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Learning objectives:
At the conclusion of the workshop, attendees will:

· Know the basic limitations of Western scientific psychology from the perspective of critical psychology.

· Understand how to apply this critique to clinical work and to other domains--including developmental, "abnormal", and social psychology, and to Ecopsychology, political psychology, cultural psychology.  

· Be able to generate community-level modes of action in light of critical psychological understandings.

· Be able to modify individual and small group interventions with critical psychology's emphasis on recognizing the social construction of realities, and the exercise moral agency by healing professionals.

Tod Sloan, Ph.D.

Professor and chair in the Department of Counseling Psychology in the Graduate School at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. Sloan is currently working to develop a critical theory of dialogue. Taking into account ideological and unconscious factors that systematically distort communication, he proposes restoring community dialogue and a psychology of empowerment to ultimately deepen democracy.  Sloan is the author of Damaged Life: The Crisis of the Modern Psyche and editor of Critical Psychology: Voices for Change . Register

Don Eulert, Ph.D. says:
With the view that mainstream psychology often deflects social problems into individual maladjustments, Critical Psychology pursues social justice, self-determination, collaboration, and democratic participation with a defined agenda and curriculum. Recognized and degree-granted in many countries, Critical Psychology is at most a footnote in training programs in the United States-- no doubt because of its radical roots. (See www.radpsynet.org). But as many healing professionals begin to pay more attention to dehumanizing social institutions as a source of emotional distress and mental disturbances, academics and health practitioners might find Critical Psychology a valuable resource.

A leading advocate is coming to San Diego. I heard Tod Sloan, Ph.D., author of Critical Psychology: Voices for Change, present his all-day workshop at the Joint AHP/ATP Conference in Berkeley last August. So engaged were those attending, Tod often found himself in the role of mediating intense dialogue. Sloan, who teaches at Lewis and Clark College, made user-friendly a challenging proposition about service to individual and social well-being. He proposes that psychology’s traditional practices and norms often hinder social justice, to the detriment of individuals and communities in general – and of oppressed groups in particular. more

Recommended Reading: Don Eulert's's article, A CRITICAL PSYCHOLOGY , AHP Perspective, December 2005/January 2006