Books by Christopher Sonn
Papers by Christopher Sonn
There is a wealth of literature that illustrates the centrality of natural social and support sys... more There is a wealth of literature that illustrates the centrality of natural social and support systems for individual and community wellbeing. Sarason (1974) introduced the notion of psychological sense of community (SOC) and argued that it is central to well-being because it reflects membership and interrelationships with a wider body of people. He emphasized that the removal of people from families and communities can lead to feelings of rejection and undermine feelings of belonging. There is evidence for the negative outcomes that result from the loss of primary communities and the systematic removal of cultures because of oppression and colonization (e.g., Bulhan, 1985; Moane, 1999; Sloan, 1996). Immigration, voluntary or involuntary, is a transition that often entails the severing of community ties, the loss of social networks and familiar bonds-- it can mean the loss of taken for granted sources and systems of meaning. Many have discussed the negative social and psychological c...
Qualitative Psychology, 2021
American Journal of Community Psychology, Aug 1, 2023
This commentary presents a virtual special issue on the global growth of community psychology (CP... more This commentary presents a virtual special issue on the global growth of community psychology (CP), particularly, but not exclusively, as reflected in the American Journal of Community Psychology (AJCP). CP exists in at least 50 countries all over the world, in many of those for over 25 years. Yet, aside from several early Israeli articles, AJCP rarely published work from or about countries outside the US and Canada until the early 2000s, when the number of international articles began to rise sharply. The focus of CP developed differently in different continents. CP in Australia and New Zealand initially followed North America's emphasis on improving social service systems, but has since focused more on environmental and indigenous cultural and decolonial issues that are as salient in those countries as in North America, but have drawn much more attention. CP came later to most of Asia, where it also tended to follow the North American path, but starting in Japan, India, and Hong Kong and now in China and elsewhere, it is establishing its own way. The other two global hotspots for CP for over 40 years have been Europe and Latin America. The level and focus of CP in Europe varies in each country, with some focused on applied developmental psychology and/or community services and others advancing critical and liberation psychology. CP in Latin America evolved from social psychology, but like CP in Sub‐Saharan Africa, is also more explicitly political due to a history of political oppression, social activism, and the limitations of individualistic psychology to focus on social change, overcoming poverty, and interventions by (not just for) community members. Despite those differences, CP literature over the past 23 years suggests an increasingly common interest in social justice, multinational collaborations, and decoloniality. There is still a need for more truly (bidirectional) cross‐cultural, comparative work for mutual learning, sharing of ideas, methods, and intervention practices, and for CP to develop in countries and communities throughout the globe where it could have the greatest impact.
JMIR formative research, Feb 25, 2022
Background: The unprecedented changes and isolation measures to contain COVID-19 have had multipl... more Background: The unprecedented changes and isolation measures to contain COVID-19 have had multiple psychological and social impacts, with implications for professional and personal functioning. Evidence-informed interventions that can be rapidly implemented under pandemic conditions to support mental health during such times are urgently needed. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the acceptability and preliminary outcomes of a daily online mental health promotion program for tertiary education staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The "Victoria University (VU) Elevenses" program was delivered as an uncontrolled intervention at Victoria University (VU) in the western metropolitan region of Melbourne, Australia. In April 2020, an email invitation was sent to all academic and professional staff inviting them to: (1) participate in the program and (2) opt-in to the research component. The "VU Elevenses" program provided 10-15-minute microinterventions comprising lifestyle and well-being strategies to promote mental health via an online meeting platform at 11 AM each weekday. A mixed methods approach was used to evaluate the program, combining structured questionnaires with semistructured interviews to investigate the experiences of staff who participated in the program. Results: Between 16 and 90 participants provided weekly program feedback. A total of 106 university staff opted into the longitudinal research component and 10 staff participated in the interviews. Participants reported high levels of satisfaction with sessions and perceived benefits for mental health. Approximately one quarter of participants reported moderate to severe symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress at baseline, with significant reductions in these symptoms in the first 7 weeks of the program, corresponding with easing in mandatory isolation ("lockdown") restrictions. Symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress all increased when lockdown measures were reintroduced, but not to the same levels as found during the initial lockdown period. Overall changes in depression and anxiety from baseline to the end of the program were explained by changes in COVID-19-related distress, whereas changes in self-compassion explained changes in stress.
Identities-global Studies in Culture and Power, Nov 10, 2016
In this article, we explore through analyses of interviews the meanings and experiences of everyd... more In this article, we explore through analyses of interviews the meanings and experiences of everyday multiculturalism in a suburb in Melbourne, Australia. The people we interviewed valued and experienced diversity in different, yet interrelated ways: as an experience of multiculturalism, as providing comfort in diversity and as embodied in ethnic hubs in a segmented geography. Everyday racism can make forging belonging and connections across diverse ethnic groups difficult. Yet, Footscray is constructed as a place in which diversity is regarded as normative and protective. Our focus on a local suburb has allowed us to develop insight into the diverse ways identities are constituted through multiple understandings and experiences of diversity.
Palgrave Macmillan eBooks, 2013
American Journal of Community Psychology, Jul 31, 2019
Highlights • Community psychology can contribute to healing and cultural renewal for indigenous c... more Highlights • Community psychology can contribute to healing and cultural renewal for indigenous communities. • Storytelling through community arts practice is used to witness Elder stories. • Narrative inquiry shows the ongoing effects of colonisation and coloniality. • Narrative inquiry shows the various ways people resist and survive oppression. • Decolonial approaches are vital to the goals of critical community psychology.
Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, Dec 13, 2022
American Psychological Association eBooks, 2017
BRILL eBooks, Oct 11, 2021
Bloomsbury Academic eBooks, 2000
Anuario de Psicología
The status quo of many not-for-profit organisations is well-intentioned service provision often c... more The status quo of many not-for-profit organisations is well-intentioned service provision often coupled with an absence of critical understanding sustained by the restricting nature of neoliberal bureaucracy and funding. In this context, programs aimed at assisting young people from marginalised communities can become mired in individualistic thinking that constrains the space of possibilities for young people through depoliticisation and decontextualization of their realities and thus the kinds of subjectivities available to them. The challenge for the evaluation we discuss in this paper was not only to evaluate the outcomes of the program, but to promote community narratives about the realities for young racialized people in Australia that counter majoritarian stories. We conclude that social change begins within the multidirectional relationships and contact zones of the stakeholders, participants and researchers of youth programs. This means, extending the focus beyond generic y...
American Journal of Community Psychology
As we planned this special issue, the world was in the midst of a pandemic, one which brought int... more As we planned this special issue, the world was in the midst of a pandemic, one which brought into sharp focus many of the pre‐existing economic, social, and climate crises, as well as, trends of widening economic and social inequalities. The pandemic also brought to the forefront an epistemic crisis that continues to decentre certain knowledges while maintaining the hegemony of Eurocentric ways of knowing and being. Thus, we set out to explore the possibilities that come with widening our ecology of knowledge and approaches to inquiry, including the power of critical reflective praxis and consciousness, and the important practices of repowering marginalised and oppressed groups. In this paper, we highlight scholarship that reflects a breadth of theories, methods, and practices that forge alliances, in and outside the academy, in different solidarity relationships toward liberation and wellbeing. Our desire as co‐editors was not to endorse the plurality of solidarities expressed in ...
Community Practice Group, Jun 1, 2021
on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation in Naarm (Melbourne), Australia. His re... more on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation in Naarm (Melbourne), Australia. His research interests include ways individuals and communities respond to and resist racialisation and structural racisms, how identity and belonging is negotiated in the context of Australia as a settler colonial nation, and ways creative practices are mobilised for social change and the radical imagining of new ways of being and doing.
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Books by Christopher Sonn
Papers by Christopher Sonn