We are putting this petition together to argue against the closure of the Masters of Applied Psychology (Community Psychology) course at Victoria University, the last remaining program of its kind in Australia.

While internationally, the discipline has seen growth at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, with some institutions incorporating innovative areas like Ecopsychologies, Indigenous Psychologies, Critical Community Psychology, and Psychologies of Liberation, Australia is on the brink of losing its unique psychology training that offers diverse perspectives beyond mainstream clinical psychology.

A number of undergraduate and postgraduate students have come to Victoria University specifically for this course, for the people who have dedicated their lives to this work and are praised internationally and locally by communities for their continuous passion and battle towards liberation.  

What is Community Psych? 

Community psychology challenges and presents another way to the individualised focus on issues that are rooted in social structures and power inequality. It aims to question and transform social issues across ecological levels critically. The commitment is to community-based work, collective well-being and social justice. Therefore, the closure of this course takes away the space in higher education and psychology to have continuous critical dialogues on the multiple ways of thinking and practising that address social issues which present in unique ways in the local Australian context

Why is Communty Psych important?

The closure of the course is devastating for the field in Australia, but more importantly to the people who imagine psychology to be different to a clinical space. The repercussions are severe for those who believe that mental health and well-being are linked to social change and justice embedded in solidarity and relational work. 

Not having a Master's in Community Psychology means people who want to register as a psychologist can only do it through the clinical stream and for some of us that is a difficult option.

The values that are key to the field are not found in clinical education, and enrolling in those clinical courses means hearing how various communities, and many of us who belong to them, are seen with pity and labelled ‘at-risk’, ‘lacking of’, ‘in need of’ and other ways that diminishes who we are as people and collectives.

It also means that we will not hear how race, ethnicity, and gender as intersecting structures and social identities are related to oppression, privilege and liberation.

Most importantly, we will not hear what works for us, and we will not know what empowering and preventing interventions and actions are that lead to social change and arise from multiple systems of knowledge.

The Master of Community Psychology aims to incite those critical reflections and create a space where diverse psychologies are valued and fostered. This opens the possibilities for registered psychologists to work in solidarity with communities and to have psychological services that are working for and with us.  

What do we want?

In essence, we are advocating for an education and psychological services that do not compromise our values, well-being, or force us into the constraints of mainstream psychology. We are fighting for the preservation of multiple ways of knowing, diversity in psychology, and the existence of our values as community psychology students, practitioners, and researchers.

We are asking for VU to demonstrate your commitment to your ethos of community work, diversity and equality by:  

• Not closing the Masters of Community Psychology instead recognise the value of the work from the field and let us work; 
• Funding the work and giving space to multiple Psychologies beyond the clinical mainstream in higher education. Such as Ecopsychologies, Indigenous Psychologies, Critical Community Psychology, and Psychologies of Liberation; 
• Working with and not against the knowledges and ways of practising, which may be unknown and make you feel uncomfortable.

Do not close this space and ignore the significance of the work and the people who are and will be involved with Community Psychology in Australia.

*The content of this letter was sent to the Victoria University Strategic Project team and is presented in an online petition. 

*The online petition will be open until 5 p.m. on the 16th of Oct, as is the due date given by the University for submission. The signatures collected will be presented to the Strategic Project team to show support for the work and the people who are and will be involved with Community Psychology in Australia. 

*You are also welcome to write a letter to the university – as an individual, future or past student, an organisation, or a collective.

With power,

Roshani Jayawardana, Angela Paredes Castro and people currently in Community Psychology at VU who believe in multiple ways of knowing.