Northern Community Psychology Network meeting 25 February

[Andrew Hart]

The inaugural Northern Community Psychology Network meeting took place on the evening of Tuesday 25th February in the School of Health Studies at the University of Bradford.

Attendees included Psychologists from York, Chester and Bradford, postgraduate students from York St John University, and community practitioners.

The speakers at the event were Rich Jones of the Joshua Project (http://joshuaproject.org.uk/ ) and Suzy Russell of Artworks Creative (www.artworkscreative.org.uk ).

Rich outlined some of the key challenges facing the Joshua Project in its efforts to support the community and shared some inspiring and moving tales of appalling deprivation and heroic triumph in the face of overwhelming adversity.

Suzy discussed the role of participatory arts in helping to bring community members together.

Some of the themes evident in both presentations were: the importance of a ‘sense of ownership’ by community members; the length of time necessary to develop a sustainable project; the value of a ‘place to be’ for participants; and the challenges of evidencing the preventative work that is so central to both projects.

All attendees were immensely grateful to Rich and Suzy for making the event so interesting and worthwhile.

It was agreed that a second meeting of the network would be convened in May (perhaps in Manchester) and a doodle poll will be created to identify suitable dates and venue.