear what you actually do.” As there are no specific jobs advertised for community psychologists that we know of, we asked our posse of community psychology veterans to tell us how they started their careers and where they ended up.

How we started

The main entry point into professional community psychology work was through the community sector. Some completed their qualifications before finding work there. Others started as volunteers or worked in allied fields, such as community development, and became interested in pursuing community psychology as they learned more about it. Some commenced a career in academia after they completed their studies; whereas others qualified as clinical psychologists and worked in clinical roles before moving to the bigger toolbox of community psychology.

The Variety of Work

As they progressed through their careers, the interviewees listed an impressive array of jobs and worked for a very diverse range of organisations. Indeed, many mentioned that the variety of work that community psychology prepares you for was one of the most appealing aspects of the discipline. It is rare to find more than one community psychologist working in the same job. There is a wide range of topics that they could specialise in, which gave them the opportunity to change directions several times throughout their career, work with many different population groups and allied professionals and keep their work fresh and exciting.

“It can lead you into a great diversity of roles both up and down the food chain, you could be in corporate or community governance, in state or local government, you could be doing incredibly meaningful work in a mental health services somewhere providing one on one work, you could be working with homeless, ex-offenders, people with a disability or in mental health I think the breadth of opportunity within community work is astonishing wonderful and ever-changing.” Helen Killmier

Samples of the topics they worked on, the roles they performed and the types of organisations they worked for are displayed on the following pages. Please note that these samples were collected from the people we interviewed - there are many other community psychologists working on other topics, in other roles and for other organisational types not listed here.

The biggest challenges for Australian community psychologists

Now, in spite of the insights that you may have gathered so far, a career in community psychology is not all struggle and grit – there is a down side! Here are the main challenges identified by our panel of veterans.

1. Don’t expect to be a squillionaire

Not many community psychologists have their own personal chauffeur - although, your local train driver is not a bad substitute. As a large portion of difficult, meaningful, community work is performed in the public sector or by small organisations that rely on volunteers, the funding tends to be limited. However, there are other treasures you can gain from the profession that won’t be found in a wallet.

Community psychologists have the potential to chip away at some of community’s most important social issues, but there may be few people who recognise or appreciate the breadth of your good work. When we asked Dr Julie van den Eynde, what the most challenging thing was about community psychology, she replied “When people ask you ‘What’s community psychology?’” And she ought to know, as this question runs a close second to “So, can you read my mind?” in the competition for the most asked question of a psychologist. (By the way, the correct answer to that question is “I knew you were going to say that!” It gets them every time.)

If you do become a community psychologist, steel yourself for these questions and some very interesting conversations. Alternatively, you could send them this eBook and it will free up an extra 10 hours per year for you to save the world.

This lack of personal fame usually doesn’t worry community psychologists as they generally work in teams or networks to stimulate change and would only humbly deflect any glorious credit onto others anyway.

2. It can be loose

It is very difficult for psychology to become an “exact science” as there as so many variables to take into consideration when assessing and working with an individual. Now, let’s see what happens when we try to multiply those variables across a whole community!

Some mentioned that the application of community psychology’s philosophy was both challenging and exciting. Concepts such as empowerment and community building seem straightforward and neat in textbooks, though are very tricky to apply in the real world of competing interests, limited resources and quagmires of apathy. Then, of course, there’s the inconsiderate problem of not being able to apply laboratory conditions to community-based research. The results are typically slow and complex. This is especially true for prevention work, as it’s very difficult to demonstrate how good or bad the situation would have been otherwise.

The challenge of improving community life in constrained circumstances can be both frustrating and invigorating. Community psychologists learn to use the best available evidence while respecting its limitations. This requires a larger tolerance for uncertainty and complexity than you might see among the wonderful psychologists who do brilliant laboratory work in white coats with pockets loaded with pencils.

3. You may become a fringe-dweller, but you’ll have a passport to pop across borders

There will be many days when you won’t know whether to wear a suit or a t-shirt. You can often feel overdressed and underdressed on the same day, as you may work with homeless people in the morning and senior bureaucrats in the afternoon. Community psychologists may receive an exciting, but challenging “all access pass” as they often work as conduits that connect multiple layers of change and translators of messages between the intellectual world of ideas and theories and the world of those who are struggling with many practical aspects of their lives.

There will be times when your formal professional title “psychologist” can be a blessing and times when it can intimidate the people you work with and become an extra obstacle to the work. Community psychologists need to think carefully about how the power of this title is received and used.

4. You’ll often have the odds stacked against you

Let’s not beat around the bush. Tackling complex social issues can be a long, arduous journey that can feel overwhelming at times. The trick is to break up your long-term goals into smaller, manageable chunks and celebrate the small wins whenever they arrive.

The field of community psychology is also relatively small and unknown by the general public, which occasionally places community psychologists on the endangered species list. Every decade or so, community psychologists have had to rally to protect their favourite style of psychology from losing course accreditation or professional acknowledgement and status. Thankfully, they are well practiced at advocacy.

The Best Things about Community Psychology

1. Making a difference locally

In spite of the challenges outlined in the previous section, our community psychology veterans almost unanimously declared that the best thing about community psychology was the opportunity to make a genuine difference to the lives of people in the communities where they worked.

2. Making a difference globally

Some enjoyed the prospect that their local efforts also contributed to social movements across the world.

3. Working alongside wonderful people on important topics

Others spoke of the rewards of working with and learning from some amazing people in the community, connecting them together and helping them all learn to row in the same direction. They found the exchange of knowledge, skills and experience across groups of people tremendously satisfying.

4. Pride in learning the craft of Community Psychology

A number of veterans highlighted the joy of starting most days feeling excited about the rich, meaningful work ahead of them and ending most days feeling proud of their contribution towards making the world a little bit better. They loved learning the art of deep community consultation that involved listening to the dreams and fears of a wide cross-section of people, including those whose voices are not normally heard and helping to orchestrate powerful, harmonious action. They found the process of this work just as important as the outcomes. Indeed, the new connections, confidence and trust that formed during the work was often the most enduring part of the project’s legacy.

5. Being part of the network of skilled, passionate community psychologists

Most community psychology veterans also mentioned that they treasured being part of the community psychology community. The camaraderie, professional and personal support of this network was particularly important for people conducting difficult work that placed them in battles against powerful interest groups.

Insights for others contemplating this path

If you think that community psychology might be for you, here are some steps you can take to explore the field a bit further:

1. Read a variety of books and articles about community psychology and by community psychologists

2. Explore community psychology and community psychologists on other mediums too (e.g., YouTube, podcasts)

3. Look up the people featured in this eBook to find out more about their work. Many will have a professional profile on LinkedIN. Some have their own websites.

4. Talk to people involved in community psychology for more depth, variety and nuance of the topics raised in this eBook

5. Read critiques of community psychology. Critique and self-reflection are important parts of improving the work. Community psychologists are generally (but not always) keen to learn about their flaws, so they can make the discipline more effective and robust.

6. Find out about community psychology courses and networks

7. Try to build up a variety of experiences working in the community sector as a volunteer or in paid employment. Many of the people interviewed here built up a patchwork quilt of community jobs and received subsequent employment opportunities through the networks they built during those experiences. Many veterans featured in this book recommended that prospective community psychologists attempt new experiences that might be initially uncomfortable. The value of some experiences only becomes apparent after time and experimentation.

References

Fox, D. & Prilleltensky, I. (1997) Critical Psychology: An Introduction. London: Sage.

Montero, M. (1985). Ideology, Alienation and National Identity. Carcaras, Venezuela: EBUC.

Montero, M. & Sonn, C.C. (2009) Psychology of Liberation: Theory and applications. NY: Springer.

Nelson, G., & Prilleltensky, I. (2010). Community psychology: In pursuit of liberation and well-being 2nd Edition. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Prilleltensky, I. & Nelson, G. (2002). Doing Psychology Critically: Making a difference in diverse settings. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Thomas, D. & Veno, A. (1992). Psychology and Social Change. Palmerston North, NZ: The Dunmore Press