|
||
|
|
||
|
"Building a Sane Society and Transforming Psychology and Mental Health-Care"
|
||
|
|
||
|
Thank you Paul--- Please send a brief update of you work as multicultural
- social justice advocates Aloha Everyone: First a special word of thanks to Paul for putting
this information together. Second, a reminder and gentle nudge to those of you
who have not e- mailed a short commentary on your work in
multicultural-social justice counseling to do by the end of this week if you
can. Third, upon reviewing the synthesis that Paul has
put together the power and commitment that the individuals in this group have
to promote changes in their training programs (via advocating for the
implementation of the multicultural guidelines and competencies), our
professional organizations (via advocating for changes in our code of
ethics), and within our local communities (hey, who is it that got that $1.4
million dollar grant to work with New York City teachers and principals)
become more obvious. Reflecting on Paul's synthesis, I believe it is
important to keep 3 things in mind as we continue to work together. 1. The Multicultural Guidelines and competencies
provide all of us with concrete ways to create revolutionary changes in our
training program and profession at-large.
It is important to recognize the ways in which these guidelines and
competencies represent fundamental keys to revolutionary changes in the
thinking and work counselors and psychologists do. 2. It is
easy to become cynical and pessimistic about our individual and collective
potential to create a greater level of revolutionary change in our society
and professions given the magnitude of this challenge, and the forces of
oppression that are in operation to combat our efforts to promote a greater
level of psychological liberation and what Isaac Prilleltensky
calls "emancipatory communitarianism." A good way to fall prey to this sort of
cynicism and pessimism is to discount the tremendous work colleagues are
doing around the country to foster psychological liberation and create
conditions that promote emancipatory communitarianism or what some of us refer to as building
beloved communities in our families, schools, universities, workplaces, and
neighborhoods. This is why Paul's synthesis is so important and
why it would be useful for those of you who have not yet sent him information
about your work to do so soon. In
short we must not discount the work many of us and our allies are doing on a
daily basis to foster major positive changes in our society and
professions. Although conventions are
wonderful place to share new knowledge and get inspired about such work, the
challenge we face in building a more sane society by transforming the fields
of counseling and psychology call upon us to develop an on-going mechanism to
learn about each other's work, celebrate the courage and commitment that is being
implemented on a daily basis by our colleagues, and salute these persons and
their efforts to promote justice and mental health in our world. It is important that we support one another in
moving forward to find new ways to implement new actions in our local
communities that foster mental health, multicultural competence, and social
justice. The current insanity of the War in Iraq, the
continued concentration of wealth in the hands of a very small segment of our
society, the increasingly levels of violence in our society, the increasing toxification of our environment, the rising numbers of
people-of-color being incarcerated in a failed War on Drugs, and the
continuing assault on women's and gay/lesbian/bi-sexual persons' rights
reflect some of the ways in which the Bush administration and corporate
American promote fascism in our midst. Let us continue to be the voices of sanity... the
moral conscience of our professional organizations... the loyal opposition to
fascism and corporate greed... the faithful
supporters of democracy, peace, freedom, and promoters of optimal mental
health and psychological liberation. Let's us continue the struggle together. In this light I hope you will continue the
discussion of ways that we can move this group forward and offer your
concrete suggestions for action. With much appreciation for the work you are doing
and in the continuing struggle for justice and peace, Michael D'Andrea
----- Original Message ----- From: Paul B Pedersen <ppederse@hawaii.edu> Date: Monday, August 23, 2004 8:04 am Subject: Re: A Synthesis as of August 22 FIRST GENERATION > Here is a synthesis of the paragraphs received
to date describing what > we are each doing to
promote social justice and multiculturalism. > > If you sent me your paragraph please make sure
I did not miss > something too
important to omit and send me your additions. > > If you have not yet sent me your paragraphs
please do so and I will > add your work to the synthesis for the next
round. > > Feel free to invent new categories if it
better fits what you are > doing. I will send out a second generatiion synthesis around the end > of September or
earlier. > > Aloha, Paul > > Paul B. Pedersen, Professor Emeritus, > Professor Univ of
> http://soeweb.syr.edu/chs/pedersen > > |
||
|
|
||
|
|
