In this paper, we outline some of the main principles underlying the intervention strategies that have been used in a project aimed at empowering students, staff, teachers and parents. This project reduced dropout, truancy, failure and bullying rates in a very disadvantaged Italian region. (Peer Reviewed)
Finding employment as a community psychologist outside of academia or “in practice,” has remained an elusive goal for many community psychology graduates. This is not, however due to a lack of opportunities. Many employers would welcome the skills of a community psychologist, but both applicant and recruiter may not realize this initially. One of the most promising employment venues is state government service. Unfortunately, state jobs are often viewed in a pejorative fashion because of their stereotypic link to mundane, paper-pushing civil service positions. The following article counters this misperception by describing how I was able to find a number of rewarding state government positions that allowed me to utilize virtually all of my community psychology training (e.g., advocacy, organizational assessment, collaboration/consultation, communication, research, resource development, service delivery, planning, and management). Although I was never specifically hired with the job title “community psychologist,” all of my employers came to appreciate the benefits of my community psychology training. In chronological order, I present my employment history, a description of the position, and how my community psychology training was utilized in the position. It is my hope that this article will provide potential employment ideas and options for recent community psychology graduates and those looking for a career change. (Peer Reviewed)
A contextual and ecological intervention approach for people experiencing mental illness was developed with a primary focus on the mobilization of natural resources, the expansion of social networks and supports, and to systematically promote opportunities for activity within the community. The mutual help movement provided a major contribution to enhance and strengthen the social role of those experiencing mental illness. This social change process was inspired by empowerment theory and the goal of recovery through social and community participation. Therefore we present a community-based intervention, based on the principles and values of Community Psychology, a program implemented during the last twenty years in the field of mental health that contributed to changes in the mental health system in Portugal. A community-based support system has been organized to provide social supports in terms of housing, education and employment by enhancing the use of natural contexts, such as schools and businesses, and the diverse social resources available to the general public. (Peer Reviewed)
Fifteen research sites within the Adolescent Medicine Trials Network for HIV/AIDS Interventions launched Connect to Protect community coalitions in urban areas across the United States and in Puerto Rico. Each coalition has the same overarching goal: Reducing local youth HIV rates by changing community structural elements such as programs, policies, and practices. These types of transformations can take significant amounts of time to achieve; thus, ongoing successful collaboration among coalition members is critical for success. As a first step toward building their coalitions, staff from each research site invited an initial group of community partners to take part in Connect to Protect activities. In this paper, we focus on these researcher-community partnerships and assess change in collaboration factors over the first year. Respondents completed the Wilder Collaboration Factors Inventory at five time points, approximately once every two to three months. Results across all fifteen coalitions show significant and positive shifts in ratings of process/structure (p<.05). This suggests that during the first year they worked together, Connect to Protect researcher-community partners strengthened their group infrastructures and operating procedures. The findings shed light on how collaboration factors evolve during coalition formation and highlight the need for future research to examine change throughout subsequent coalition phases. (Peer Reviewed)