PCA Papers No.3

Now I can tell that some of you are actually downloading these papers, I may respond in the form of a little flurry of stuff. Here's another one from Jerold Bozarth which deals a serious theoretical body blow to those who may have strayed from the classical PCA:

http://rapidshare.de/files/15666179/Bozarth_-_Non-directiveness_in_CCT_-_a_vexed_concept.doc

To download: click on the link above - this should take you to the Rapidshare download page. Scroll down and select the 'Free' download option and then a page will open with the link to actual document. Clicking on this will give you the option of either opening the document or saving it to a location of your choosing.
Any problems email pcayorks@yahoo.co.uk

[PC]

PCA Papers No.2

Following on from Paper No. 1, this one has a go at busting a few more major misconceptions.

http://rapidshare.de/files/15594876/Bozarth_-_The_Specificity_Myth_-_the_fallacious_premise_of_mental_health_treatment.doc

To download: click on the link above - this should take you to the Rapidshare download page. Scroll down and select the 'Free' download option and then a page will open with the link to actual document. Clicking on this will give you the option of either opening the document or saving it to a location of your choosing.
Any problems email pcayorks@yahoo.co.uk

PC

PCA Papers No.1

We promised to start posting up PCA papers and here's the first of what promises to be a highly irregular series. Keep checking the blog for new additions. If you have anything in digital format, or links to ones you think are worth letting others know about, don't be shy. Why not publish your own work too - not just stuff by the 'big guns' (how'd you think they started!?).

Anyhow, here is one of my personal favourites:

http://rapidshare.de/files/15103451/Barrett-Lennard_-_A_reply_to_questions_and_misconceptions.doc

Happy reading. Comments on the paper are welcome too, if you feel suitably inspired.

To download: click on the link above - this should take you to the Rapidshare download page. Scroll down and select the 'Free' download option and then a page will open with the link to actual document. Clicking on this will give you the option of either opening the document or saving it to a location of your choosing.
Any problems email pcayorks@yahoo.co.uk

PC

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.

http://breakingnews.iol.ie/entertainment/story.asp?j=169180192&p=y69y8x898

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

More information at www.counsellingworks.com/workshops/margaret_warner_cds.htm

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

PCA SUMMER OPTIONS

1. PCAN Event - Pen Rhiw Experiential Week

Join PCAN for an experiential week in Pembrokeshire from 6 to 12 August 2006. Pen Rhiw is a fine Victorian rectory in secluded tree-lined grounds, seven acres of wildflower hay meadow and a woodland terraced garden. It is in the St David's peninsular, the Western edge of Wales, between St Davids and the sea, Britain's only coastal national park. The accomodation is comfortable, though not luxurious. There are 35 places, all can be guaranteed a room on your own if you wish. There are also twin and double rooms. The food is vegetarian and is really great.The cost will be £325 for the week. A non-refundable deposit of £60 secures a place. The early bird rate is £295 if paid in full by 31st March 2006.

For a booking form, visit the Files section to the left of the PCA Events website http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/pca-events/ or visit the PCAN website at http://www.pcan.info/ or call Bernard on 020 8504 3675.

2. Loitering within tent

BAPCA is delighted to announce its first tented community gathering at Green & Away in Gloucestershire, taking place from 3-6 August 2006.

Prices:

£105 per person (Early bird £90 if paid in full before end of April 2006)

Non-refundable deposit £25 per person

Children: 0-2 years free (provided no more than ten 0-2’s on site) / 2-12 years £65 (Early bird - £55) / 13-16 years £85 (Early bird - £75)

N.B. Children are the responsibility of guardians, at all times, when on site.

Parking places per vehicle: £10 all cheques payable to 'BAPCA'.

For those without their own tent, there are a limited number of G & A 'berths' in tents or yurts, at £5 per night in a tent, and £10 per person in a yurt, extra to basic price. G & A website at http://www.greenaway.org/

NB: If you are willing to help the volunteers who run the Green & Away site as part of your experience, there are 4 free places available. Please contact Bernard (details below) as soon as possible.

Booking forms from Bernard Mooney. Via email at b.mooney1@ntlworld.com or by post at 47 Palmerston Road, Buckhurst Hill, Essex, IG9 5PA.

Season's Greetings!

Wishing everyone on the list - and visitors to the blog - best non-denominational wishes for the holiday season!

Looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible at the forthcoming meetings in the New Year (22 January, 26 February, 9 April 2006).

Any queries please email to: pcayorks@yahoo.co.uk

Paul Colley

Get your 2006 diary out

The next three meeting dates of PCAyorks are as follows:

Sunday 22 January 2006
Sunday 26 February 2006
Sunday 9 April 2006

This takes us up to Easter. The meetings will all run from 1pm until everyone has gone, and will continue to be in the 1st Floor Meeting Room, Voluntary Services Centre, 19-25 Sunbridge Road, Bradford BD1 2AY.

Please send any enquiries, apologies or confirmations of (intended) attendance, to:

pcayorks@yahoo.co.uk

Long time, no post

A few things to report:

1. Very interesting (if unintended) thread on PCA-Events recently, precipitated by an individual's attempts to get some guidance as to where one can get classical ('purist') good old fashioned, honest-to-goodness, non-directive, client-centred counselling training these days. The phrase 'rocking horse s**t' comes to mind.

Incidentally, for those who are not signed up to PCA-Events, it has become much better in recent times!

2. Wild tangent this, but anyone interested in a mind-bogglingly comprehensive Handbook of Medicinal Spices in pdf format (nearly 4.5 Mb in size so make sure your email or flaky dial-up connection can deal with it)? Copies on CD-R for a small donation (mail pcayorks@yahoo.co.uk to order!).

3. The December meeting of PCAyorks took place today, with the following persons present: Paul Colley, Patricia Hender, Catherine Higgins, Derek Lawton, Seamus Nash, Cathy Theaker, Haydn Tomlinson, Susan Waller, Jenny Wallin. Apologies were received from: Kathryn Fitch, Ann Simon. (Please note this is by way of a record - not done in an effort to 'name and shame/praise' or to differentiate). As there was no agenda and no-one to minute what was said or what ground was covered, these notes are by way of personal reflection on - not an official record of - the meeting.

Firstly, how refreshing to be in the same room at the same time as more than one (or, if you're lucky, two) other members of 'the tribe'! Those of us no longer / not currently involved in PC training - where regular/ongoing access to a 'family'/learning community can sometimes be taken for granted - expressed something of our appreciation and need for that simple but fundamental 'being with others' dimension of what our coming together represents. It seems like a statement of the glaringly obvious to say of a meeting that we came together, but to connect with others and to feel a part of and united in something is a pretty basic need. If no-one had said anything (quakeristic thoughts often flash into my head when I'm in a PC group!) it would have been enough that I was not alone in my striving to be PC silence.

I can't stress this aspect enough. There is simply no substitute for the experience of being with like-minded souls.

As it happens, silence was in fairly short supply. I would like to reel off, in Generation Game-fashion (showing my age) some of the points, ideas, contributions that are still fresh in my mind, in order to give a flavour of what 'went down' - and in the hope that saying some of them again will help to fan the sparks into something stronger, more tangible and sustainable. This is neither a comprehensive nor a chronological list of what was said - just bullet-pointy nuggets of stuff that left an impression on me.

• Warding against drift / making sure we are person centred
• Isolation and influence
• The quest for purity
• The crisis in training
• The need to read
• Becoming inspired and (re)energised
• Way of being vs. mode of doing
• The role of the flipchart - tool or metaphor
• Refugees & asylum seekers - re-educating OURselves
• Idiosyncratic PCT (see http://www.pccs-books.co.uk/pdf/Idiopc1.pdf)

My head is starting to hurt now. You get the gist.

4. NEXT MEETING IS 22 JANUARY 2006!!

Please email your intentions to pcayorks@yahoo.co.uk

Watch out over the next day or two for proposed meeting dates for Feb/March.

Stay in touch, keep checking the blog. Over and out.

PC (Paul Colley - great initials, great guy).

Experience La Jolla in Wales

The La Jolla Program U.K. is hosting a residential event from 25th February until 5th March 2006 in Pen Rhiw, St Davids, Wales.

The La Jolla Program is a project of the Center for Studies of the Person in La Jolla, San Diego, California which was founded in 1968 by Carl Rogers and others who shared his philosophy. This 8 day workshop provides an opportunity to experience and learn from the Person-Centred group encounter. Participants will spend their time exploring the core conditions of the Person-Centred approach and developing and deepening their capacity to live those conditions. The workshop is intentionally not overly structured, allowing the interests of the group to substantially guide and focus the interaction. There will be a combination of small groups and whole community time, with the exact pattern of each day being negotiated with participants.

The group facilitators are Will Stillwell, who is coming over from San Diego and Steve Vincent, the only full U.K. member of the Center for Studies of the Person. Will is a key staff member of the La Jolla Program and was a colleague of the late Carl Rogers. Steve has 25 years of experience as a person-centred therapist, supervisor and trainer. He previously ran the person-centred training unit at Southampton City College and now works as a therapist in primary care. Will and Steve ran the La Jolla Program together in the UK in 2000 and 2005.

The venue at Pen Rhiw is only half a mile from the Cathedral City of St Davids. Further information on the venue can be found at http://www.penrhiw.co.uk/ while further information about the Center for Studies of the Person can be found at http://www.centerfortheperson.org/

The cost of the program is £495 inclusive of all meals and accommodation. A £50 deposit secures your place.

For a more detailed information, please email lajollaprogramuk@lycos.co.uk or telephone 01603 614766.

[Source: PCA-Events]

Music & the Person Centred Approach

A bit of a tangent this - but hopefully a productive one.

I am particularly interested in the role/place/potential of music in the field of human relationships and communication. More specifically than that, I am particularly interested in the interface between music and mental health and, zooming in even further, in music as it relates to (and in some cases expresses aspects of) the person centred approach.

Those of us fortunate members of the hearing community all have powerful personal experiences of music but it is rarely considered in the same conceptual framework as, for example, mental health, or therapeutic work. I neither aspire nor expect to change any of that.

I do, however, have a few little 'projects' on the go that you may have an interest in and may be able to contribute to. They range from the serious to the less-so and can be summarised as follows:

1. Working towards a PCA Playlist
There is a part of me that can still enjoy music with a lyrical content that is a zillion miles from who I am or want to be - if the beat is good enough (the odd guitar solo tends to disengage certain critical parts of my brain too). But the 'striving for consistency through a way of being' me likes the idea of surrounding myself with music which is consistent with the person centred approach. I have done some impromptu dj-ing at pca events in the past and enjoyed the challenge of finding material that is 'sympatico' with the approach and would like to identify more.

If you know of - or come to hear - any music which you feel conveys either the letter or the spirit of the approach in some way, please let me know. I will track it down (I'm ruthless) and make it accessible through the blog or by some other means (maybe compile a cd or something). I don't know yet.

I'm also interested to hear about any songs which make specific reference to counselling and psychotherapy - so send in your suggestions on that score too.

2. Music in the working environment
If anyone has any thoughts about, knows of, or comes across any information (research, practice examples etc) which relates to the 'use' of music in work settings, I would be grateful to hear about it. Again, and in particular, anything to do with the (psycho)therapeutic use of music - whether as part of the 'wallpaper' of e.g. day centres, drop-ins, reception areas, or whether as a tool or medium in client work - i would be grateful to hear from you.

3. Creative projects
I am interested in the idea of getting the person centred approach across to others through the medium of music. In particular, I have the 'crazy' idea of doing hip-hop/rap style 'versions' of actual dialogue from therapeutic settings (and have a colleague working in his cellar on a project called "THOPERAY - The Therapeutic Opera!). Any suggestions as to sources of suitable dialogue for consideration in the context of these projects - please get in touch.

4. MP3 revolution
I am a johnny-come-lately when it comes to all this music on the internet malarkey BUT I have been a very fast learner. I would be happy to discuss with anyone their mp3 needs with a view to meeting them through file sharing (whether music or software) - the aim is to raise a bit of petty cash for PCAyorks. Any requests please get in touch.

5. Biographical note
There is an interesting inter-generational parallel thing going on for me in all this. My father (Derek Colley) was a basic skills educator in the prison service (remedial ed, I think they called it) who made a bit of a name for himself through his use of music both as a way of building relationships in and engineering the environment of the classroom setting and finding, as he might term it, the 'key' to unlock the potential of the lads on his classes. Music, he found, could reach the parts of individuals with whom communication was most difficult. It worked on a number of levels (literacy classes used song lyrics as material, to give a banal example).

When I think about his work, it puts me in mind of that 'soothing the savage beast' (or is it 'breast'?). Anyhow, with the emphasis on savage. He was, for the most part, working with young people who were pretty scary. And getting unfeasibly good results in terms of 'distance travelled' - by any measures you might care to apply. Perhaps it was all about his own passion for music. It is a passion I share.

Struck a chord?
Any other miscellaneous responses to this particular thread would be of considerable interest to me (and hopefully some of the rest of us). Do feel free to post or comment on the blog http://pcayorks.blogspot.com or email pcayorks@yahoo.co.uk (please indicate if you wish your message to be circulated or not).

Paul Colley