[Commpsych] Community Psychology Community of Practice TONIGHT 6.30 AEST - and coming up

[Heather Gridley]

Helle everyone

Most of the Community Psychology events are now being advertised on the new Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/communitypsychologyaustralia as well as the APS College of Community Psychologists page Facebook<https://www.facebook.com/apsccp>. But we know not everyone does Facebook (wise decision!), so here are some of the upcoming events to mark in you calendar NOW - starting with TONIGHT, Thursday July 25 6.30-8 AEST:

This evening's free Community of Practice features Andy Blunden talking about Activity Theory. Please join us via this link https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82528658764...
As Kurt Lewin, one of social psychology’s founding figures famously said, “There’s nothing so practical as good theory”. This month’s session is our chance to get into some solid theoretical stuff. Our guest Andy Blunden is an independent scholar whose work on Activity Theory has caught the attention of current Victoria University Community Psychology Masters student Eylem Dursun.

Andy has been Secretary of the Marxists Internet Archive Collective and has lectured on Marx, Hegel and Vygotsky largely outside academia. He was for several years on the editorial board of the international journal "Mind, Culture, and Activity" and published 7 books on Activity Theory, Hegel, Collective Decision Making and related topics.

The presentation will outline the historical origins of Activity Theory in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, though largely suppressed under Stalin. Beginning in the 1960s, it gradually spread across the world. Activity Theory is an inherently interdisciplinary theory and is increasingly applied to the solution of social problems.

The theoretical foundations of Activity Theory resonate strongly with Community Psychology values of ecology, equity and diversity. Its holistic conception of human life is focussed on "units of analysis" which are always various activities or actions of some kind, rather than individuals or groups. Given that most community psychologists may be unfamiliar with this theory, there will be plenty of time for Q & A to give us an opportunity to explore the extensive commonality between Activity Theory and theories already used in Community Psychology.

Then, look out on Tuesday 20 August for our next session, featuring recently retired Greens Senator Janet Rice discussing "Processes of consensus building in government and the community"

On Wednesday 11 September the APS Women and Psychology Interest Group will host a webinar on "Psychologists responding to intimate partner violence" with Dr Sally Marsden, who interviewed women about their experiences of seeing psychologists in the context of family violence.

We have some big professional development events coming up later this year.  Save these Dates for the next two offerings in our CPD series on large scale change:

Tuesday 15 October - BehaviourWorks: the architects of large scale change. This session, led by the authors of Inspiring Change, will be extremely useful for planning big changes on any topic.

Thursday 17 October - 2023 Robin Winkler Award recipient Dr Kathryn Taylor is booked to discuss how we can play a role in ending homelessness.

More details of all these events coming soon.

And finally, speaking of the Robin Winkler Award, it's not to late to nominate an applied community pychology research project for the 2024 award - but hurry - closing date is Wednesday 31 July.

The Award is open to persons from all grades of membership of the APS who have completed a project within the past twelve months. The Award will be judged by a selection committee to be chaired by the APS College of Community Psychologists National Chair.  Notions of excellence in applied community psychology will be judged in accordance with the philosophy and values of the College –further details of the Award can be found here<https://psychology.org.au/about-us/what-we-do/awards/college/ccom/robin-winkler-award-applied-community-psychology>.

That's all folks - for now...

Heather Gridley OAM FAPS
Community and Counselling Psychologist
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