My first impressions of the community stream in the Master of Applied Psychology course at VUT, was how much of a challenge it was going to be to alter my original views on psychology to include the concepts and philosophies of community psychology. Having come straight from secondary school into a Bachelor of Applied Science, and then a Graduate Diploma in Psychology, I was surprised that I had never encountered the idea of community psychology before. However, the process of understanding and appreciating its values has been one of the most positive aspects of the course.

 I also have found that the experience of practical placement (finally!) has been valuable in allowing further development of skills that have only been explored in the classroom before now, and that the equal emphasis on quantitative and qualitative research methods in the course has been fantastic. On the other hand, the workload involved in this course is devastating to any type of paid work life and social life. This, along with the absence of a formal psychological assessment class to meet the requirements of the Victorian Psychologists Registration Board (meaning extra work to try and do so), is the negative aspect of the course, however, the experience (so far) has been mostly a positive one.

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Soon after beginning the Masters of Community Psychology, it dawned on me that this branch of psychology was really quite different to the kind of stuff presented in my undergraduate studies in psychology. Community psychology is more concerned with the social and environmental issues surrounding the individual rather than seeing the individual as unconnected or uninfluenced by broader sociopolitical forces. However, it is important to note that community psychology goes ‘beyond’ rather than ‘against’ scientific and individual psychology. I felt excited and right at home with community psychology because I felt that it was more holistic than other branches of psychology. That was last semester.

 This semester I’m feeling slightly overwhelmed with my workload and am not enjoying the course as much as I’d like to. With three subjects, a placement, some sessional teaching, home responsibilities, two dogs, two kids and a hubby, well it all seems too much. If you’re a woman with children I would not recommend you do more than two subjects per semester, unless you:

·        Are prepared for a tough battle

·        Have unusually quiet and undemanding children

·        Have a partner who doesn’t mind you saying "not tonight, I have to study"

·        Wear a blue and red outfit with an "S" printed on the front

·        Are prepared to walk around with hairy legs and long toe nails, because time to oneself is so rare.

Still, on a more serious note, I have to say that the subjects I’m doing this semester are invaluable. Applied Community Psychology has taught me how to apply for funding for almost any conceivable applied program or intervention. Community Development Skills has equipped me with the knowledge and motivation to participate in social change and has given me the rare opportunity to work on the creation of a website. My third subject Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (an elective), has taught me that social change is especially required in the area of gender relations.  

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I am a part-time student and I work full-time as Access and Social Support Coordinator in aged and disability for a local government in Melbourne, Australia. After completing the Graduate Diploma in Applied Psychology (Community stream) at Victoria University I knew that for me, community psychology was a ‘good fit’. The next logical step to take was to specialise at Masters level. Apart from feeling permanently tired, I am really enjoying the course. The course encourages students to analyse social and psychological problems from multiple perspectives and at multiple levels. We also learn skills in the development and implementation of intervention strategies, program evaluation and group work – all of these are directly relevant to my work.

 For me, all of the theories, strategies and techniques that we are learning in the course are directly applicable to my employment. I currently work with the community of older adults and people with disabilities in the North Western region of Melbourne. I manage community transport, volunteers and senior citizens clubs, groups, recreation and leisure activities and older persons facilities. My previous employment has involved recruitment consultancy, working with long term unemployed people and establishing a community radio station for young unemployed people. I enjoy community development work, the opportunity to identify gaps in service delivery, writing submissions for funds to operate programs, group work and evaluation. As I said earlier, the Masters course is very demanding, however it complements and enhances my work practices, I enjoy the interaction with other students and the opportunities for personal and professional development are endless.  

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I’ve thoroughly enjoyed continuing my education and experience of Community psychology (I completed a Graduate Diploma in Community Psychology). The fundamental values, philosophies and approaches of this discipline challenge traditional psychology ideologies in their applications, ways of researching and theoretical history. I appreciate having had the opportunity to explore the innovative methods of applying psychology as advocated by Community Psychology. However, as much as I have enjoyed the experience, it has been a lot of hard work. The course expectations at Masters level has been tremendous and at times overwhelming, but I’m confident it will be worth the struggle!  

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Community Psychology as a discipline was totally new to me when I applied for this course. I did not know what Community Psychology was, let alone any of the theories or principles inherent in its practice. This course therefore has involved a very steep learning curve for me, both as a student, as a practitioner and as a member of multiple communities.

The most important principle of community psychology seems to be one of inclusion: all members of all communities are accepted and valued, and viewed only within their context. This approach is not about judging the individual as he or she stands, but as a member of a community or context, where the two cannot be separated.

 This Masters course is a useful example of many community psychology principles. The seven members of the course are all extremely supportive and cooperative, with the more experienced members of the class making efforts to empower and educate other members. All of the students have some practical experience, but three of the members of the class are professionals who have been practicing as community psychologists for a number of years. This is extremely beneficial to the less experienced students. Overall, this course has been extremely worthwhile for me, making me challenge a number of accepted stereotypes and ways of functioning. 

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Coming straight from an undergraduate Arts degree and a fourth year graduate diploma at a very conservative and traditional uni (which shall remain nameless), as well as being one of the youngest and least experienced members of our class, the first thing I noticed about community psychology at Vic Uni was the room to breathe! Community Psych., being a relatively new and little known branch of psychology, has an atmosphere of flexibility and open-mindedness, at least at Vic Uni anyway. Lecturers and courses don’t impose topics for research on you; You have heaps of room to choose what is important to you to research (quite a scary process for someone who’s been used to writing essays from a list of 3 essay questions!!)        

The other thing about Community psych at Vic Uni, is that it is quite overt about how politics and values underlie psychology. Just by reading our list of principles of community psych. (such as diversity, empowerment, participation, multiculturalism), you can see that community psych. doesn’t hold back on making political or social statements! Having in depth discussions about Pauline Hanson, funding cuts to education and health, or how economic rationalism has become the new religion of Australian politicians, are par for the course. So I guess to like this course, one would have to be somewhat interested in politics and social justice-y stuff.

 Perhaps because of the newness of Vic Uni (in relation to other unis), lots of aspects of Community psych Masters course are geared toward practical experience. For one, part of the course is 15 months placement (being in a community health centre, I have found an incredibly exciting, frustrating and invaluable experience). But even in assessment tasks, we learn how to; use qualitative methods in a pilot study/proposal for our thesis, write a funding proposal and ethics application, write up reports of a client’s IQ test results, and of course, that Website task!! And all this only in one semester! 

I guess the more ‘challenging’ aspects of the course also stem from the newness of the course at Vic Uni, and of community psych. in general. Firstly, no-one knows what community psychology is!!! Community psych is not just like social work or sociology (although there are some overlaps!). Everyone in general has a fair idea of what counselling and clinical psychology are, most know what sport and organisational psychology are about, yet when I tell people I’m studying community psychology, I get mostly blank faces or puzzled expressions! Hence, the development of this website.

 Secondly, and more seriously, I wonder how practical is community psych in today’s social/political climate? Is there any room for community action in a country besieged by politicians believing that if you get the money right then everything else (ie, poverty, unemployment, health crises and education fragmentation) will magically fall into place?! Hmmm, perhaps one could argue that now is the most important time for some community psychology action and beliefs to be implemented into our society!

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The fact that I often travel over 70 kilometers to attend class begs the question from many: "Why do you travel so far to go to school?" When I was deciding where to undertake my Masters, I fluctuated through many options. I felt that clinical psychology had lots of prestige and status among members (My internal voice told me: "You’ll be able to impress people" "People will take notice of you" "If you can do clinical psych, you can do anything else in psychology"). I thought that a Masters in organizational or counseling psychology would be useful, because the direct employment opportunities from both seemed to be greater than from other courses ("You don’t want to waste all of that time and money and end up being unemployed"). I also thought about undertaking a Masters that was at a University geographically close to me, as that would eliminate the stresses and time consuming aspects of travel ("Just get it over and done with. It won’t really matter when you finish"). However, I kept coming back to community psychology. Even though it probably hasn’t got the social status of clinical psychology, or the direct employability of courses such as counseling psychology, I found that it was the most interesting and innovative form of psychology on offer.

 I often have to travel more than 70 kilometers to attend classes, so I am constantly asking myself whether it is (or was) worth going today or not. In virtually all cases, I answer "yes". I always leave with my head buzzing with ideas of changing the world. I am very impressed by the excellent course structure. The course topics are designed to be applied in the community and are continually adjusted to ensure that they are relevant to practitioners.

 Although high standards are expected, it is refreshing to find that the lecturers understand our human constraints and account for our hectic working and family lives outside of university (I am currently a father to three children and working as a coordinator of a domestic violence program for male perpetrators, a coordinator of a community-based drug and alcohol program and run short courses for men on communication and relationship skills). The combination of head and heart is fantastic, although occasionally this flexibility will mean that we do not get to complete the planned course material within the original timeframe, which is frustrating at times.

 I have found that since I began the course, I am able to assess situations with more complexity, and am much more aware of the impact I have on my immediate circumstances. As a result of the tremendous support offered by like-minded people in the course, I feel much more confident to take social action and make a difference to my community. If nothing else, that is worth the 70 km trip. Many people now compliment me with the comment "you’re not like a real psychologist".  

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