Monday, February 27, 2006

Next meeting (& other stuff)

MEETINGS
Thanks to everyone who made it to - or sent apologies for - yesterday's get together (in the new decidedly more comfy Walker House Day Centre at the Voluntary Services Centre). The next scheduled meeting is for Sunday 9 April, from 1pm. Hope to see some of you then.

After the April meeting we have nothing booked. Thoughts about venue, frequency of meetings, day/time etc would be welcomed; I'll collate and circulate all contributions.

This is YOUR group/network so please express your views about the whole experiment so far, how you would like to see things progress in the future.

E-BOOKS
I keep getting sent details of e-books which I know I will only rarely consult but I just have to download them if they're free. Check the following if you like to collect encyclopedias (and who wouldn't if paper copies weren't so prohibitively expensive):

http://rapidshared.org/index.php?t=search&w=encyclopedia

Some are downloadable in pdf format (which of course are searchable), others compressed as .rar or .zip files. Winzip and WinRar are both readily downloadable free if you don't already have them.

FATBOY
Fatboy Slim has hailed Paul McCartney`s counselling skills after the former Beatle supported him during his marriage troubles.
From Counselling Newsletter http://www.counselling.ltd.uk

PSYCHOTIC PROCESS
Prof. Margaret Warner PhD - Psychotic Process and the Person Centred Approach
Double CD £20 plus p&p (£2 in the UK)
Margaret Warner from Chicago is one of our colleagues who has advanced Person Centred Theory with her ground breaking work on "Difficult Processing". Over the last few years Counselling Works has been proud to present her workshops on Dissociation and Fragile Processing. Her latest workshop at Counselling Works, in 2005, was entitled Psychotic Process and in it she reviewed and contrasted her work with Fragile and Psychotic Process clients. Her style of presentation is relaxed, easily understood and rich with examples from her own practice. This recording was made at the workshop and has been edited into tracks to make the CD's easy to use in colleges and universities. The professionally made and edited recordings are at broadcast quality and contained on two audio CD's, each approximately an hour long, and divided into 14 named tracks. Track titles include:
  • Basic PCA concepts
  • Processing
  • No body/mind split
  • The act of processing
  • Attachment plus
  • Difficult process
  • Having to say it four times
  • Fragile process
  • Dissociative Process
  • Psychotic Process
  • You don't have to understand to know what to do
  • Dissociating parts of a person
  • Psychotic process
  • Voices and hallucinations
  • Medicating psychotic clients? The effect of drugs on a client's ability to process
  • Pre therapy influences
  • Avoid paraphrasing - stick to the exact words
  • Congruence is always behind empathy when working with a psychotic client
  • Thought disorder.
This unique CD offers a remarkable opportunity to hear one of Person Centred's leading theorists explain her work first hand. They are warm relaxed style makes them easy, but compulsive listening.
Copies are available at £20 each (plus postage and packing £2 in the UK). To pay by Credit/Debit card on the phone call Angela on 01908 263 800. or Make your cheque payable to Counselling Works Ltd. and send to: Counselling Works Ltd. The Old Cross Keys, 97 High Street, Stony Stratford, Milton Keynes, MK11 1AT

HOW TO SING THE BLUES... A PRIMER

1. Most Blues begin, "Woke up this morning..."
2. "I got a good woman" is a bad way to begin the Blues, unless you stick something nasty in the next line like, "I got a good woman, with the meanest face in town."
3. The Blues is simple. After you get the first line right, repeat it. Then find something that rhymes...sort of: "Got a good woman with the meanest face in town. Yes, I got a good woman with the meanest face in town. Got teeth like Margaret Thatcher, And she weighs 500 pounds."
4. The Blues is not about choice. You're stuck in a ditch, you're stuck in a ditch - ain't no way out.
5. Blues cars: Chevys, Fords, Cadillacs and broken-down trucks. Blues don't travel in Volvos, BMWs, or Sport Utility Vehicles. Most Blues transportation is a Greyhound bus or a southbound train, blues NEVER go on the northbound train. Jet aircraft and state-sponsored motor pools ain't even in the running. Walkin' plays a major part in the blues lifestyle. So does fixin' to die.
6. Teenagers can't sing the Blues. They ain't fixin' to die yet. Adults sing the Blues. In Blues, "adulthood" means being old enough to get the electric chair if you shoot a man in Memphis.
7. Blues can take place in New York City but not in Hawaii or any place in Canada. Hard times in Minneapolis or Seattle is probably just clinical depression. Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City are still the best places to have the Blues. You cannot have the blues in any place that don't get rain.
8. A man with male pattern baldness ain't the blues. A woman with male pattern baldness is. Breaking your leg cause you were skiing is not the blues. Breaking your leg 'cause an alligator be chomping on it is.
9. You can't have no Blues in an office or a shopping mall. The lighting is wrong. Go outside to the parking lot or sit by the dumpster.
10.Good places for the Blues: a. highway b. jailhouse Bad places for the Blues: a. Nordstrom b. gallery openings c. Ivy League institutions d. golf courses
11.No one will believe it's the Blues if you wear a suit, 'less you happen to be an old person, and you slept in it for the last 6 months.
12.Do you have the right to sing the Blues? Yes, if: a. you're older than dirt b. you're blind c. you shot a man in Memphis Not if: a. you have all your teeth b. you were once blind but can see c. the man in Memphis lived d. you have a 401K or trust fund now
13.Blues is not a matter of color. It's a matter of bad luck. Tiger Woods cannot sing the blues. Sonny Liston could. Ugly white people also got leg up on the blues.
14.If you ask for water and your darlin' give you gasoline, it's the Blues. Other acceptable Blues beverages are: a. muddy water b. nasty black coffee The following are NOT Blues beverages: a. Perrier b. Chardonnay c. Snapple d. Slim Fast
15.If death occurs in a cheap motel or a shotgun shack, it's a Blues death. Stabbed in the back by a jealous lover is another Blues way to die. So is the electric chair, substance abuse and dying lonely on a broken down cot. You can't have a Blues death if you die during a tennis match or while getting liposuction.
16.Some Blues names for women: a. Sadie b. Big Mama c. Bessie d. Fat River Dumpling
17.Some Blues names for men: a. Joe b. Willie c. Little Willie d. Big Willie
18.Persons with names like Michelle, Amber, Debbie, and Heather can't sing the Blues no matter how many men they shoot in Memphis.
19."Make your own Blues Name" Starter Kit: a. name of physical infirmity (Blind, Cripple, Lame, etc.) b. first name (see above) plus name of fruit (Lemon, Lime, Kiwi, etc.) c. last name of a President (Jefferson, Johnson, Fillmore, etc.) For example: Blind Lime Jefferson, Pegleg Lemon Johnson or Cripple Kiwi Fillmore, etc. (Well, maybe not "Kiwi.")
20.I don't care how tragic your life: if you own even one computer, you cannot sing the blues. If you are reading this on a computer - maybe you cannot sing the Blues - but you sure can listen to it.

All the best for now!

Paul Colley
PCAyorks@yahoo.co.uk
http://pcayorks.blogspot.com