It was mental health awareness week a little while ago, and this year the theme was kindness. People shared lots of messages about acts of kindness and celebrated its impacts. A few people also commented that kindness on its own isn’t enough given the nature and extent of the issues which bring about responses of […]
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In the midst of the 75th anniversary of VE Day recently, we happened to be thinking about the high prevalence of mental health problems amongst children looked after. This distress is commonly attributed to the impacts of early relational trauma and adversity upon these children. However, maybe there are also other sources of distress which […]
Read 'War! What is it good for?' >
Over coffee the other day, our colleague was reflecting with us on how the Covid 19 pandemic had affected her and our work. Our colleague mentioned that she was feeling she could be bolder in meetings these days. She suspected that this might be something to do with people in her meetings being more personable; […]
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Alongside the substantial hardships, it seems to us that many people have been noticing some unanticipated benefits of the radical changes that our current collective lockdown has involved. In my own family, something really lovely has arisen during these strange times, for which I am very grateful. Like many other parents, my partner and I […]
Read 'Lies, damned lies, and stories of self sacrifice' >
The other day my 8 year old son made yet another lockdown induced video call to his best friend from the adjoining room. I overheard the start of their conversation. He got stuck in straightaway: ‘Hi Jack! Did you know that people can change reality? Well, you know how people think? That’s a sort of […]
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In a team reflective session the other day, we were processing our experiences, personally and professionally, of the Covid 19 pandemic. Eventually, the presence and fear of death was acknowledged. As the conversation rolled around the group, it turned out that many parents had been considering their wills, the house deeds, their life insurance. What […]
Read 'The community of me' >
Remember that classic sketch parodying the British class system with Ronnie Corbett as the working class man, Ronnie Barker as the middle class fellow and John Cleese as the upper class chap? It goes something like; ‘I look up to him because he is upper class, but I look down on him because he is […]
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A story sometimes used by Zen teachers goes something like this: A man was walking up a road as dusk was falling when he came across another man underneath a street lamp, kicking around in the leaves on the pavement and looking perturbed. The passer-by asked ‘What are you doing?’. The man replied ‘I’ve lost […]
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After last night’s BBQ, a few sausages survived uncooked. My son saw an opportunity and requested a breakfast of sausage sandwich. My partner looked up from his Weetabix: ‘Throw me one in and I’ll eat it cold later.’ ‘No!’ I cried ‘Sausages are too marvellous hot from the pan to be squandered cold for lunch.’ […]
Read 'From diabolical to dialogical' >The other day I was talking with a colleague whom I clinically supervise. Through our talking together she discovered that some of the difficulties she was facing were rooted in a sense that she feels inadequate. This conversation reminded me… Somewhere down at the base of many of us is a fear: ‘I’m not good […]
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