Psychology Without Psy Professionals: Exploring an Unemployed Centre Families Project as a Mental Health Resource

The activities and technologies of the psychology (Psy) disciplines, in the process of privileging professional understandings of distress, could be seen to be potentially facilitating corrosion in the capacity of the lay public to understand and ameliorate their distress. This paper draws on the experiences of people who use an Unemployed Centre Families Project in the South of England to provide an example of community mental health work that does not draw on the dominant discourses, institutions or practitioners of the Psy sciences. Through interviews with centre users, staff and volunteers, a picture emerges of a community space that provides a variety of services, projects and opportunities that have a very considerable positive impact on the mental well‐being of the centre users. This picture highlights non‐medical intersubjective processes that offer possibilities for recoveries from mental distress but that are often neglected and subordinated in the professional worlds of Psy and psychiatry. Such centres facilitate social networks and practical help, and transitions in identity can be beneficial for those experiencing mental distress. In so doing, they make prominent some of the key limitations of biomedical approaches to recovery. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Practical Matters and Ultimate Concerns, “Doing,” and “Being”: A Diary Study of the Chaplain's Role in the Care of the Seriously Ill in an Urban Acute Care Hospital

Systematic observational studies of the chaplain's role and function in the secular health‐care setting are few. With an episode‐based diary recorded on handheld digital tablets, palliative care chaplains at a large urban hospital with a diverse patient population recorded details of patient visits in near‐real time. Cluster analysis revealed groups of activities we called "doing" and "being," and conversation topics of "practical matters" and "ultimate concerns”; chaplains were most satisfied with visits that involved all of these. Chaplains offer patients and families a space to express significant concerns; however, visits with spiritual or religious activities or topics were relatively rare. Broad quality of life concerns are central to the evolving professional role of chaplains in the secular setting of the modern hospital.     

Counselor Cognitive Complexity: Correlating and Comparing the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator With the Role Category Questionnaire

This study examined personality types and cognitive complexity levels in counseling trainees. Data from graduate‐level counseling students were collected (N = 74). Cognitive complexity levels were measured using the Role Category Questionnaire (RCQ) and personality types were measured using the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator. Results showed that perceiving types tended to perform better on the RCQ than judging types, and that those who were highly differentiated in all preferences overall tended to score higher on the RCQ. These findings have implications for employment and career counselors and their clients who are, or aspire to be, in the helping profession.