A Masters in Community Psychology

[Sofia Olsson]

Hi everyone,

I'm thinking about doing a masters in community psychology in the autumn of 2016 (most likely at Brighton). Have any of you done it? I'd love to know a bit about your experiences of the course but perhaps more importantly, what did you do afterwards?

I have a BA in Psychology and Sociology and a few years experience working in mental health and with various community psychologists. In the future I hope to continue working in mental health within projects that promote not only community participation but also action and activism. 

A few specific questions:

What did you learn in your masters and did you feel that there were jobs where you could apply this knowledge/perspective? 

Did you feel that it was necessary to go on to another qualification/degree? 

Also, if you are a trained clinical/counselling psychologist, do you feel that there are opportunities for you to work within the field of community psychology?

I really appreciate you taking the time to read this. Have a lovely day,

Sofia

 

[Kate Danvers]

Hello Sofia,

I completed my MA in Community Psychology at Brighton in January 2014 and would highly recommend the course. For me, the MA was a mid-career development opportunity, as I was at the time a practising clinical psychologist (qualified in 2000 with most of my career spent in the NHS) with an interest in taking a political stance in therapeutic work.

After the course, I came to my current job, as one of two Vice-Presidents at Challenging Heights, an NGO in Ghana which works to eradicate child slavery and promote children's rights and access to education. It is a management role, with aspects of psychology training, supervision and service development as well. I am not employed as a community psychologist, but all that I learned on my MA course (as well as my clinical background) informs my thinking in my current role.

To answer your specific questions, the masters gave a great overview of participatory practice and research, insight into participatory governance, understanding of community research and activism, an introduction to sociological concepts and major thinkers, introduction to liberation psychology and a good critique of current day mental health services and practices. It fulfilled my hopes for the course, in that I wanted to be trained in participatory practice, understand how to become more political in my practice, refresh my qualitative research skills and find out what psychologists can offer community groups and NGOs. You probably know already that there are few (if any?) jobs advertised for community psychologists, but I think the skills this course gives you would be useful in several 3rd sector roles, such as community organiser, campaigner etc. I have tried to let my community psychology learning inform me as a trainer and manager here in Ghana, but have not had the opportunity to use many of the skills I learned on the course directly: instead I have been supporting others to do so. However, I feel I really benefited from the period of focussed study the MA gave me. Looking back on my MA I am very happy I completed it, I think it has made me a better psychologist and a more engaged, radical person. But looking ahead to my next job search, I wonder which new employers would value a more radical employee (!), and wonder how I will make these new skills visible to new employers.

As I already have my DClinPsych, I am not considering going on to any further training. The MA in Community Psychology was not so much for me a means to an end career wise, but more of a personal development opportunity. I think that now I could go back to NHS Clinical Psychology jobs, but with a different and more informed attitude, or I could look for broader jobs in the 3rd sector, that aren't labelled "psychologist", and use my MA-acquired skills more directly. Interestingly, part of my dissertation research looked at psychologists' self-identity as community psychologists, and my sense from talking to the participants, and my own experience, was that it is hard to carve out community psychology practice in most counselling/clinical psychology roles - in some places the whole services are designed around community psychology principles, but this is rare, and the more usual experience was psychologists carrying out discreet community psychology projects alongside "routine" clinical work, or taking a stance in routine work which is more in tune with a community psychology approach. The latter is certainly very compatible with NHS work.

I hope this makes sense, but overall I would say do the course! It's really interesting and can make us all better, more thoughtful psychologists.

Best wishes,
Kate