This weekend saw two festivities: St Patrick's Day and Mothers Day. So - after a quick sobering raw egg on Sunday morning, I adopted the personna of the dutiful (and truly grateful) daughter in the morning to see my mother and then switched to "matriarchal" mindset for my family's visit in the … [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...]
Lee Mack and Alan Carr sat down one day to write…..
I know its only been a while since I talked about the discourtesy shown to Michael McIntyre at the Comedy Awards last year and here I am again pondering why it has become so acceptable for comedians, in particular, to get a laugh at any expense without a thought for how the joke lands. It was … [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...]
The oldest therapeutic intervention known to man….
This morning I received the usual notifications of new books, resources and online help for goal setting. I read the details and they were indeed impressive: two "how to....", several "put yourself in a go-get mindset" and of course "what is it you really want?" I filed them in my "Motivational … [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...]
Do you think you know your child best?
I was dismayed this week to read a pyschologist assessment that was full of assumptions, labels and in some parts, clearly absent of simple child behaviour knowledge. The Foster Carers of the four year old child, showed me the report as if they were showing me the gospel: "this is what the experts … [Read more...]
Solution Focused Therapy:The Silent Session
I heard a quote this morning from a 19th century French statesman: "When we ask for advice, we are usually looking for an accomplice". It resonated with me. Whether consciously or sub-consciously, I think we are happiest when we are met with agreement. We don't have to think too hard then and we … [Read more...]
