The spirit of community psychology. 2001 Seymour B. Sarason Award Address.
Community psychology as a field may have lost some of its original spirit; a spirit dominant at the founding of the field. Spirit is a difficult concept to discuss since it is a concept beyond usual discourse in psychology as a denotative, measurable and verifiable concept. Taking the lead from William James, Spirit, however elusive, is most essential to a sense of self. I offer three suggestions to enhance and to make our individual and collective spirit more vital: (1) Continuing education in the history of community psychology; (2) Creating time to share stories about our work; (3) Creating safe settings to enlarge our spirit. These ideas are offered as pragmatic suggestions to enable us to create more coherence between our personal and professional selves.
Kelly
James G
JG
University of Illinois at Chicago, USA. jgkjazz@davis.com
D000739:Anecdotes as Topic; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D015279:Organizational Culture; D011593:Psychology, Social / Q000193:education; D012944:Social Support; D012945:Social Values; D012952:Societies / Q000458:organization & administration; D029181:Spirituality; D014481:United States; D014495:Universities / Q000458:organization & administration