Decolonise Clinical Psychology? Attempts, Obstacles and Opportunities at The University of Sydney

Clinical psychology is notoriously individualistic, relying on a diagnostic and rational-emotive approach to distress largely inappropriate for our nation’s critical problems. Indigenous social and emotional well-being, refugee mental health, the plight of the neo-liberal subject all require more imaginative, culturally aware and community-based partnerships. At the University of Sydney Clinical Psychology Unit we have been embarking on attempts to decolonize parts of our teaching and research, including the development of seminars and lectures on privilege, cultural humility, community-based approaches to mental health and indigenous psychology. We have also started a suite of studies on cultural blindness in clinical psychology, decolonizing the curriculum in International clinical psychology, art-based research, participatory action with refugee communities, the psychology of place and more. In this presentation I will discuss some of the interpersonal and systemic practices that have made this possible, highlight some of the personal challenges and organizational obstacles and outline our vision for future initiatives.

Linking leading community experiences to Social Psychology academic training

It is a privilege for a community psychologist to have been involved through a prolonged academic trajectory (50 years) to both the training of psychologists and three leading solidarity Mexican experiences: The rural training of teachers, a community experience of 15 years living with an indigenous population, and participating in actions of the Zapatista Rebellion. It allowed me to be aware of the actual limitations of the professional academic approaches trying to solve real world problems, even with multidisciplinary research and intervention programs and it made me as well interested in enriching the fruitful insights about commitment and dedication of the tenacious and courageous people participating in social endeavours of hope weaving. The purpose of this open oral presentation is to communicate the learnings I have gathered along my years as scholar and as activist. I have been a teacher and a professor. I was working during my early professional activities as a school teacher. I was prepared for these tasks in teacher training institutions. I completed my pedagogical studies learning psychology at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and Social Psychology and Personality at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. Life and work made me go from social psychology to community psychology and to interdisciplinary activities in community settings. Destiny and life options oriented my commitments to go beyond the boundaries of the academy and to the need to face the realities of Mexico, my country, a key region of the world, enduring the most difficult situations of the troubled world: The political, economic, social and cultural injustices of the times and places where mankind faces its future. I have been working at the boundaries between the academic world and solidarity experiences trying to weave hope and linking wisdom, humility and trust.
Key words: Community experiences; academic training; solidarity experiences; hope weaving.

Teaching critical community psychology : A bridge too far?

The uptake of decolonising movement in psychology and other disciplines would appear to provide fresh impetus for developing a more critical community psychology. In this paper we explore the extent to which this promise can be realised in our current context. Drawing on the South Africa experience we evaluate both the opportunities and constraints to developing a critical community psychology agenda. Given the hegemony of the neo-liberal agenda in education the imperative to develop a critical community psychology has never been stronger. Furthermore, the resurgence of critical theories, greater access to platforms for critical thought and spontaneous large scale mobilisation all speak to the potential uptake for this agenda. However, we argue that the counter forces considerably constrain opportunities. The commodification and ‘privatisation’ of higher education, the ascendancy of a consumer culture, and increasing global inequity and capital accumulation at all cost significantly impact on developing critical projects. In psychology universal evidence based practice, the bio-medical hegemony for understanding psychological problems and processes and professional pathways for individual success at all cost, leave little room for critical thought or critical teaching. Within this context we reflect on what has worked and lessons for the future. We argue that collective, multi-disciplinary work, organic academic- community partnerships, and critical concientisation alongside greater mobilisation and resourcefulness against institutional constraints are necessary. We explore how locating our work within organic social movements remains promising. Developing a critical community psychology agenda remains imperative and even little victories provide huge hope.

Co-presenter Teaching critical community psychology : A bridge too far?

An engaged and relational psychology for flourishing and inclusive communities

Many students come to study psychology because they want to learn about people and help their communities. This puts the onus on those of us who teach in the discipline to deliver a psychology that is engaged, responsive and relevant. This paper is based on over a decade of research-informed teaching practice. Central here are questions about what kind of psychological scholarship can facilitate human understanding and flourishing in a 21st century. Such questions have been at the forefront for the six authors involved in the production of the 2nd edition of an undergraduate textbook titled ‘Social Psychology and Everyday Life.’ The common thread across diverse issues, concepts and approaches in this book is the dignity of all human beings and the inseparability of the human experience from wider contexts and intergroup histories. Rather than presenting psychology as a static blueprint, we draw on pluralistic histories of psychological thinking from around the world. Our intent is to offer an engaged and relational psychology, which students and future researchers can then meld with their own interests and approaches. Accordingly, our undergraduate textbook is a conduit for a dynamic ‘living’ psychology that can be applied and reshaped in ways that are relevant to diverse communities.