Viewpoint A National Consortium on Psychological Aspects of Social Change & Community Development: An Idea Whose Time Has Come
The idea for a National Consortium on Psychological Aspects of Social Change and Community Development first surfaced in 1979 at the 5th Vermont Conference on the Primary Prevention of Psychopathology. The idea emerged from a discussion following a paper, On the Road to 1984: Twenty Questions on the Psychology of Social (In) Action (Gochman, 1979). Two suggestions were made: to explore possible affiliation with the annual Vermont Conference; and to bring the idea of a National Consortium to the attention of professionals in the mental health field by means such as this statement utilizing the opportunity of the fortuitous launching of the Journal of Prevention. The Consortium idea m a y be in the zeitgeist for a number of reasons. A significant number of behavioral scientists are growing increasingly impatient with the fact that: "there does not presently exist anything which resembles a unified plan for the design, delivery and evaluation of mental health services..." Along with their fellow citizens, they have grown restive with bureaucratic lack of responsiveness and effectiveness in grappling with the input overloads and the major social needs and problems of our day. They are responding to the mood of hopelessness and depression, correlated with "Big Brother." They are feeling uncomprehended, under-served, over-taxed and under-represented, and as if they are standing still or even slipping backwards in terms of positive social gains. A reading of the times, finds numerous mental health professionals seeking to avoid frustration-burnout, a phenomenon first mentioned at APA meetings in 1977, and that is growing perniciously. They are salaried or self-employed, and not desperately in need of the bureaucratic governmental dole for their own survival. They would like to take the initiative themselves and within their own work settings. They would like to use their time and institutional or agency resources more productively, in doing real prevention, systems intervention, and community change and development. They would like to engage the personnel they work with, such as students in university settings and trainees in community mental health centers, in these endeavors. They would like to find a way to gain a sense of personal satisfaction and to make a genuine social contribution. 0278-095X(81)1600-0117500.95
117
© 1981 Human Sciences Press
118
Journal of Primary Prevention
What makes a National Consortium an idea whose time has come? If a significant number of professionals can agree on some current social issues critical to the functioning of our total society, they may be able to apply their vast educational benefits, knowledge, and problem solving skills towards developing approaches and methodologies necessary to resolve them. The author's experience with the Laboratory Workshop in Social Change and Community Development at the University of Puerto Rico, suggests that there exists a body of utilizable community psychological methodology through which scientific mental health principles can be translated and directed towards such positive goals for social change. In approaching 1984, the vital question is whether mental health professionals can assume a relevant role in applying scientific knowledge and skills in a way which avoids Orwellian consequences and at the same time leads to positive social change for our society. What is the concept of a National Consortium?: a) a coordinating mechanism by which interested mental health professionals, colleges, universities, community mental health centers, and other institutions and agencies, which have community field or research programs, can systematically work together; b} a support network which pertains to colleagues and organizations in mutual self-help in order to implement prevention and positive social change and development; c} a mechanism of interchange which utilizes conferences, correspondence, contacts, and a network of feedback, inputs, and information from related projects across the country; d} a mutual pooling of efforts in joining together in a voluntary, nongovernmental, national organization to work towards agreed upon social goals; e}facilitating impact of its accomplishments through a nationwide integration of efforts; f} participation in the decision making process by determining which issues are most urgent to focus on yearly; g) coordinating efforts on a common yearly theme is a unified, nonfragmented way, by focusing in on, and taking up one issue at a time, with cross-country collaboration on varied field practice and research projects related to the same theme, sharing of ideas, information and resources {examples of possible themes are: pre-school intervention; pre-maternal highrisk preventive educational intervention; etc.}; h} a common imaginative utilization of graduate and undergraduate students, trainees {at all levels} and personnel, as professional resources to work towards the agreed upon goals for social change; i} a mutual pool of research data with a coordinated mechanism for doing related research on a national scale; j} a mutual effort at program evaluation assessing the effects of theme-related field and research programs nationally; k} a potential mechanism for simultaneous related political action, for example, the group will simultaneously be moving ahead politically for an Ad Hoc APA Committee on psychological standards to improve the impact of TV on children and society, while the steering committee is suggesting that the interest expressed in Vermont on television's impact provide the year's theme for 1980 in field and research projects devoted to the Psycho-Social Impacts of T V on Families ~n X Community.
119
Viewpoint
Summing up, the National Consortium may just be an idea whose time has come. Interested? Contact: Martin McCarthy Community Psychology Program New York University 6 Washington Place New York, N.Y. 10003 Stanley and Eva Grubler University of Puerto Rico Cayey, Puerto Rico
References
Gochman, S.I. On the road to 1984: Twenty questions on the Psychology of Social (inj action. Paper presented at the 5th Vermont Conference on the Primary Prevention of Psychopathology, Burlington, Vermont, 1979 Stanley and E v a Grubler University of Puerto Rico
The idea for a National Consortium on Psychological Aspects of Social Change and Community Development first surfaced in 1979 at the 5th Vermont Conference on the Primary Prevention of Psychopathology. The idea emerged from a discussion following a paper, On the Road to 1984: Twenty Questions on the Psychology of Social (In) Action (Gochman, 1979). Two suggestions were made: to explore possible affiliation with the annual Vermont Conference; and to bring the idea of a National Consortium to the attention of professionals in the mental health field by means such as this statement utilizing the opportunity of the fortuitous launching of the Journal of Prevention. The Consortium idea m a y be in the zeitgeist for a number of reasons. A significant number of behavioral scientists are growing increasingly impatient with the fact that: "there does not presently exist anything which resembles a unified plan for the design, delivery and evaluation of mental health services..." Along with their fellow citizens, they have grown restive with bureaucratic lack of responsiveness and effectiveness in grappling with the input overloads and the major social needs and problems of our day. They are responding to the mood of hopelessness and depression, correlated with "Big Brother." They are feeling uncomprehended, under-served, over-taxed and under-represented, and as if they are standing still or even slipping backwards in terms of positive social gains. A reading of the times, finds numerous mental health professionals seeking to avoid frustration-burnout, a phenomenon first mentioned at APA meetings in 1977, and that is growing perniciously. They are salaried or self-employed, and not desperately in need of the bureaucratic governmental dole for their own survival. They would like to take the initiative themselves and within their own work settings. They would like to use their time and institutional or agency resources more productively, in doing real prevention, systems intervention, and community change and development. They would like to engage the personnel they work with, such as students in university settings and trainees in community mental health centers, in these endeavors. They would like to find a way to gain a sense of personal satisfaction and to make a genuine social contribution. 0278-095X(81)1600-0117500.95
117
© 1981 Human Sciences Press
118
Journal of Primary Prevention
What makes a National Consortium an idea whose time has come? If a significant number of professionals can agree on some current social issues critical to the functioning of our total society, they may be able to apply their vast educational benefits, knowledge, and problem solving skills towards developing approaches and methodologies necessary to resolve them. The author's experience with the Laboratory Workshop in Social Change and Community Development at the University of Puerto Rico, suggests that there exists a body of utilizable community psychological methodology through which scientific mental health principles can be translated and directed towards such positive goals for social change. In approaching 1984, the vital question is whether mental health professionals can assume a relevant role in applying scientific knowledge and skills in a way which avoids Orwellian consequences and at the same time leads to positive social change for our society. What is the concept of a National Consortium?: a) a coordinating mechanism by which interested mental health professionals, colleges, universities, community mental health centers, and other institutions and agencies, which have community field or research programs, can systematically work together; b} a support network which pertains to colleagues and organizations in mutual self-help in order to implement prevention and positive social change and development; c} a mechanism of interchange which utilizes conferences, correspondence, contacts, and a network of feedback, inputs, and information from related projects across the country; d} a mutual pooling of efforts in joining together in a voluntary, nongovernmental, national organization to work towards agreed upon social goals; e}facilitating impact of its accomplishments through a nationwide integration of efforts; f} participation in the decision making process by determining which issues are most urgent to focus on yearly; g) coordinating efforts on a common yearly theme is a unified, nonfragmented way, by focusing in on, and taking up one issue at a time, with cross-country collaboration on varied field practice and research projects related to the same theme, sharing of ideas, information and resources {examples of possible themes are: pre-school intervention; pre-maternal highrisk preventive educational intervention; etc.}; h} a common imaginative utilization of graduate and undergraduate students, trainees {at all levels} and personnel, as professional resources to work towards the agreed upon goals for social change; i} a mutual pool of research data with a coordinated mechanism for doing related research on a national scale; j} a mutual effort at program evaluation assessing the effects of theme-related field and research programs nationally; k} a potential mechanism for simultaneous related political action, for example, the group will simultaneously be moving ahead politically for an Ad Hoc APA Committee on psychological standards to improve the impact of TV on children and society, while the steering committee is suggesting that the interest expressed in Vermont on television's impact provide the year's theme for 1980 in field and research projects devoted to the Psycho-Social Impacts of T V on Families ~n X Community.
119
Viewpoint
Summing up, the National Consortium may just be an idea whose time has come. Interested? Contact: Martin McCarthy Community Psychology Program New York University 6 Washington Place New York, N.Y. 10003 Stanley and Eva Grubler University of Puerto Rico Cayey, Puerto Rico
References
Gochman, S.I. On the road to 1984: Twenty questions on the Psychology of Social (inj action. Paper presented at the 5th Vermont Conference on the Primary Prevention of Psychopathology, Burlington, Vermont, 1979 Stanley and E v a Grubler University of Puerto Rico
