Although there are many different approaches to mental health care, services in England are primarily designed and organized around a Western, individualized and biologically understood. Psychiatric diagnoses have been widely criticized for not being holistic when attempting to understand emotional distress, excluding psychosocial contributors to distress and overemphasizing the need for medication. This essay will attempt to answer the question of whether one can apply the principles of community psychology within psychiatric-led services and the difficulties that may arise for a clinical psychologist (CP) in attempting to do so. I will focus my essay on attempting to critically evaluate whether the traditional therapeutic model of providing a 1:1 intervention or a community psychology approach is better suited when working with people who may experience inequalities in access to services and are therefore generally underrepresented in discussions. therapies. This will be done by addressing three main areas, therapeutic work with clients, systemic work and thirdly attempts to develop the CP profession. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get an original essay The main goal of psychology and psychotherapy is to increase well-being with research showing that internal psychological factors and external socio-environmental factors are involved in the development of mental health problems. However, the current practice of applying psychology and psychotherapy has been criticized by psychologists such as Stephen Joseph (2007) for losing its way and unwittingly becoming agents of social control. Stephen Joseph suggests that by placing too much emphasis on psychological and biological factors and ignoring socio-environmental factors, psychologists perpetuate social injustice. Liberation psychologists such as Martin Baro (1994) have also called for psychology to examine itself critically to be able to support people's well-being and be a force for transformation rather than imposing continually its own vision of well-being and thus continuing the oppressive and dominant discourse. Gillian Proctor (2005), a clinical psychologist, has also recently criticized current practice, saying: "...the psychologization of distress places the cause of poor psychological health firmly within the individual...Thus, deprivation, abuse, oppression and the social and political context of distress can be largely ignored and the practice of clinical psychology can continue to attempt to mop up the problems caused by an ailing society. (p.280) The individualistic approach was further commented on by Harper (2016) who argued that PIs adopted a predominately individualistic approach which prevented them from maximizing the variety of their skills. The individualistic approach has limited PCs to providing primarily individual therapy (Norcross & Karpiak, 2012), which manages distress once it manifests. Traditional individual therapy also tends to locate both the “causes” and “solution” of distress in the individual rather than in their environment. This not only legitimizes the therapists' motive for conducting the intervention, but individuals view themselves as problematic, rather than recognizing contributing factors arising from problematic environments (Smail, 2005). He wasfurther argued that because of this individualistic approach, psychology has undervalued preventive strategies and neglected the role that social context plays in the experience of distress (Humphreys, 1996, p. 193). Martin-Baro, in his attempts to facilitate social transformation, suggested that the problem of psychology is that the solution to socially produced problems often attempts to change individual behavior, while the social order remains preserved, and thus to strengthen individual behavior.discourse on the problems caused and located within the individual. Martin-Baro adopted the use of the term "conscientization" with marginalized and oppressed communities, originating from the critical pedagogy of Freire (1971), which liberation psychologists have described as the process by which individuals develop greater ability to think, interpret and act for promotion. of positive change. Community psychology offers an alternative that appears to resolve these difficulties for which the clinical psychology profession has been criticized. Jim Orford (2008) defined community psychology by saying that "the central idea of ​​community psychology is that the functioning of people, including their health, can only be understood by appreciating the social contexts in which they are located . This is “community psychology” because it emphasizes a level of analysis and intervention beyond the individual and their immediate interpersonal settings. Community psychology initially borrowed from understandings of the ecology of human development (e.g. Bronfenbrenner, 1979) and then drew on a number of models and theories, including those related to empowerment (e.g. Rappaport, 1987) and liberation psychology (e.g. Montero, 1998). . It uses a multi-level approach (Nelson & Prilleltensky, 2010) with the analysis of micro-systems (e.g. a family or a social network), meso-systems (i.e. the links between micro -systems such as between home and school or work-to-work relationships). home) and macrosystems (e.g. social norms, economic systems and policies). This multi-level approach thus makes it possible to differentiate the various influences that could be exerted on people in specific social contexts at different stages of their lives. Similar to public health, community psychology also adopts a preventative orientation aimed at promoting healthy lifestyles and environments and arose out of dissatisfaction with the tendency of clinical psychologists to locate mental health problems in the individual. The key principles that community psychologists attribute are: Giving importance to people's social contexts by avoiding placing blame on the individual and looking at the broader ecological systems with which a person interacts, including political influences, cultural and environmental (Levine, Perkins & Perkins 2005). Power, empowerment, and powerlessness are central concepts in community psychology in that it recognizes that individuals with relatively little power are more negatively affected by their health (Jim Orford 2008). In this sense, power is controlled and organized by society, which includes wealth, gender, and ethnic group membership. Community psychology aims to raise awareness of these levels of power and how they are used, which can influence psychological functioning. The practice of community psychology also involves working collaboratively with other people who are typically marginalized and powerless. Thatis typically done by moving beyond recognizing power dynamics and finding ways to combat inequality and injustice by resisting oppression. One way community psychology does this is by promoting respect for diversity and seeking ways to redistribute power to achieve greater equality between groups (Jim Orford 2008). Community psychology is committed to using a plurality of research and action methods by engaging in action-oriented research to develop, implement, and evaluate programs. There is currently a number of debates within the field of psychology as to whether it is possible to practice fully in accordance with the principles of community psychology. The following clinical examples aim to highlight good practices but also certain current challenges. How can PIs apply community psychology principles when working therapeutically with clients? Mental health services have long grappled with how to meet the needs of marginalized communities. Often seen as 'hard' to reach but generally those most in need of support, the number of people from black and minority ethnic communities is disproportionately lower in voluntarily accessible talking therapies and over-represented in non-voluntary services. volunteers such as inpatient care in the section (Weatherhead and Daiches 2010). Common barriers identified in the literature include language barriers; awareness and familiarity with talking therapies; stigma related to accessing traditional services and the perceived relevance of therapy (Morgan et al., 2009). These barriers triggered and influenced the use of community psychology and narrative therapeutics in interventions. Narrative therapy is often considered "well suited" to the principles of community psychology because of its ability to give meaning and credence to a person's story and identity. It recognizes issues of power and oppression, as well as the place and status of diversity and belief systems, which has been supported by the literature: "Despite overwhelming evidence that social inequalities such as poverty fundamentally create and maintain poor psychological and physical health, most traditional psychological therapies continue to promote internalized and decontextualized theories and practices..." "In contrast, narrative therapy highlights the importance of ideological power in human distress , highlighting how dominant narratives within society regarding race, gender and “mental illness” can negatively impact clients’ well-being. (Kelly and Maloney 2006) One such project, which provides a good overview of how PIs can work with clients in accordance with the principles of community psychology, is the Trailblazers Project. The Trailblazer Project was developed in 2009 to increase access to talking therapies for black men suffering from mental health issues. Funded by the National Delivering Race Equality programs and facilitated by Dr Angela Byrne from the NHS BME Access Service, the project aimed to improve referral rates for psychological therapies whilst exploring whether PCs need to be attentive to specific cultural issues when they offer specific therapeutic approaches such as cognitive-behavioral therapy. The program involved 11 African and Caribbean men who attended 5 sessions to take part in The Tree oflife?1 which is a tool, model, framework for narrative therapy, developed by an African psychologist (Ncube 2006). The project achieved good results, with participants reporting a positive experience and increased understanding of talking therapy and demonstrated a good example of the ability of PCs to support the principles of community psychology while working with directed services by psychiatry. Despite being placed in a system that primarily delivered a 1:1 intervention and within a more cognitive behavioral framework, the pioneering project managed to co-produce the design and delivery of the project, which contributed to its good results and thus fought against the discourse that power is placed within the services. The program's recommendations supported subsequent interventions with the Turkish and Vietnamese communities. My own experience of working within an adult psychiatry which led to a service in 2014 with a community psychology approach has given me valuable insight into the difficulties that PCs can encounter when trying to adhere to the principles of community psychology. My work within the BME Access service in Tower Hamlets as an Assistant Psychologist involved leading community interventions to increase access and acceptability of talking therapies for the Muslim community in Bangladesh. Delivered as part of secondary care mental health services and working within a community with a significant Bangladeshi community (32% in Tower Hamlets) and with the highest percentage of Muslim residents in England (35% compared to national average of 5%), the Faith in Recovery project was organized in collaboration with a community mental health service with the aim of making talk therapy more relevant to clients and in a culturally sensitive way (Mustafa and Byrne 2014). The intervention extends over 8 weeks with 10 participants who contributed to the design of the sessions. Islamic ideas about well-being were incorporated into the tree of life and an imam was invited at the request of participants to raise questions about religious ideas regarding mental distress. The sessions were evaluated through a focus group whose members expressed interest in having other groups run in a similar manner. Members spoke about the importance of peer support and contributed to the success of the group because it is run within a community and in a “safe” setting (Mustafa and Byrne 2014), and with them they contributed to the design and delivery according to how they wanted to develop their understanding of emotional distress in direct relation to community psychological principles of power, empowerment, working collaboratively and keeping context in mind social. Despite the success of this project and the clear commitment to reducing ethnic inequalities made by the National Service and NHS Plan for Mental Health (Department of Health, 2005), the service has not been successful to retain my position as assistant psychologist to continue the work, leaving only the main psychologist to continue the work on a part-time contract. This is a familiar struggle that many community psychologists face and with this possibility in mind, we delivered the intervention in line with the community engagement model (Fountain et al, 2007) which seeks to collaborate with voluntary sector staff in the hope that the expertise will be useful. be shared between the two parties and that they can continue to carry out interventions well after the participation of the PCs. Criticisms of community psychology, 2009).