According to the Study of Adult Development by Psychiatrist George Vaillant: "Of all the coping mechanisms - suppression alters the world the least and best accepts the terms life offers".George Vaillant The very word "suppression" in a positive context would, I imagine, send a shiver down the … [Read more...]
Rylan Clark And Paula Hamilton – The Road To Self-Awareness
Because I am very interested in people and, in particular, the behaviour of people in the context of group dynamics, I can not help but tune in at some point to the Big Brother TV Series on Channel 5. Currently, the "celebrity" edition of Big Brother is on air and along with many of my colleagues … [Read more...]
Wellness starts with a little direction………..
I am delighted to see that Wellness, Self-Care, Self-Management are the current buzzwords for health and recovery right now. It was a long time coming but its good to see an acknowledgement that it is the individual who knows their life best and, in that, knows what doesn't work for them and what … [Read more...]
Troubled Families? Why there is no time to quibble about the title…..
There is currently much quibbling about the title that central government has given to Louise Casey's remit to work with families who cause difficulties for themselves, their children and the wider community. In the past this group have been referred to as "Challenging Families", "Chaotic Families", … [Read more...]
How to get people to talk about themselves
Because the word "therapy" is attached to the model I use, I am often asked by people, outside of my field, how I get people to talk about their problems. I usually respond with a screwed up face: getting people to talk about their problems is not my aim. Encouraging people to answer questions … [Read more...]
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Solution Focused Therapy: differences, discuss
Over the past 20 plus years, many people have mistakenly assumed that Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) is similar to the Cognitive Behavioural Therapy model (CBT). I have usually responded politely with "mmmm....kind of...but Solution Focused working is much more client-owned and … [Read more...]
Schools, Aspergers and nailing jelly to the ceiling…
I was prompted to write this particular blog following a discussion with Eileen Murphy who told me about a follower on Twitter who had tweeted "My son, with Aspergers, has just been telling me how lonely he feels in school, no friends, being called weirdo, freak of nature etc" . This story … [Read more...]
Talking with best selling author Dr Danny Penman about Mindfulness
Dr Danny Penman At the start of 2012, I decided to stop playing around on the fringes of Mindfulness, stop quoting from it and stop referring to it loosely in my work and to actually study it properly. The first stop on this journey was of course to buy Mindfulness – finding peace in a frantic world … [Read more...]
So, Noddy Holder walks into this bar……
A friend rang me "Eileen - is it true that you were in a bar once at Christmas with Noddy Holder and the Slade Christmas song started playing?". "Nooooo" I assured her, "I was not in bar with Noddy Holder, I was in a bar that Noddy Holder was in". She rushed me on "Yeh, yep - same thing. I was … [Read more...]
When we prepare for Change – we have to rehearse for setbacks…
When I run training courses on Achieving Change, I introduce the importance of the Rehearsal for Change - I can see that delegates are comfortable about this, and comfortable too when I talk about the importance of identifying what needs to change; what difference it will make emotionally, … [Read more...]
