Overview of Community Psychology
Community psychologists try to prevent problems before they start, rather than waiting for them to become serious and debilitating. Community psychology takes a group or a system approach to human behavior and is more concerned with using psychological knowledge to resolve mental health and social problems and promote psychological wellness. It is also concerned with issues of social regulation and control, and with enhancing the positive characteristics and coping abilities of relatively powerless social groups such as minorities, children, and the elderly. This concern manifests in a variety of ways including working directly with federal, state, and local organizations to translate research findings into public policies and/or advocating for policy changes and funding to address health disparities and other forms of discrimination.
Community psychologists "Wear many hats" in working toward the creation of social systems which: (1) promote individual growth and prevent social and mental health problems before they start; (2) provide secondary and tertiary forms of intervention when and where they are most needed; and (3) enable those who have been labeled as "deviant" to live as dignified and self-controlled a life as possible, preferably as a contributing member of the community.
Toward fostering health promotion and social justice, a community psychologist might (1) create and evaluate an array of programs and policies which help people control the stressful aspects of community and organizational environments; (2) assess the needs of a community and teach its members how to recognize an incipient problem and deal with it before it becomes intractable; or (3) study and implement more humane and effective ways for formerly institutionalized populations to live productively in society's mainstream; or (4) perform needs assessments, program and organizational evaluations, and secure extramural funding.