The therapeutic community in the local community: Social networks between therapeutic community and supported housing

In this paper, the authors present a model for therapeutic community programmes for those with severe and enduring mental ill health, based on social networks. These programmes have given birth to a range of therapeutic community which are, in fact, an innovative form of group psychotherapy. These new model do not depend on communal living. Some are groupings of apartments, others day units. Work schemes also feature here. And yet, as the authors outline, various components need to be present if these are to be considered genuine therapeutic communities and not just supported housing schemes. Additionally, a certain kind of training and clinical supervision is needed for the staff.     

Emigration and community

In this paper I consider Gillian Brock’s and Michael Blake’s discussion of emigration in Debating Brain Drain in relation to the particular case of South Africa, and explore whether skilled white people have a duty to remain in the country. Focusing on the role of community in this debate, I argue that communities and allegiances in South Africa are still too divided and antagonistic for them to play the duty-grounding role that Brock requires.     

Work and community

Conclusion I have argued that research and action in the world of work can be a central concern and a major opportunity for community psychologists. Work is central to well being and identity. It is an arena of rapid and turbulent social change where our values are expressed and lived out. Furthermore, work is not a separate life domain, but interpenetrates family and community life. Work is a source of the psychological sense of community and can be made more so. Experiences at work can spill over to family and community and vice versa. Recognizing the myriad paths of this interdependence is an ecological insight that has the possibility of real consequences for well being in our communities. We have only to act on our insight.This article is based on the Presidential Address for Division 27, Community Psychology, of the American Psychological Association, Toronto, Canada, August 26, 1984.     

Personhood and community

Abstract

Davidson develops an argument that establishes the most basic set-up for rationality. The minimal set-up is a triangle formed by two subjects and an object. Each of the two subjects occupies one of the three angles and the third angle is occupied by a subject matter – that about which the two subjects are in communication with one another. I extend Davidson’s argument somewhat and show how an entire pluralistic community is required for individuals to develop most fully as rational creatures. I do this by showing how the basic conditions for rationality set out by Davidson would start to crumble in conditions such as those set out in Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. The ideal, as opposed to the minimal, set-up for rationality is not a triangle, but a pluralistic network of subjects. And indeed, the ideal conditions for rationality are to a large extent just that because they allow for the full implementation of Davidson’s minimal set-up.     

the "death row community": a community psychology perspective

The extant literature on the death row process and its relationship to inmate execution is limited. One way to interpret the association is to examine those groups constituting the death row community. In this study, we argue for the existence of an execution community composed of several related membership groups: the prisoner awaiting death, the inmate's family, the correctional personnel working the unit, and the victim and the victim's loved ones. In order to assess whether, and to what extent, a death row community in fact exists, we rely on several principles found in community psychology. By grafting a "sense of community" model onto the behavior of those membership groups identified, we demonstrate how the death row community phenomenon cohesively operates. We conclude by tentatively exploring the implications of our analysis for purposes of future research on the execution experience and life on death row.     

Behavioral community psychology: training a community board to problem solve

This study demonstrated the effect of training nine lower socio-economic adults participating as policy board members in a federally funded rural community project to make behaviorally defined statements to increase problem-solving behaviors in board meetings. A multiple-baseline design across subjects and skills was used to analyze the behavioral categories of: (1) stating the problem; (2) finding solutions to the problem, and (3) implementing the action to the solution. Problem-solving responses during board meetings increased for subjects following training and remained higher than baseline during follow-up.     

Personal and community sustainability

Many community members reduce their community involvements as they more through midlife. This may be true for community psychologists as well. Yet research evidence suggests that-intellectually, at least-we can function at or near peak levels through our 80s and 90s. How then might we best sustain ourselves and our work through our entire lives? Answers may lie in full exercise of all capacities, in strong support networks, and in actions that meet one's deeper needs, “the needs of the soul”. These same principles may sustain community life as well, for some key principles of personal and community sustainability may be similar. Applications of these ideas to communities and to community psychology are discussed.     

Dimensions of community identity

The important research area of community identity has failed to develop a practical means of measurement and comparative analysis. Scrutiny of the research literature suggests that this is in part due to the conceptual difficulties related to community in general, a restrictive emphasis on individual level psychological variables, and a reluctance or inability to proceed beyond exploratory methods of research to fuller field studies. Through a review of the related research in community identity in the UK, and from wider research in the areas of Psychological Sense of Community, Social Cohesion, and Community Satisfaction, a number of underlyin～ dimensions of community identity are identified.     

Expanding community psychology's domain

Community psychology's twin goals of prevention and empowerment are ill-served when researchers and practitioners restrict their activities to traditional mental health settings. This paper echoes the call of the Swampscott conference for expanding community psychology's domain of inquiry and action. It reviews examples from the research literature of efforts at prevention and empowerment in five classes of behavior settings identified by Barker (1968), namely, schools, work sites, religious settings, voluntary associations, and government, and suggests additional roles community psychologists might play.