Peter Schmid workshop - ta da!

Hi Everyone. Now here's a thing!

Sussex Person-Centred Group Presents:

'Presence and Encounter' facilitated by Peter Schmid.

Sat/Sun 19/20 Nov 2005 One and a half days.
Sat 9.30am to 4pm. Sun 9.30 to 1pm.
Venue: Community Base, Brighton.
Cost £75. To Book Contact Peter Hunt Tel. 01273-732606

Peter hardly needs much introduction as he is such a prolific writer within the approach. Most of the PCCS books published over the past few years that contain edited collections have at least one chapter by Peter (see for example Gill Wyatt's 'Rogers Therapeutic Conditions' series).

Here is what Dave Mearns and Mick Cooper say in their new book entitled 'Working at Relational Depth' (Sage):

"Within the person-centred field, there is a tendency to focus on the therapist's experiences and communications towards the client (eg empathy, positive regard), rather than the bidirectional, mutual encounter between therapist and client. ........Recent years, however, have seen some important advances towards a more intersubjective, dialogical person-centred therapy. At the forefront of developments here is the Austrian therapist Peter Schmid, who draws on the work of Martin Buber, as well as the French philosopher Emmanuel Levinas (1969), to propose that the heart of a person-centred approach is a dialogical en-counter." (p.14)

High praise indeed, and for Mearns and Cooper (and Peter Schmid too):
"en-counter means standing counter to the other person and working therapeutically with the difference. This last point is critical, the therapist must be prepared to work with the consequences of the encounter. Their 'counter' to the client is not an act of judgement, aggression or revenge, it is part of the therapeutic engagement. Such an encounter as this is just as likely to lead to a meeting at relational depth ..." (pp125/6).

Cutting edge stuff. Existentially speaking - be there or be elsewhere but take responsiblity for that choice!

[Source: PCA-Events - apologies for duplication]

Paul Colley

SEE ALSO PETER SCHMID'S GIGANTIC COMPENDIOUS WEBSITE (Under Links - left).

FYI

Albert Ellis Needs Your Support
Albert Ellis, 92 was removed from the Board of the Non-Profit Albert Ellis Institute which he founded. He has also been barred from his regular Friday night psychotherapy sessions which he has conducted for over 30 years. Albert has said that he does not hate those who removed him from the Institute, nor is he angry about it. ``I think it`s unfair, but they have the right as falliable, screwed-up humans to be unfair, that`s the human condition,`` he said. A campaign is now underway to re-instate Dr Albert Ellis as President of the Albert Ellis Institute for REBT in New York City: http://www.petitiononline.com/abc4rebt
For more information, visit: http://www.rebt.cc/

Pregnancy Counselling `Anti-choice`
AUSTRALIA`S consumer watchdog has been asked to investigate whether some pregnancy counselling services are providing deceptive information about abortions, in breach of the Trade Practices Act. Australian Greens Senator Kerry Nettle said she had written to Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) chairman Graeme Samuel asking him to look into her concerns about pregnancy services. ``I have provided the ACCC with promotional material from some pregnancy counselling services that claim to offer neutral counselling and referral to all pregnancy-related services,`` she said. ``These counselling services are run by anti-choice organisations that refuse to refer women for a pregnancy termination regardless of her wishes``.
http://digbig.com/4fayd

Ambitious Strategy to Improve Health and Wellbeing
Two government departments and the Health and Safety Executive joined forces yesterday in a ground-breaking partnership committed to going further than ever before to improve the health and wellbeing of working age people. David Blunkett and Patricia Hewitt launched the first stage of an ambitious strategy placing real responsibility not just in the hands of Government, but also with employers, individuals, the healthcare profession and stakeholders. The strategy, Health, Work and Wellbeing - Caring for our Future, pulls together all the different strands of work going on in this area within government. http://digbig.com/4faye

Helping with change, through `The Change`
Newindress India, an awareness class conducted as part of the World Menopause Day at the Malabar Hospital and Urology Cenrtre here stressed the importance of counselling to overcome the problems women face during the \'The change\'.

Teenager Treatment for Addiction to Txt Messaging and Emailing
The 19-year-old, who was sending 700 texts a week, resigned from his job after he was found to have sent 8,000 e-mails in a month. He was referred to a counselling service by the public-sector union Unison after spending 4,500 a year on text messages. The youth, from Paisley, near Glasgow, said there was `something comforting` about receiving a text message. He said: `When you look at your mobile and you`ve got a message you wonder who it could be. I like it. It`s like a game of ping-pong, as you send one and get one back.`

Counsellors at the Renfrewshire Council on Alcohol Trust said they had ``never seen anything like it`` in 25 years of treating a wide range of addictions. http://digbig.com/4fayg

Source: The Counselling Newsletter
http://www.counselling.ltd.uk

Job

BRADFORD RAPE CRISIS AND SEXUAL ABUSE SURVIVORS SERVICE

FEMALE PROJECT JYOTI COUNSELLOR & CO-ORDINATOR

24 HRS PER WEEK

NJC Scale, Band 6 scp28, £21,654 pro rata.

The Sex Discrimination Act 1974 S7(2) E applies.

This post will be responsible for managing and developing Project Jyoti, a specialist service for Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) women and girls, provided by BME women. Jyoti services include free counselling, Help line support and sexual violence awareness raising workshops for BME community groups. The post holder will be required to work collaboratively with all BRC&SASS colleagues, in particularly with the Jyoti Project worker. An understanding of sexual violence against women, counselling qualification to at least diploma level and experience are essential. Experience of working with black and minority ethnic (BME) women and experience of project management, and/or service development is essential.

FOR AN APPLICATION PACK, CALL 01274 723896.

CLOSING DATE 25th November 2005.

Congratulations!

Hi Paul,

 

I found this while finalising the Local Groups entries for the next edition of PCQ.  Congratulations on getting a blog up and running.  I run a couple of blogs down in the Heathrow area for news of interest to the area and it is an inexpensive and easy way to get information out into the wider world.

 

I see that in an earlier post that you had not figured out how to make a link clickable.  You have my email address so if you still need help with that come back to me.

 

Dave & Sarah McCartney

Longford

Visit our village at www.thisislongford.com

 

Books just wanna be FREE!

See what I mean at:
http://bookcrossing.com/friend/longfordmaine

 

Get Your Diary Out

Next meeting of PCAyorks is Sunday 4 December, from 1pm at the Voluntary Services Centre, 19-25 Sunbridge Road, Bradford BD1 2AY.

If you are going to come it would be helpful to know in advance - but not essential.

If anyone needs directions, travel or parking information - or any other kind of information - please ask.

The meeting doesn't have a specific theme or topic.

Looking forward to seeing you on the day - but if you can't make this meeting do come to the next one on Sunday 22 January.

Paul Colley

PCAyorks Meeting Dates

Hi All.

In an effort to get some of us in the same place at the same time in (what's left of) 2005, I offer the following choice of dates:

SUNDAY 20 NOVEMBER 1-4PM
SUNDAY 4 DECEMBER 1-4PM

That's your lot. The date that gets the most positive response will be the one that happens - and the one that gets put in the BAPCA journal.

It would also be good if we could kick off the New Year with a meeting so again the choice is between:

SUNDAY 15 JANUARY 1-4PM
SUNDAY 22 JANUARY 1-4PM

Meetings will be in the Mabel Booth Room, 1st Floor, Voluntary Services Centre, 19-25 Sunbridge Road, Bradford, West Yorkshire BD1 2AY.

Please get back to us with the following information:

1. Which date(s) you can/will attend.
2. If Sundays are never going to be any good for you, please give days and times you would be able to make. If only a small minority want or can make a Sunday, we will try something else.

Don't forget to keep checking the blog

http://pcayorks.blogspot.com

maybe leaving the odd comment as you go. If you want to do a full post (can be done 'remotely' from any email) the instructions have been posted up (or can be sent to you by email).

At the moment I'm trying to discipline myself to add a new external link each day (see left hand column). Because it's early days the first few are extremely obvious ones, but as the weeks wear on I will be dipping into my secret hoard of favourites - maybe adding your own suggestions too ?!

If you need any further information don't hesitate to get back to us at:

pcayorks@yahoo.co.uk

Looking forward to meeting as many of you as can make it over the next couple of months.

Best wishes

Paul Colley

Meeting Up in West Yorkshire

We urgently need to pick some dates to include in the next issue of BAPCA's journewsletter, PCQ. The deadline for submitting our revised (with dates) entry in the Local Groups section is Friday 14 October.

If anyone has any days or times they would/would not be able to attend, offers of suitable venues (preferably FOC) - or thoughts/views on the subject of us meeting up generally, please either add your comments here on the blog or email them to pcayorks@yahoo.co.uk

Sometime later today / tomorrow I will post up some suggested slots for possible meetings here at the Voluntary Services Centre in Bradford.

Yours, one step nearer to meeting (?)

Paul Colley

re Study Raises Questions on Counselling

This is my first attempt to post to this group and this blog.

I thought that the issue of whether certain forms of counselling can be harmful was interesting and very relevant to a person centred group. My own view would be that straying from a non-judgemental and non-advice giving position will almost always lead to negative dynamics.Rogers was the Zen master of counselling precisely because he understood the simplicity of the healthy counsellor/counselee relationship and that less is more.

Posted by: (blog admin is checking to see if this remote poster wishes to reveal their identity).

Let's Meet (?)

Hi all

LOCAL GROUP MEETINGS
We have until 14 October to submit our revised entry for the BAPCA periodical, Person Centred Quarterly's Local Groups pages.

Following our visit to the BAPCA Local Groups meeting in Derby a couple of weekends ago, we (Seamus and I) came back with a number of ideas, chief amongst which is the need to set and publicise meeting dates in advance.

It is probably going to be impossible to find a day/time/place that will suit everyone, so if we don't receive any suggestions we will just go ahead and pick a couple of dates to take us to the end of the year. Again, without alternative offers or suggestions, the venue will be the Voluntary Services Centre in city centre Bradford.

If you have any views please get back to us asap.

BLOG THAT!
In lieu of a 'proper' website, we have set up a fairly basic blog (weblog). Check it out at:

http://pcayorks.blogspot.com

It is possible to post to the blog from any email by mailing to:

pcayorks.remote@blogger.com

The subject line becomes the header for the new post, the message follows on as the text. Try it out. The blog is fully editable so don't worry too much about producing the perfect publication.

WHAT'S THE POINT?
I have to say that Seamus and I returned from the local groups meeting with quite different feelings about our own group. I am currently feeling that the efforts are disproportionate to the response/outcome/benefit. Any amount of personal messages of appreciation for whatever has been done to date will do little to shift my view that my time could be much better spent than trying to get people to communicate and contribute when they don't feel moved to do so.

Prove me wrong.

Paul Colley
PCAyorks

So near, yet so far away

Now here's a thing:

I can post to our blog from any email address - apparently. This is
my first attempt. Exciting, or what?