What is the Secret to being an Amazon Best Seller – without spending ANY money or doing ANY extra promotional work? First you need a well written book that has a good title and an eye catching cover…obviously. Once you have that… …the SECRET is to put it in the RIGHT category. By ‘right’ I don’t mean the most appropriate… Read more →
Category: Books
Tango, Camino, Romeo
I’ve started writing my second book, Tango, Camino, Romeo. It is another memoir and a quest to find love. A spiritual odyssey and roller coaster of an adventure: I walk the Camino to Santiago; travel to Guatemala; and explore the Argentinian tango scene in Buenos Aires. I have written the first draft of Tango, Camino, Romeo in a quarter of… Read more →
In Case Of Spiritual Emergency Book by Catherine G Lucas
Catherine G Lucas, co-founder of the Spiritual Crisis Network UK published her first book In Case Of Spiritual Emergency, which validates non ordinary states of consciousness. Transpersonal experiences are usually pathologised by the mental health system. Catherine’s book is an essential read for anyone who has been through a transformational crisis, especially if this has been seen as a psychosis… Read more →
Revolution in Psychiatric Service With Open Dialogue
Open Dialogue is revolutionising the way people are treated in the mental health system. This new system of healthcare emerged in Finland after their mental health service collapsed under the weight. Finland used to have the worst statistics in Europe for schizophrenia. Now it has the best.
After the mental health service collapsed, a group of family therapists got together and asked how can they do it better? Open Dialogue is the answer. It is based on a totally different model to the current one, which adopts the brain chemical imbalance theory. Instead, it sees mental health problems as a symptom of the social network breaking down and so it aims to repair that. Bringing together the social network of the person at the centre of concern (they are not called the patient) the job of the practitioner is not to diagnose and treat but instead to encourage all of the voices to be heard. It taps into the power of the social network, so that everyone takes an active part in the healing of the family member. It is a social model that believes in the power of the individual to heal with the help of the collective.
Open Dialogue doesn’t ask what’s wrong with a person but what’s happened to them.
Open Dialogue is being introduced into the NHS by Dr Russell Razzaque author of the radical book Breaking Down Is Waking Up. And Green Lane Films (my production company) has been asked to film it. My personal and professional life have finally joined and had children! And this video is the offspring.
Melinda Messenger features in this clip that I shot at the Open Dialogue Conference in London earlier this year. Melinda is doing a Transpersonal Psychotherapy training and is the Patron of the UK Spiritual Crisis Network.
If you want to know more about Peer Supported Open Dialogue sign up to the POD Bulletin.
A Breakdown May Hold The Potential For Healing
If you’ve had a breakdown and were treated like there was something wrong with you then you probably feel a sense of shame. But you might be missing the purpose of the breakdown and the potential it holds to transform your life. I recommend reading Servants of the Sacred Dream, by Linda Hartley, which validates the experience of breakdown, helping… Read more →
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