Social Justice Through Collaborative Research and Action

What is Community Psychology?

Social justice. Action-oriented research. Global in nature. Influencing public policy. Working for empowerment. Multidisciplinary in focus. Celebrating culture. Preventing harm. Behavior in context. Social action. Supporting community strengths. Reducing oppression. Promoting well-being. Scientific inquiry. Honoring human rights. Respecting diversity.

Community psychology goes beyond an individual focus and integrates social, cultural, economic, political, environmental, and international influences to promote positive change, health, and empowerment at individual and systemic levels.

Featured New Content

Disaggregating the Term AAPI for Nuanced Mental Health Research

Posted in: Marginalized Groups, Mental Health | Tags:
Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) is an umbrella term that includes fifty different ethnic groups speaking over one hundred languages. There is profound diversity and unique experiences among AAPIs including historical trauma and mental health care needs. Mental health research today addresses the AAPIs as a monolith and obscures the complex diversity of the […]

PAR and Photovoice: Using a Decolonized Lens Working with Communities

Posted in: Anti-Racism, Blog | Tags:
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Given the ubiquitous polarizing gap that has been dividing and driving U.S. political affairs, we have an opportunity to use participatory approaches and listen to those most impacted in innovative ways. Aspects of Participatory Action Research (PAR) can be utilized to support engagement, organizing, and conversations around community issues.

Resisting State Sanctioned Violence: A Toolkit for Community Organizers

Posted in: Coalition Building, Marginalized Groups | Tags:
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Marginalized communities have long persisted in the work toward liberation despite continued state-sanctioned violence (SSV). We created a toolkit for organizers, community members, allies, and mental health professionals who want to build individual and community resilience while resisting SSV. We aimed to support marginalized communities through making psychological literature accessible and relevant to community-based through […]

Photograph of Sindhia Colburn

Beyond Diversity Statements: Necessary Considerations for Designing Health Equity Approaches

Posted in: Anti-Racism, Blog, Healthcare | Tags:
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What does “anti-racism” look like in healthcare? It is early intervention, affordable, integrated, trauma-informed, and strengths-based.

Figure 1: considerations for pronoun circles based on student input and trans scholarship related to the practice, with quotations related to the experience described or references to further discussions of the topic.

Drawing on the Experiences of Trans Students to Inform Pronoun Disclosure in Higher Education Settings

Posted in: Blog, Marginalized Groups | Tags:
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How pronouns are addressed can seriously impact a student’s well-being. I provide some considerations for how an instructor or mentor might approach pronoun disclosure with the goal of increasing comfort and decreasing coercion, based on the experiences of six trans undergraduate students who advised these recommendations through qualitative interviews and text submissions, and my own […]

Brief Report: Analyzing Radical Self-Care Origins and Community Self-Care Practice

Posted in: Marginalized Groups, Self Help | Tags:
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It seems very normalized for Black women to make ultimate sacrifices to personal health and wellness for the betterment of others. Heart disease, stroke, diabetes, breast cancer, cervical cancer, fibroid tumors, premature birth rates, sickle cell disease, sexually transmitted diseases, and mental health issues are killing Black women in the United States at disproportionate rates. […]