Sussex Counselling and Psychotherapy News

SUSSEX COUNSELLING AND PSYCHOTHERAPY NEWS SUMMER 2016 www.sussex-counselling.co.uk

SEX THERAPY IN COUNSELLING: AGM AND SEMINAR

TRAUMA REBORN: CHILDREN OF SURVIVORS

ACCESS FOR ALL? COUNSELLING AND DISCRIMINATION

NEWS !AND VIEWS, SEMINARS, DEPRESSION WITH DOROTHY ROWE, SOCIAL MEDIA AND MAKING CONNECTIONS CONFERENCES

INSIDE 4 SCAP Seminars Our full programme 6 New website Our essential new site 7 Happy Birthday Wealden celebrates 30 years 8 Depression How Dorothy Rowe’s ideas stand the test of time 10 Making Connections BACP annual programme 12 Disability discrimination Do counsellors unwittingly continue discrimination?

16 Social media Eileen Palmer makes her name on Facebook and twitter 18 Diary 20 Reviews/ 21 SCAP Who’s Who/Contact details.

WELCOME...

As this year races on we come once again to the SCAP AGM, which this year features a workshop by Genevieve Piquart on sex therapy in a counselling framework. It promises to be a lively event. As well as Sussex Counselling business, the event offers a chance to have your say about which direction you wish our organisation to move and grow.

We do hope you will join us there. See details on page 4.

And on the subject of growing, please look out for the launch of our new-look website during the coming weeks.

After feedback from members we decided on a revamp to allow easy access for both members and potential clients from what is fast becoming the one-stop shop for all therapy and counselling matters in Sussex. More details on page 6.

New technology continues to become a growing feature too in the lives of counsellors everywhere, affecting both business and practice. We held a very successful seminar on using social media in March when I met a group of counsellors of all ages, all keen to use social media to promote their business. Read all about it on page 16. And this year’s OCTIA online conference looked at relational depth and emotional connection in online counselling as well as considering how online counselling enables people with disabilities to more fairly access support.

Benet Middleton, who works for the Fed centre for independent living in Brighton, has written an insightful article for this issue on the medical and social models of disability and whether or not counsellors unwittingly add to discrimination and what they can do about it. See page 17.

Please do let us know what you think of the magazine, the new-look website and don’t forget to keep us up-to-date with your news, views, thoughts and feeling about all things therapeutic.

Astrid SUMMER 2016 Sussex Counselling and Psychotherapy (SCAP) News is the quarterly magazine for counsellors and psychotherapists working in and around Sussex who are registered members of SCAP. Sussex Counselling and Psychotherapy News is the official journal of Sussex Counselling and Psychotherapy. Views expressed in the journal and signed by a writer are the views of the writer and not necessarily those of Sussex Counselling and Psychotherapy. Publication in this journal does not imply endorsement of the writer’s views. Similarly publication of adverts does not constitute endorsement by Sussex Counselling and Psychotherapy.

Contributions are welcome with a £20 book voucher for original material. Please email items for news, diary, feature or review to newsletter@sussex-counselling.co.uk Deadline: Friday 22 July for Autumn 2016 issue.

Advertise in SCAP Newsletter Full page colour – £85, black and white – £78, half page – £48, quarter page – £36.

Contact: advertising@sussex-counselling.co.uk

4 Sex therapy seminar at SCAP AGM plus future programme Seminars connect and create The SCAP AGM takes place on 25 June this year when we are delighted to announce we will be including a workshop on sex therapy in a counselling framework by Genevieve Piquart.

Genevieve is an experienced and qualified psychosexual counsellor, psychotherapist and supervisor, alongside her usual counselling practice.

There will be lively lecture, then useful experiential work for attendees.

The seminar will last for just over an hour and take place during the Sussex Counselling AGM which runs from 10am to 1pm.

Entry is free to SCAP members and costs £25 for non members.

Later in the year SCAP welcomes Sally McLaren,

who will run a seminar on Infant Observation.

Birds, Beasts and Babies – Notes from an Infant Observation.

Sally McLaren is a psychotherapist in private practice in Horsham. She qualified with the Postgraduate Diploma in Counselling from Sussex University in 1998 and is now training with WPF Therapy in London in order to qualify as a Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist.

She has a particular interest in the work and ideas of Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist Carl Gustav Jung. In 2012 she completed a two year Infant Observation Course with the Jungian Section of the British Psychotherapy Foundation.

Play takes centre stage in seminar On June 4 SCAP is running a seminar on play therapy.

Sam Taylor will introduce Art in Mind and explain how the organisation and its projects have been developed and how AIM uses Person Centred Art Therapy and Play Therapy, techniques and skills to help aid recovery of people with mental health.

Enjoy trying some interesting Person Centred Art therapy exercises and find out more about their clinical and practical applications.

By sharing some of her experience Sam will talk about how Person-Centred Art Therapy and Play Therapy has helped her Places are now full booked but please get in touch for any cancellations.

She observed a baby in his home each week from birth to two years in order to build up a picture of his developing inner world and relationships, and deepen her understanding of the human psyche. She was awarded a prize by the British Journal of Psychotherapy for an essay based on her experiences during this Observation. Participants in the competition were required to take up the theme of creativity. Her paper, Birds, Beasts and Babies – Notes from an Infant Observation, was published in the Journal in November 2014.

Her encounter with baby Max has had a significant impact on her both personally and professionally and in her paper she attempts to convey something of that experience.

“From the beginning I was encouraged by the course leader to put aside any preconceived ideas and theories, and to come with an open mind and in a spirit of ‘play’. I invite you to come and listen to my story, share your thoughts and associations and participate in discussion with that same attitude and in that same spirit of ‘play’”, says Sally.

For more information and to sign up contact Jeanie Cvil at email: jeanie@jeanie-civil.co.uk

SCAP NEWS

Rock-paper-scissors game studies

Art therapy

University researchers on irrationality

Finding Spaces, Making Places was the title of a three day conference held at Goldsmiths, London, Exploring social and cultural space in contemporary Art Therapy Practice.

This was the second international Art Therapy Conference organised by the lecturers from the MA in Art Psychotherapy.

Grayson Perry spoke alongside psychoanalyst Patrick Casement.

Art therapists are engaged in making spaces, creating both physical and imagined spaces.

Finding places relates to both the physical setting and the place of the art therapist in organisations where they work.

Through studying the children’s game Rock-Paper-Scissors, research from the University of Sussex has found that people tend to make more irrational decisions following a loss.

The popular playground game has unlocked findings about human behaviour which may have significant implications for more serious situations.

Dr Ben Dyson, Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Sussex, who led the study, explained the implications of this finding: “It’s worrying that people tended to make more irrational decisions following a loss. This could have more serious implications in higher-stake scenarios where people are competing to outmanoeuvre one another – in economics or politics, for example.

“These irrational decisions are driven by an emotional

reaction to a negative outcome and leaves people vulnerable to a smart opponent.

“Emotion might have some distracting effect that deteriorates the quality of our thought. If we can learn to separate emotion from outcome, like successful Poker players, we might be able to mitigate this risk.”

The study found that Rock-Paper-Scissors is perfect for gaining critical insights into human rationality because there is no single strategy that guarantees success. Human players were pitted against a computer, which was programmed to follow the ‘rational’ strategy (although participants were not told of the computer’s strategy). http://www.nature.com/arti cles/srep20479

Find out more at: www.gold.ac.uk/stacs/exh ibitions-and-events/art-th erapy-conference-2016/

Listening skills promoted during Mental Health Awareness Week Volunteers listeners are sought for a Mental Health Awareness Week campaign.

Brighton organisers aim to create psychological spaces inside the city for talking and listening to the general public, supporting their emotional health.

Spaces will simply be two chairs: one for the listener and one for a passer-by to talk.

The project aims to promote the process of reaching out to those who need to talk and local therapy services.

This is not psychotherapy though the experience may be therapeutic.

Volunteers can be from any background provided they have good listening skills.

The event is scheduled to take place in sites around the city centre on May 22 from 2-4pm.

Details at: http://listenbrighton.rsvpify.com.

Find out more about Mental Health Awareness Week at: www.mentalhealth.org.uk/campaigns/ment al-health-awareness-week

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All in the womb - how stress is born Cortisol levels, biology and PTSD are the focus of a fascinating documentary on BBC Radio 4 called All In The Womb.

Children of Holocaust survivors explain how their lives have been affected. And medical experts reveal how the families of mothers who experienced PTSD during 9/11 increasingly report depression, complicated grief and other symptoms.

Such experiences have led scientists to now believe severe trauma can have a biological as well as psychological effect not just on the sufferers but subsequent generations.

The science Epigenetics is increasingly showing how the environment impacts on genes so that the growing foetus is subject to shocks and traumas experienced by the mother.

The documentary explains that the work of practitioners is important in a world where trauma is constant - whether it be 9/11 or in Syria today.

It calls for a healing culture in which offspring of survivors are encouraged to focus on what happened after the trauma - were they allowed to talk about it, did someone understand, did someone believe them?

Society needs to prepare for trauma because everyone is subjected to it, it argues.

Listen at www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b077gd58

Horses distinguish between expressions For the first time horses have been shown to be able to distinguish between angry and happy human facial expressions.

Psychologists studied how 28 horses reacted to seeing photographs of positive versus negative human facial expressions.

When viewing angry faces, horses looked more with their left eye, a behaviour associated with perceiving negative stimuli.

Their heart rate also increased more quickly and they showed more stress-related behaviours.

The study, published in Biology Letters, concludes that this response indicates that the horses had a functionally relevant understanding of the angry faces they were seeing.

Amy Smith, a doctoral student in the Mammal Vocal Communication and Cognition Research Group at the University of Sussex who co-led the research, said: “What’s really interesting about this research is that it shows that horses have the ability to read emotions across the species barrier.”

Read the full report at: http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/12/2/20150907.

New SCAP website We have some exciting changes in store to the Sussex Counselling website.

As well as a redesign the new site, which launches in June, will now be easier to access for both members and potential clients.

This magazine will have its own area of the site to update you on what’s happening in the world of counselling in Sussex between print issues.

If you have any news you’d like to feature on the website please email Katherine Travis at katherine@counsellingsu ssex.com We’ll also be introducing a new advertising section to the website to complement our ads in the print magazine.

For details and rates please email us at advertising@sussex-coun selling.co.uk The new site together with our print magazine, growing social media accounts and regular top flight seminars ensure SCAP is the place to head for any information or to spread the word about events, jobs news about the counselling and therapeutic world in Sussex.

Please do keep us posted about what you would like to see included and your views and thoughts.

NEWS & VIEWS

Sweaty T shirts shed light on disgust

Wealden birthday

Response differs if the source is local

Wealden College of Counselling and Psychotherapy celebrates its 30th birthday in August!

The college was established as an independent facility, providing excellence in professional training and development for the psychotherapy and counselling professions.

In 1992, the college was the first in the area to gain BACP accreditation for its Diploma in Counselling, and is still the only independent college in the area to offer this course.

In 1991, the nationally and internationally recognised and accredited Transactional Analysis Psychotherapy training was started, leading to registration with the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy, ITAA, EATA, and UKATA. It has a 100% pass rate for this course!

The college also offers training in Trauma Therapy, and Animal Assisted Therapy, both of which lead to specialist Diplomas.

There are also up to 100 other courses on offer, as well as a large clinic.

In addition to buildings in Crowborough, the college has a large residential centre in France, and an organic, mixed farm in Crowborough with a range of animals - all excellent therapists!

Psychologists at the University of Sussex have found that a person’s core disgust response is reduced if the source is within their own social group.

In a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team from the University of Sussex and colleagues from the University of St Andrews compared reactions of students to sweaty t-shirts bearing a logo from their own university as well as one from a separate institution.

The results showed that the reaction to ‘core disgust’ was reduced when students were asked to smell a sweaty t-shirt bearing their own university’s logo.

Dr John Drury, Reader in Social Psychology in the School of Psychology at the University of Sussex, explained: “This reduction in the response to core disgust

from a stimulant from within a person’s own social group is significant because it helps us to understand how group behaviour becomes possible.

Essentially, it frees people to cooperate with each other, and to work together effectively.”

Anne Templeton, PhD student in the School of Psychology, the University of Sussex, who ran the second study added: “These findings suggest that disgust isn’t just a matter of sensory information (what we see and touch and smell) but of our social relationship to the source. This helps explain, for instance, why we experience less disgust when our own children are sick on us or when we change their nappies.” http://www.sussex.ac.uk/re search/newsandevents?id=3 4464

Mankind commission features in festival Groomed is a new performance piece telling the story of three extraordinary stories: A betrayed schoolboy, a Japanese soldier and the inventor of the saxophone.

It features as part of the Brighton Festival throughout May. Commissioned by Mankind in Brighton, the performance has an emotional power which has already gripped audiences in Norway, UK and USA. “One of the most moving pieces I have ever seen. I left the theatre educated and entertained – a most rare experience,” commented Sandi Toksvig.

Find out more about the performance and buy tickets for Groomed from http://groomed.website.

Depression, CBT and neurological therapies Eileen Palmer on the continuing relevance of the work of Dorothy Rowe “Depression is a prison where you are both the suffering prisoner and the cruel jailer,” says Dorothy Rowe.

Dorothy Rowe, the world’s leading psychologist on depression, spoke at the SCAP AGM in a 2010 seminar.

Her work looks at perceptions of the self and how this perception is then played out, which is responded to by systems such as society, psychiatry, medicine.

She insists that helping someone understand their illness provides them with a sense of control in which to manage their own mental health.

Her approach seems at odds with widely-accepted CBT, counter to chemical or neurological treatments such as medication, EMDR and other neuro-applications. (For the purposes of this article, depression in all its guises, such as endogenous, free floating, reactive, post trauma, post partum, bereavement, will be considered collectively).

Dr Rowe’s approach has gained unprecedented global recognition as a working model, which is empathic and gentle yet powerful and transformative.

In her YouTube videos, 2009 (www.youtube.com/watch?v =gWNiOAHJtu0), she explains how clients don’t

generally show change in the therapy room, but outside it.

She urges therapists to be patient, to listen and wait.

A client will heal themselves in their own time, in their own ways. A counsellor may have no idea how their client recovers from depression, nor when that will happen. “How we change…is individual and mysterious,” she says.

What she does firmly advocate is that we listen to our client’s story.

We must listen to their interpretation of their life story, it is their truth, and, she says, a good therapist knows what to listen for within that story.

Other faster, more focus-specific therapies don’t necessarily disagree with Rowe’s approach but offer solutions, aiming for faster, cheaper recovery.

CBT for example, or Beck’s CEBT seek to understand depressive thoughts and behaviours, and provide an individual programme of change.

If a depressed person can be motivated to follow treatment, it’s likely they’ll improve.

BACP research in 2010 states that counselling is equally effective as CBT

(Gover, Webb & Evision 2010) with 40% using either therapy finding recovery from depression.

The US Journal of Brain and Behavior, April 2015 published a study of depressed patients treated with either ‘treatment as usual’ (TAU) therapy or EMDR (eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing).

The results showed 68% of EMDR patients recovered from depression on all symptoms compared to the TAU group.

TAU involved counselling and CBT. Impressive statistics in terms of specific recovery, but maybe not for Rowe’s self perceptual changes which could be considered deeper and more meaningful.

In June 2015 The Wall Street Journal published an article on depression treatment led

by Dr Seigle from the University of Pittsburgh. His model, known as CCT (Cognitive Control Training) involves computer games, chirping birds and electrical stimulation to change how depressed people think.

His study, published in Brain Stimulation 2014, outlined how depressed

Other faster, more focus-specific therapies don’t necessarily disagree with Rowe’s approach but offer solutions, aiming for faster, cheaper recovery

DEPRESSION

patients who underwent this therapy reported a 46.5% reduction in depressive symptoms.

These neurological therapeutic advances don’t necessarily signal the end of Rowe’s ‘search for meaning’ approach but add to the valid treatments available.

That these new discoveries can lift mood rapidly is a good thing, and ideally would lead on to deeper, analytical shift in self perceptions using Rowe’s technique.

theoretical approaches.

WHO asserts current concern over treatments for depression as lack of resources available to those in need. Their research paper, ‘Depression: A Global Crisis, October 2012, gives stark statistics: for example, Ethiopia, a country of 80 million, has only 26 psychiatrists; Spain, Israel, Australia, Brazil, Russian and the US wouldn’t likely offer clients treatment for depression even after seeing a

Neurological therapeutic advances don’t necessarily signal the end of Rowe’s ‘search for meaning’ approach but add to the valid treatments available The medical models seek to aid treatment of depression using the chemical imbalance approach.

Recent studies even suggest depression can be lifted in some people by offering anti-inflammatory drugs (Johnson and Johnson 2016 ongoing study by Dr Wayne Drevets).

Perhaps lifting mood through medication is a precursor to people embarking on Rowe’s voyage of self perceptual change.

Motivation to change is a key factor in all therapeutic transformation, and depressed people struggle to feel motivation.

The World Health Organisation 2012 reports efficacy of all major

primary care health practitioner.

In Latin America there’s a significant treatment gap for elderly, depressed patients.

Overall, the global median rate for untreated depression is 50%.

Clearly the most urgent and important conundrum in these grey days of funding cuts is how best to spread our reach to those other invisible 50%.

Any treatment is better than none.

Eileen Palmer is a psychologist and psychotherapist and taught counselling courses in Further Education as well as providing counselling training with various organisations in Sussex.

Dorothy Rowe In summary, Dorothy Rowe has catalysed awareness and treatment of depression, providing an exemplary model for therapists to use.

Her ideologies are borne out in practice, her clients do indeed recover.

Alongside Rowe’s approach are other valid and effective treatments, somewhat scientific, offering fewer sessions with faster recovery rates.

In a world which is increasingly fast-paced, where the cheapest and quickest solutions are sought, we’re unlikely to embrace Rowe’s slower approach of waiting for clients to recreate better meaning.

As practitioners we’re wise to use emerging knowledge in the effective treatment of depression.

Perhaps a middle ground lies in maintaining Rowe’s model as underpinning whilst utilising newer approaches according to clients’ particular depressive tendencies?

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Making connections - annual BACP programme SCAP’s Eileen Palmer and Jan Irwin learned and shared Several Sussex Counselling Committee members were to be found at the Holiday Inn on Brighton seafront in February, attending the annual BACP Making Connections conference.

Participants were each handed a BACP folder then directed to a lavish conference room filled with circular tables adorned with white linen, water, glasses, pens and writing pads.

Around the room were stands advertising various sections of the BACP, plus private organisations offering information about their fields of work.

Breakfast of pastries, teas, coffees and juice were mercilessly consumed before Andrew Reeves, the chair of the BACP, gave his welcome speech and our day began.

The first speaker Sally French, Head of Rape and Serious Sexual Assault Unit for the CPS Midlands, engaged us with a powerful talk about sex crimes and our role with sufferers and British law. Jeremy Christey, Chair of BACP Universities and Colleges, sent a tweet during her talk: “Sally French making connections confTherapists shld know pre trial therapy protocols for rape & sexual assault/abuse and work with CPS.” Sally asked delegates to shout out ideas they had on

numbers or protocols relating to sexual crimes. We became shockingly aware of how little most of us know about our role within the CPS and the use of our notes and our practice. Do please inform yourself if you’re not sure – this is very important. She also highlighted, by asking for guesstimates about crimes and perpetrators, how our thinking is often judgmental against the person assaulted - even though we’ve been highly trained to be open-minded and non judgmental. Sally’s talk was pivotal and essential.

Thank you Sally.

Next came two minute platforms. Initially five people were given the floor to talk about their area of expertise and outline their work. Andrew Reeves kept strict time although most people tried to continue talking after the buzzer had gone!

Topics included Carecall counselling agency, online therapy courses, resilience therapy, Sussex Alcohol Counselling Service, and dementias.

The next two hours were dedicated to the conference title, Making Connections.

Several tables were each designated a topic such as workplace counselling, online therapy, ageing, spirituality, dementia, coaching and so on.

A tremendous lunch was

served, with provisions made for special diets, and scrumptious desserts, juices and water then coffee and we were encouraged to make connections.

We all chatted with new people, signed up to events and ideas, and gave forth about our own soap box topics of interest. The atmosphere in the room was friendly, social and interested.

Speaker Colin Berry then offered an insight into therapists creating social change. Colin is a psychotherapist based in London. His opening dialogue challenged the rigid position some therapists have about the limitations of counselling within communities.

Giving a personal account of how moving away from pre-set norms had been extremely beneficial for some socially excluded people he worked with, he explained how these people had re-established themselves into the community, gaining self respect and esteem. Colin talked from the heart, disregarding the notes he’d made and addressing the audience from a place of authenticity and passion about his subject.

The final speaker was Jo Gate-Eastley, who gave an impressive and detailed insight into domestic abuse.

BACP

She outlined research showing a similar prevalence of domestic abuse in lesbian, gay and bisexual relationships to heterosexual relationship.

Trans people are shown to more likely suffer abuse than other groups. Speaking at the end of the day is always a challenge and Jo was splendid in her delivery and knowledge, informing and revealing important

vulnerabilities for clients suffering domestic abuse.

This was the first time I’d attended the annual conference and I’m pretty sure it will be the first of many.

As a free event the BACP hosted a professional, relevant mix of intellectual input alongside informal social networking. See you at the next one!

Time to talk During the day BACP speakers were given just one minute to talk about their topics – Research, CPD and events, and workplace counsellors.

They were just as shaky with the time limit but still made their points.

It was interesting and the 300 or so of us attending learned a lot.

Finally Andrew informed us we had some time left and invited any of us to take the floor for two minutes and talk about our own therapeutic work.

SCAP committee member Jan Irwin bravely stood up and spoke about Sussex Counselling and the great work done by us all.

She was one of the best time keepers as well!

Eileen Palmer is a psychologist and psychotherapist and taught counselling courses in Further Education as well as providing counselling training with various organisations in Sussex.

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Disability discrimination in counselling?

Benet Middleton on ensuring equal access for all When I was looking at rooms to practice from, I asked one about client access.

Their answer was not about physical access to the building but about not having a receptionist.

As someone who has worked with and for disabled people for many years, thinking about practical access issues is the norm.

This difference in understanding got me thinking about how we as counsellors may unintentionally be excluding a large section of society from our services in other ways.

The social model of disability (as opposed to the medical model) - focuses not on a person’s impairments or the label they carry, but on the barriers society creates which restrict choices.

This approach recognises that we are all different, but some of our differences are beyond the normal distribution. It also recognises that making services accessible for disabled people makes them more accessible for all.

The reason some talk about disabled people as opposed to people with disabilities is that disability is what is done to someone by social norms, not something intrinsic to themselves.

Coming face to face with the physical barriers we may inadvertently put in the way

of disabled clients got me thinking about the way we practice and how this might impair our ability to provide support.

Spinelli refers to the frame we put in place around our practice as magic feathers (in honour of Dumbo who had a magic feather that enabled him to believe he could fly(see http://tinyurl.com/hqhnbs3).

He suggests this may create a sense of security for us as therapists but is based on little evidence of efficacy.

I wonder to what extent these magic feathers might create further barriers?

In some approaches, ensuring therapy is done at the same time, on the same day is integral to the frame. It may be seen as about security and commitment amongst other things.

For someone with an impairment that affects them differently at different times, being able to guarantee not being in excruciating pain at the same time each week may be a real problem.

Of course for many therapists it is simply

impractical to offer greater flexibility.

But when we are not able to offer any flexibility because of our approach to therapy, it seems worth asking if the value of the regularity is greater than the value of being able to meet a client’s need for flexibility?

Some characteristics will challenge our ways of relating.

For example, working with clients who communicate with the written word when so many of the cues we usually look for are in tone of voice, pace etc.

Or perhaps working with someone who has major speech impediments or who cannot control their body movements?

At first these very different ways of relating can be frightening for us to engage with; we have to learn to communicate very differently ourselves, but what an opportunity that offers.

I have worked with clients who have required what verges on carer support in the session. For example, being physically helped in and out

For someone with an impairment that affects them differently at different times, being able to guarantee not being in excruciating pain at the same time each week may be a real problem.

DISABILITY IN COUNSELLING

of the chair and supported to the reception.

For some therapists their training would have included quite clear boundaries around touch; again disabled clients may present us with some uncomfortable challenges.

It is common to talk about the six million adults estimated to be disabled in the UK, sometimes the economic case is made for removing barriers to access in terms of the potential market.

But I have realised through my counselling work with a disabled people’s organisation that as a counsellor there is a more fundamental reason to ensure that my service is accessible.

I have been privileged to enter a number of people’s lives where the context in

which they are operating is shaped by ongoing exclusion and prejudice.

I have been enabled to see a very different world and to share the frustrations people face over things many take for granted.

I’m glad I’m lucky enough to practice somewhere where there isn’t a flight of stairs or a narrow door stopping people at the first hurdle, something fairly rare in this old city of ours.

Benet Middleton MBACP; is a counsellor at the The Fed; centre for independent living based in Brighton. www.thefedonline.org.uk

Alter, adapt, acknowledge Under the Equality Act 2010, anyone providing a service to the public must make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to ensure that disabled people are offered a service as close to that offered to non disabled people as possible.

Counsellor Libby Webber, who is based in Portsmouth, offers a practical and informative workshop which aims to get participants thinking about their own self-awareness around disability and in practical terms, how they can use the three A’s framework (alter, adapt and acknowledge) to improve access to their therapy practice in the future.

OCTIA Conference discusses online counselling for people with a disability - see page 17

Social and medical models The social model of disability states that disability is caused by the way society is organised rather than by a person’s impairment or difference.

It looks at ways of removing barriers that restrict life choices for disabled people. When barriers are removed, disabled people can be independent and equal in society, with choice and control over their own lives.

The medical model of disability says people are disabled by their impairments or differences.

The medical model looks at what is ‘wrong’ with the person, not what the person needs. It creates low expectations and leads to people losing independence, choice and control in their own lives.

Disabled people developed the social model of disability because the traditional medical model did not explain their personal experience of disability or help to develop more inclusive ways of living.

An impairment is defined as long-term limitation of a person’s physical, mental or sensory function.

Sussex Counselling AGM Plus workshop on

sex therapy in

counselling

SCAP AGM 25 JUNE 2016 10AM-1PM Brighton Junction Friends Centre Isetta Square, 35 New England St, Brighton BN1 4GQ, FREE

Genevieve Piquart is an experienced and qualified psychosexual counsellor, psychotherapist and supervisor, alongside her usual counselling practice.

She will deliver a seminar on sex therapy within a counselling framework.

There will be lively lecture, then useful experiential work for attendees. The seminar will last for just over an hour.

The seminar takes place during the Sussex Counselling AGM on the 25th June.

COST: Free.

Light refreshments.

WWW.SUSSEXCOUNSELLING.CO.UK

Brighton Person Centred Community Workshop Programme 2016 Zen & the Art of Person-Centred Therapy – Manu Bazzano – Saturday 21st May 1030am – 4.30pm .Community Base, Queens Road, Brighton - £65/£45 concession A workshop on the integration of meditation and therapy. We will use a mixture of experiential work, Zen meditation, and exercises.

Manu Bazzano, UKCP, MBACP, is a therapist; tutor and supervisor .He has practiced meditation since 1980 and in 2004 was ordained as a Zen Buddhist monk. He is the author of several books; including Buddha is Dead, and coeditor of Therapy and the Counter-tradition: the Edge of Philosophy.

Affective Neuroscience and Attachment Theory – Dagmar Edwards – Saturday 1st & Sunday 2nd October – 10.30am – 4pm Community Base, Queens Road, Brighton - £130/£90 concession This two-day workshop offers participants the opportunity to engage with recent research from affective neuroscience and studies of infant development. The workshop will include input on relevant ideas while also being interactive and experiential.

Dagmar Edwards - MSc. UKCP Registered Psychotherapist.

Since 1993 Dagmar has worked as a core tutor, facilitator and supervisor for several psychotherapy training institutes. She is trained in a range of approaches to therapeutic work, including Person-Centred, Gestalt, CBT, and Supervision. Current research interests include introducing key concepts from affective neuroscience and attachment patterns into a humanistic framework.

Some People are They - Get over It! – Thinking about Gender Identity Saturday 3rd December – 10.30am – 4.30pm Community Base, Queens Road, Brighton £65/£45 concession We live in a heteronormative and cisnormative world with fixed binary notions of gender and sexuality.

How challenging is it to step outside of this binary and what might that look like? How can we truly be in our clients’ frame of reference if our own frame of reference belongs to fixed notions of gender and sexuality?

Cost: £65/£45 concession To book, please visit www.brightonbapca.co.uk

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Signing up to the benefits of social media SCAP’s Eileen Palmer gets to grips with Facebook and twitter Saturday 5 March welcomed icy winds and rain that stabbed our cheeks as Jo Moore from SCAP Committee and I made our way to the Dialogue/YMCA in Reed House, 47 Church Road, Hove.

We were about to spend three hours with trainers Astrid Stubbs and Lex Young and 12 other therapists looking to improve their skills in digital IT for business – twitter, Facebook and other online methods of communication.

To our untrained eyes the room looked so very digital; we felt in awe of the impressive equipment waiting to burst into life.

Once everyone arrived and we were settled with teas and coffees Astrid began the introduction, leaving us no time to fret. We were left in no doubt of the increasing importance of digital marketing. Lex explained that Facebook has over 1.5 billion active users and is the largest of all social media channels.

This means more and more of our potential clients will be looking for our therapy business Facebook page as a way of finding out about us and booking appointments.

The other four main channels of of communication: Google plus, Twitter, Linkedin and Instagram are also increasingly accessed by the general public in searching for therapists.

We were clearly fortunate to be attending this course where many of us could remedy our absence on the social media platform.

Lex Young, an experienced communications consultant, took half of our group in one room to explain Facebook whilst Astrid took the other half in another room to reveal the inner workings of twitter.

Jo and I were in the twitter group, first with Astrid.

We had such a lot of fun, setting up our twitter accounts, finding our ‘voice’ and brand, then sending tweets to each other. We’re a friendly bunch and once we’d

trainers, twitterers became Facebookers and vice versa.

Lex proceeded to coach us in setting up and developing a Facebook page.

We learnt that three times more people visit Facebook than other social media platforms and users are spread evenly across gender and social grades.

I’ve had a Facebook business page for a few years now and I’m already aware I get quite a lot of traffic on my page, yet Lex was able to explain tips and techniques to improve my page and encourage more visitors.

The most important element

More and more of our potential clients will be looking for our therapy business Facebook page as a way of finding out about us and booking appointments grasped the methodology we were away, tweeting to all and sundry.

It’s actually straightforward and simple if you have someone as patient and empathic as Astrid showing you the steps and not sniggering at your howling blunders.

For example, not a good idea for me to post a photo of myself in a swimming pool as my business marketing logo picture!

After a short break to eat biscuits (we needed the sugar) the groups changed

to consider when setting up your business page is to think of yourself as a brand, how do you want to be known, what images would you wish to use to depict your practice?

These are the foundations from which to expand your Facebook page.

Lex carefully and calmly explained each procedure in creating a Facebook page, then gave each of us individual time as she appraised how we were doing and what we’d designed. Just what we needed. We learned that people often use their

SOCIAL MEDIA

mobile phones to access contact details. For therapists to stay with this flow we must consider our page from the viewpoint of mobile vision.

How does the page look on a phone? The photos we use must be of high quality, we must be succinct and clear, avoiding a rambling life history for example, state just what you offer, what it costs, where you practice, how to contact us. Avoid being too personal, you’re marketing a brand, not yourself.

This seminar proved to be one of the most popular, being fully booked easily and several people asking to be put on a waiting list for a repeat seminar. Three hours sped by and we could have happily stayed for the whole day and gathered more workable knowledge.

A big thank you to all, you did Sussex Counselling proud with an excellent seminar. I think I’ll send a tweet thanking them!

Find Eileen Palmer on twitter at @Bearinmindshift and on Facebook at bearinmindcounsellingfaceb ook.

Find Sussex Counselling on twitter: @SussexCAP Facebook: www.facebook.com/SussexCo unsellingAndPsychotherapy

Depth and emotional connections Relational Depth and Emotional Connection in online therapy was the subject of the annual online OCTIA Conference which took place in Bristol and online in April.

BACP webcast the OCTIA conference, which is designed for practitioners who are working in or interested in the field of online counselling.

Anne Stokes, the host for the webcast, explained that the online event was; “for online practitioners or those who are simply curious about this medium, a wealth and breadth of experience. ” Presentations included working at depth via text, which considered some of the ways in which therapists can overcome the challenges of communicating via instant messaging in order for powerful and deep therapeutic relationships to be formed.

The presentation was based on the findings of a recent research project conducted with experienced online therapists.

Other presentations included listening when working synchronously online, and adaptations necessary within an organisation for working online.

The conference also considered online therapy for those with an illness or people with a disability, looked at bridging the gap in the provision of professional counselling services for those affected by disability and illness and how online counselling promotes access to support to some of the most vulnerable people in our society.

Also under discussion was whether it is possible to work therapeutically online in a single session, with Autistic Syndrome Conditions.

The event was made up of debate as well as studio interviews and chatroom discussion.

For further online BACP events visit www.bacp.co.uk/webinar/

18

NEW CONSULTING ROOMS IN BRIGHTON Newly refurbished consulting rooms in the Fiveways area of Brighton available to rent.

We have 4 rooms available all of which are beautifully renovated and furnished to a high standard. All adjoining rooms have been fully soundproofed from each other. Each room is fully self-contained with its own number lock.

Rooms cost ÂŁ7.50 per hour. www.fivewaysconsultingrooms.com For further information please contact Anne Guildford on 07570 890089 or Jeremy Vintcent on 07747 442233

20

Frazzled but not dazzled

Private lives

A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled Ruby Wax

In Therapy - Susie Orbach

If you haven’t been following recent events in the world of Ruby Wax you might be forgiven if, like me, your main memory of her is as the too-loud, fluorescently-clad American actress Shelley Du Pont in the 80’s sitcom Girls On Top. Since her 80’s heyday as a comedian though, Wax has changed direction radically.

Her personal struggles with depression prompted her to train in psychology and psychotherapy and she graduated with a Masters in Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy from Oxford University in 2013.

Her work as a campaigner on a range of mental health issues was recognised with an OBE last year and she is now a visiting Professor in Mental Health Nursing at the University of Surrey.

Traces of the braying Shelley remain in this, her second book on mental health, however, where it feels like every serious point has to be puntuated by a one-liner.

She begins with an explanation of mindfulness and neuroscience, follows this with a middle section outlining a DIY six-week mindfulness course and then goes on to talk about mindfulness in the context of relationships and as it applies

to parents, babies, children and teenagers.

The DIY course itself seems practical and accessible and, interspersed with her explanations and exercises, Wax includes autobiographical accounts of her depression, her discovery of mindfulness and its impact on her life.

Wax is a committed proponent of mindfulness but the seriousness of her intention and the detail of her neurological explanations sit awkwardly with the zingers shoehorned into the text.

I like Ruby Wax but never thought she was particularly funny, so it may be that, if you’re a fan, this mix of dusty-dry science and slightly soggy wit will float your boat in a way it didn’t for me.

The personal sections are the best thing about the book; direct, honest, and often touching, they're written simply and authentically, do much to demystify and destigmatise depression, and their humour feels organic, rueful and wry.

As a self-help manual on the use of mindfulness to relieve a whole range of psychological and physical ills the book is competent but generic; it’s Wax’s confessional anecdotes that are distinctive though, and worth the price of admission. GB Grant Bardsley is a counsellor, trainer and facilitator.

Radio 4’s In Therapy sees psychotherapist Susie Orbach allowing listeners to eavesdrop on private conversations with her patients in riveting 15minute sessions.

Voiced by actors, we meet John a retired trade unionist, who declares his undying love for his therapist.

Then there’s Helen, a highflying lawyer who wants to think about her inner life and what makes her tick.

Jo is attending for the first time and turns up late. What does that tell us about her way of being in the world and about herself, asks Susie.

“I’m always interested to meet people for the first time; to notice the pauses, the way their voice raises and lowers; their impact on me,” she says.

We also meet Harriet, who is struggling following failed IVF and couple Louise and Richard, who are expecting their first child.

Orbach sheds vital light on the counselling process, bringing a wealth of experience, knowledge and empathy in these tiny, compelling insights into the counsellor’s world. http://www.bbc.co.uk/ programmes/b071c4cy/ episodes/player

REVIEWS

Limits to person-centred practice Therapists Limits in Person-Centred Therapy - Lisbeth Sommerbeck This book takes us on a journey through the author’s experiences of working in a psychiatric hospital in the 1970’s in Denmark.

Her writing reflects what is happening in mental health services with regard to regulation, evidence-based practice and outcomes.

The main question for the author was: how are you true to your person-centred practice and beliefs and still able to work in an environment based more on the medical model, where the practitioner is the expert rather than the client being the expert on themselves?

The author notes that she had the advantage of working at a time when regulation and rules weren’t what they are today; allowing her to work in a very traditional person-centred way, finding ways to set her own limits or boundaries for the benefit of her clients and the organisations she worked for.

The book provides good food for thought with regard to limits and how far we as therapists are willing to compromise what we know works for clients in order to keep our jobs and reputations intact, as well as keeping the

relationship with the client intact and unaltered by the demands of a system that doesn’t always understand what goes on in therapy.

The author talks about how to stay congruent and show empathic understanding of the client within boundaries, personal and therapeutic.

These might include, for example, keeping air freshener when a particular client comes in, or sitting closer to the door and coming up with ways to keep oneself safe if a psychiatric client became violent. The author also discusses limits to self-disclosure and what would be beneficial to the

client and what would be a therapist positioning themselves in an expert position rather than allowing the client to find their own answers through exploration in the therapeutic relationship.

I recommend this book to person-centred practitioners, but it will also allow those of us with other base modalities of therapy to think and reflect on our limits and boundaries in the relationships and organisations and clients we work with. KB Karin Brauner, MBACP, MBPS is a bilingual counsellor in private practice in Brighton.

Sussex Counselling and Psychotherapy (SCAP)

Contact Us Sussex Counselling and Psychotherapy Group PO Box 308, Brighton BN2 0WA Editor: Astrid Stubbs: newsletter@sussex-counselling.co.uk Advertising : advertising@sussex-counselling.co.uk Membership: membership@sussex-counselling.co.uk Chair: chair@sussex-counselling.co.uk General Enquiries: info@sussex-counselling.co.uk New Counsellors: newcounsellors@sussex-counselling.co.uk Paper Directory: paperdirectory@sussex-counselling.co.uk Secretary: secretary@sussex-counselling.co.uk Finance: finance@sussex-counselling.co.uk Website: website@sussex-counselling.co.uk Web: www.sussex-counselling.co.uk twitter: @SussexCAP Facebook: www.facebook.com/SussexCounsellingAndPsychotherapy Printed in the UK www.dpsltd.net

Wealden Psychology Institute Established in Crowborough, East Sussex since 1986

www.wealdeninstitute.co.uk For 30 years Wealden Institute has been a centre of excellence for specialized and advanced learning for counsellors, psychotherapist and supervisors, offering courses from beginner to post graduate level, accredited by the BACP, UKCP, UKATA, EATA and ITAA. The Institute has many years’ experience in providing the highest levels of practice through our Trauma Clinic, Supervision Service, Forensic Psychology Division and Animal Facilitated Therapy at our local organic farm. We offer popular and acclaimed training in each of these fields through the highly respected Wealden College of Counselling and Psychotherapy.

Counselling and Psychotherapy for children and adults, individuals and couples At a range of prices to suit all needs.

Wealden Trauma Clinic Our clinic offers TA, EMDR, Mindfulness and Animal Facilitated Therapy for child and adult survivors of abuse, violence and trauma.

Supervision of Counsellors, Psychotherapists, Clinical Psychologists and Supervisors Face to face, on line or by telephone, for trainees and qualified practitioners.

Foundation Certificate in Transactional Analysis Counselling & Psychotherapy.

Ten weekend modules or 20 fortnightly Monday modules.

Advanced Transactional Analysis Counselling & Psychotherapy (leading to UKCP accreditation as a Psychotherapist).

Ten weekend modules per year over three years.

Diploma in Humanistic Integrative Counselling 40 days per year for two years – BACP Accredited course Fully recognised EMDR training For accredited Counsellors, Psychotherapists and Psychologists.

Specialist training courses for counsellors and psychotherapists in Trauma Therapy, CBT, Coaching, Working with LGBT Clients, Working with Children and Adolescents, Working with Families, Forensic Counselling and Psychotherapy, Supervision, to name but a few. Look at our Short Course Programme on our website for details.

We have a full programme of one and two day short courses and workshops – see our website for details.

If you would like to get further information or arrange to come in for a chat, please contact the head office in Crowborough. You will receive a warm welcome.

Wealden Psychology Institute, 2 Quarry View, Whitehill Road, Crowborough, TN6 1JT

www.wealdeninstitute.co.uk Email: admin@wealdeninstitute.co.uk Telephone: 01892 655195

Compassion Focused Therapy

A CFT Approach to Working with Shame Experiences in Trauma With Dr Chris Irons on Saturday 25th June 2016

Summer-Autumn Workshop Programme 2016 Saturday 11th June ‘Sturm und Drang’: The Dilemmas of Working Therapeutically with Adolescents Trainer: Rebecca Kirkbride th

Saturday 25 June A Compassion Focused Therapy Approach to Working with Shame Experiences in Trauma Trainer: Dr Chris Irons Saturday 2nd July Expressive and Creative Writing in Therapy Trainer: Victoria Field

Saturday 1st October The Buzz Trap: Adolescent States of Mind Trainer: Graham Music Saturday 8th October The 7-Eyed Model of Supervision Trainer: Joe Wilmot Full details of all events on the BTP website

W: BrightonTherapyPartnership.org.uk E: info@brightontherapypartnership.org.uk T: Lucy on 07521 651395

Saturday 16th July On Feeding and Being Fed: Attachment & Food Trainer: Linda Cundy Saturday 10th September Shame in the Therapy Hour Trainer: Christiane Sanderson

Astonishingly good training. Workshop fee includes delicious lunch. Training venues: close to transport links in Portslade and Brighton, East Sussex

* The Palmeira Practice: Consulting Room Hire With Attitude * Our unique approach boosts your profile via online advertising and the on-going input of a top-class Marketing Consultant. We have some consulting room space still available.

We’re in it to succeed. Are you?! Email: info@brightontherapypartnership.org.uk

SUSSEX COUNSELLING AND PSYCHOTHERAPY SEMINAR

BIRDS, BEES AND BABIES INFANT OBSERVATION WITH SALLY MCLAREN 12 November 2016 Centre for Emotional Development, 18a Clermont Road, Preston Park, Brighton.

Entry £15 member, £25 non members. To book email Jeanie at jeanie@jeaniecivil.co.uk

COME AND LEARN WHAT

Psychoanalytic

developing inner world

BABIES CAN TEACH US

Psychotherapist. She

and relationships, and

completed a two year

deepen her

Infant Observation Course

understanding of the

with the Jungian Section of the British

human psyche. She was awarded a prize by the

Psychotherapy

British Journal of

Foundation.

Psychotherapy for an

Sally McLaren is a psychotherapist in private practice in Horsham. She qualified with the Postgraduate Diploma in Counselling from Sussex University in 1998 and is

Sally observed a baby in

now training with WPF Therapy in London in

his home each week from birth to two years in order

order to qualify as a

to build up a picture of his

essay based on her experiences. www.sussexcounelling.co.uk