By: Dr. Salami Mutiu Olagoke
Community psychology is based on the platform where individuals have the right to live healthy and fulfilling lives, with every person’s well-being depending on personal choices and the dynamic interface between individual and environmental factors. Community psychology remains a dynamic aspect that focuses on understanding and improving the well-being of individuals within their social, cultural, and environmental contexts. Unlike traditional psychology, which often centers on individual mental health, community psychology emphasizes prevention, systemic change, and empowerment at the community level.
There has been a lot of emphasis on various forms of intervention after a problem arises, but community psychology prioritizes prevention. Programs aimed at reducing substance abuse, bullying, and school dropouts are examples of how this field works proactively. In general, students of community psychology are taught about the strategies in strengthening community resources, such as education, healthcare, and social networks, as they help to reduce the likelihood of crises before they occur.
In many geographical territories and communities across the globe, many mental health challenges stem from broader societal problems such as poverty, discrimination, and lack of access to resources. Community psychology recognizes that individual therapy alone cannot solve these deep-rooted issues. Instead, it works to change policies, improve social support systems, and advocate for the less privileged and vulnerable groups in the community.
Here, addressing systemic issues calls for a more comprehensive approach that is embedded with the socio-cultural resources most especially, in non-Western communities like South-east Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. For example, social burdens like teenage pregnancy and motherhood, drink-driving, school drop-outs calls for a bio-psychosocial and religious approach where key stake-holders actively participate in community intervention programs. Here, parents, school counsellors, clinical psychologists, clerics, and politicians may be needed to jointly address the challenges depending on the nature of the problem.
Moreover, members of every community are expected to be individually, and psychologically empowered. Adequate knowledge, self-efficacy, and being culturally sensitive among individuals in the community are needed to organise awareness programs targeting child obesity for example. Students of community psychology can engage colleagues in addressing excessive social media use in order to gain greater influence and control over their academic and other important matters in their life and environment. Being a primary focus of community psychology, empowerment is designed as a multilevel concept that is connected to individuals, organizations, communities, and the larger society.
Practically, empowerment encourages communities to identify their own needs and develop sustainable strategies, in which participatory action research, community members collaborate with researchers to address local challenges. Here, local authorities team up with experts in social sciences to tackle the problem. This approach fosters ownership, resilience, and long-term change.
However, it is understandable there is a complex relationship between individual behaviour and social and environmental factors. Addressing child obesity or teenage smoking may warrant the contribution of the family unit, which may be a form of challenge for community experts to effect real change. In essence, tackling systemic barriers involves community psychologists help create environments where mental and emotional well-being can thrive.