Our group activity for today was a visit to the Norwegian Psychological Association. We heard three speakers and enjoyed a fabulous lunch with our hosts. The NPF (the acronym in Norwegian) has a little over 12,000 members currently, and are soon to celebrate their 100th anniversary in nine years. The association educates psychology specialists, advocates in the government and for other policy makers, runs a journal, and tries to boost the public’s well-being with psychological publications. Currently, most members work in hospitals and are also working to improve specialist healthcare. We learned a lot here about how their organization works, and we had two special presentations on minority identities and community/municipality psychology.
Minority perspectives is an important topic for Norway since they have only in the past couple decades started to get a huge influx of immigrants. Our presenter works in a therapy setting with queer people and many have migrant backgrounds, and he has observed a lot of differences in how therapy works for them. They may feel that the therapist does not understand them as people, or even what they are saying, and may face stigma to seek treatment in their cultural environment, all while defending against racism. We learned that the experience of therapy is different for every identity, and they are working to recognize these differences to make the therapy experience beneficial for everyone.
We have observed that Norway often prioritizes equality, but in some areas fails to recognize the need for equity instead. Our presenters acknowledged this and said that in these minority therapy cases, if minority backgrounds are treated equally, then equality becomes discrimination. Therefore some people need more understanding and support to get to the same place and receive the same benefits from the appointment. One possible aid to relieve some of this inequality in therapy is the affirmative therapy model. This is to be used with other models of therapy, and starts with the therapists “location of self” where they state their identities and possible gaps in their knowledge. They invite the other person to call them out on anything disrespectful, incorrect, or uncomfortable that they may not be aware of in their conversation. This helps to shift blame for mistakes onto the therapist, instead of the person’s minority identity, and immediately creates a safe environment. I found this topic and presentation very interesting since I would love to become a therapist one day, and have always wondered how to effectively treat people who have experiences very different from mine.
As for community psychology, this is an implementation of mental health facilities in Norwegian municipalities. This is a fairly new development since the transition started in 1999. Before that, patients were usually sent to large hospitals to receive treatment. In 2011, Norway passed the Public Health Act which made it so mental health is also a part of public health! The act solidified healthcare in municipalities and also included mental health in the line up.
After our visit, we headed out around 2pm to separate activities for the afternoon. I went with a group who had decided to watch the sunset from the ski jump above Oslo. We got cupcakes and took the T-bane up the mountain and ate them as we watched life go by in the city below. It was super nice to get outside and appreciate the warmer weather, especially after our long morning of presentations and class! Here’s a picture of our view:
