New DVD Offer! - Hardwiring Happiness, the New Brain Science

Our DVD offer this week features Hardwiring Happiness: The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm and Confidence.

This 3 DVD set features Neuropsychologist, international speaker, and bestselling author of Buddha’s Brain, Just One Thing, and his newest book, Hardwiring Happiness, Rick Hanson, Ph.D.

http://www.psychotherapydvds.com/Hardwiring-Happiness-The-New-Brain-Science-of-Contentment-Calm-and-Confidence

Based on his latest book, Hardwiring Happiness, this workshop presents the four simple HEAL steps of taking in the good, which turn passing experiences into lasting neural resources.

It explores how to use these methods to lower anxiety and stress, lift mood, grow confidence, calm, and contentment, and fundamentally, hardwire happiness into the brain.

The mind shapes the brain. Neurons that fire together, wire together.

Positive experiences are the main source of the neural structures underlying positive mood, resilience, feeling loved, the executive functions, and other inner strengths. Unfortunately, most positive experiences are wasted on the brain because it evolved a negativity bias to help our ancestors survive. It’s like Velcro for bad experiences but Teflon for good ones.

You will learn many practical ways to help your clients overcome this negative bias; which is disheartening, flattens learning curves, undermines compliance and progress in treatment, and fosters drop outs or relapsing. And instead draw upon the positive experiences available in both treatment and everyday life to weave strength and happiness into the fabric of their brain and their life.

In addition to teaching general-purpose methods for deliberately internalising positive experiences – taking in the good – the workshop will explore how to identify and use key resource experiences to soothe and even heal clinical issues related to the three fundamental systems of the brain:
Avoiding Harms, Approaching Rewards, & Attaching to others.

These methods include how to skilfully hold both positive and negative material in awareness so that, “as neurons fire together, they wire together”. The positive factors connect with, dampen, and gradually replace the negative ones.

The workshop also covers applications to particular populations and needs, notably trauma, children, plus addiction & recovery. Follow the link below for much more information.

http://www.psychotherapydvds.com/Hardwiring-Happiness-The-New-Brain-Science-of-Contentment-Calm-and-Confidence

PROMOTIONAL OFFER!
Order this 3 disc DVD set today to save a huge £30 off the regular price.
Offer expires tomorrow at midday!

You will also receive a certificate for 6 CPD Hours

Manchester Deal! Another 24 Hours!

Yesterday's promotion created a number of questions from our delegates regarding some particular details of it.

This blog is to answer your questions and clarify the details.

1. 50% discount is valid both for block bookings of all 4 courses and for bookings of the individual modules of the Certificate in Resource Based Therapies course.

For block bookings of all 4 courses go to Resource Based Therapy follow the "Click here to book online" link on the right and choose your Manchester dates.
For bookings of the individual modules (for those who have completed some of the modules with us already) follow the individual links below:

• POSITIVE THERAPY (CRBT - MODULE 1)
• MOTIVATIONAL INTERVIEWING & BEYOND (CRBT - MODULE 2)
• BRIEF SOLUTION FOCUSED THERAPY (CRBT - MODULE 3)
• BSFT WITH DIFFICULT & COMPLEX CLIENTS (CRBT - MODULE 4)

Choose Manchester on the right hand side of the page and make your online booking.

2. Although this offer is for online bookings only - we are prepared to extend it to those who wish us to invoice their organisations. In order for you to take advantage of this offer PLEASE make sure that we receive some form of authorisation from your organisation within 24 hours (before midday of 20 July 2011).

We accept as the form of authorization the following:
• Purchase order (please fax it within 24 hours)
• Letter of authorisation from your manager with full invoice address (please fax it within 24 hours)
• E-mail of authorisatoin from your manager (please make sure that this e-mail comes from your manager's e-mail address, contains full invoice address and reaches within 24 hours)

As this offer created some questions that needed further clarification WE EXTEND THIS OFFER FOR FURTHER 24 HOURS - EXPIRING AT MIDDAY 20 JULY 2011.

We hope this e-mail answers all of your questions and look forward to welcoming you at our courses. Please feel free to share this information with your friends and colleagues.

Kind regards

The Skills Development Service Team

Resource Based Therapy in Manchester

We had a number of enquiries from our delegates regarding running our BPS Learning Centre approved course on Resource Based Therapies in Manchester. We are pleased to let you know that all four modules of this course are coming to Manchester in January – February 2012.

This course consisting of 4 modules brings together three separate psychotherapeutic modalities that all share an underlying assumption regarding the client’s intrinsic pre-existing resources and psychological strengths.

These include Brief Solution Focused Therapy, Positive Psychology and Motivational Interviewing.

Delegates who attend all four courses receive A Certificate in Resource Based Therapies with BPS Learning Centre approval logo on it and 25 hours CPD. These 4 training modules can be booked together or separately; the order, in which delegates attend the courses, is flexible. If you have done with us training on any of the above topics before – you have already partially completed the full course and now need to attend only the remaining modules to receive your Certificate.

As you are our continuous supporter we here at SDS decided to offer you a special deal to make training more accessible in these difficult and financially uncertain times: FOR 24 HOURS ONLY YOU CAN BOOK THESE MANCHESTER COURSES ONLINE WITH 50% DISCOUNT, PAYING THE INCREDIBLE £62.50 + VAT FOR EACH.

Please explore the website for detailed description of the courses and book online today:

• POSITIVE THERAPY (CRBT - MODULE 1)
• MOTIVATIONAL INTERVIEWING & BEYOND (CRBT - MODULE 2)
• BRIEF SOLUTION FOCUSED THERAPY (CRBT - MODULE 3)
• BSFT WITH DIFFICULT & COMPLEX CLIENTS (CRBT - MODULE 4)

We hope you will find these courses essential for your work and take advantage of this short-term offer.

Kind regards

The Skills Development Service Team

On Happiness

BBC is promoting "Happiness" very heavily in their breakfast show this week: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/12263893

Lots of techniques from Positive Psychology field…

Have you ever tried any of them yourself? Please share your experience with us if you feel like it…

Fascinating question:
Can it work for your clients?

We believe so and can prove that it can!

Come to our Positive Therapy courses to find out how: http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/seminars.php?courseid=52

See what Paul Grantham thinks about it:

Paul Grantham on Positive Therapy (Module of SDS course on RBT)

CERTIFICATE IN RESOURCE BASED THERAPIES - FAQ

As you know in the autumn we are running our first 4 days course “CERTIFICATE IN RESOURCE BASED THERAPIES” approved by BPS Learning Centre for CPD. http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/seminars.php?courseid=76

The course generates a lot of interest as it is a fresh and innovative approach to complex cases that builds on training courses that you have already attended with us in the past. We asked Paul Grantham to answer some of the questions about this course that frequently raised in your e-mails. That what he said:

Q1: SDS has just introduced a new training course – A Certificate in Resource Based Therapies. What is this course about and how is it different to everything you’ve been doing before?

PG: We thought it was time to bring together different strands from the training we have been providing over the last couple of years and develop a new course around them. The course is modular and based on three separate evidence based therapeutic approaches – Positive Psychology, Brief Solution Focused Therapy and Motivational Interviewing. The course is run over a four day period which can be worked through as a whole block or in a modular manner. The certificated course has also just been approved by The British Psychological Society Learning Centre and is accompanied by an optional assessed examination.

Q2: Why do you think there is a need for such a course if it is based on variety of therapeutic approaches that already exist? What are the advantages in bringing them together?

PG: The simple answer to this is that there is considerable overlap and shared theoretical underpinnings to the three approaches. Firstly, they are all evidence based, in other words there are good psychological experimental underpinnings to the theories, process and interventions. The need to demonstrate a strong evidence base to any psychotherapeutic approach is not going to go away and it is rightly a key touchstone for any therapy we might be using. However, CBT does not have a monopoly on psychotherapeutic effectiveness and these approaches happily live along side it. Secondly, all three approaches are resource based in assumption, in other words they focus on what the client already has which enables them to thrive, and looks at how to amplify it. Motivational Interviewing draws strongly on Roger's ideas regarding clients' intrinsic motivation and has placed client perceptions of benefits and negative consequences at the centre of its approach. Brief Solution, of course , lives by the mantra of "There's nothing wrong with you that what's right with you, couldn't fix" and Positive Psychology's focus on Strengths via the VIA again focuses on clients’ existing resources. Thirdly, as a result of the above, all three are outcome, thriving and future focused rather than causal, deficit and past focused. And this is still a relatively rare common feature in most psychotherapeutic approaches. Finally, all three utilise brief and practical interventions to facilitate change.

…

Q6: On the practical side of things – four day courses might be quite expensive – are there ways to budget for this course without spending much straightaway?

PG: This course is modular. Hence although you can sign up for all four modules at once (and there is a fee reduction if you do this), you can sign up for individual modules as well. This allows delegates to spread the cost according to their budget. This, combined with the typically low fees that SDS charges in comparison with many other training providers makes this one of the most financially accessible psychotherapy courses currently available.

TO READ THE WHOLE INTERVIEW GO TO: http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/images/appl_form/RBT%20Interview%20May%202010.pdf

If you are not sure what modules of the course you have already done – please feel free to contact me directly – I will check it in our records and let you know what modules you need to take up in order to complete the full course. You can contact me directly via our enquiry page: http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/contact.html

Start your comment with “RBT Course Enquiry for JB” and I will reply to you ASAP.

A COUPLE OF REMINDERS:

Our seminar “ANGER THERAPY: HATRED, HOSTILITY & BITTERNESS” is running currently around the UK with great success. If you missed your opportunity to attend it now - it will run ONE DAY in London in September. The early bird discount of £24 is still available for that particular date. Book now to make sure that you receive a discount and reserve your place (some venues are almost fully booked now).

Don’t forget – you can enter a monthly draw with a top price of a free place on our one day courses by registering on http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/contact.html . The winner of the May draw was Amanda Evans, with two runners-up who received their prizes.

If you register on www.psychotherapydvds.com you can participate in a monthly draw with a free psychotherapy DVD as your prize. Don’t forget to CONFIRM YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS when register on this site. Otherwise your registration is not complete and you cannot enter the draw.

It only takes seconds to register!

________________________________________________________________

Best wishes

Julia Budnik

Research suggests that 'people are selfish'

New research has found that in economic decision making, humans are no more altruistic than bacteria. Dr Max Burton-Chellew of Oxford University explains the findings:

BBC4 audio file - http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8691000/8691801.stm

Positive Psychology claims that only altruistic behaviour leads to true happiness. Could this newly-proven selfishness lead to wide-spread unhappiness amongst us?

Would you agree with this research?

Do you know examples of selfless and altruistic behaviour that didn't lead to personal gain?

Please share your views with us.

Smiling could help you live longer

A wide smile could add years to your life

The wider you grin and the deeper your laughter lines, the more likely you are to have a long existence.

Broader smiles and wrinkles around your eyes point to a positive outlook on life which translates to better long-term health.

It has long been thought that a happy disposition can impact on life expectancy, and the recent study by experts at Wayne University in Michigan, America, seems to back this.

They came to their conclusions by studying 230 pictures of major league baseball players printed in the 1952 baseball register. Each picture came with a listing of the player's vital statistics, including age, weight, height and marital status.

Researchers then ranked to players according to their smiles and laughter lines, spanning from none at all, to partial and then those with a full blown toothy grin and crinkled eyes. They then compared the chart to the lifespan of each player to reach their conclusions.

Of the 184 players who had since died, those in the "no smile" section lived an average of 72.9 years while the "partial smile" group lived to around the age of 75. Those with the widest grins lived an average of 79.9 years – a full seven more years than their glum colleagues.

The study also found that putting on a false smile did not work, as only those who looked genuinely happy had the extra life expectancy.

From: Telegraph.co.uk, Published: 7:33AM BST 13 Apr 2010: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/7584633/Smiling-could-help-you-live-longer.html 

SDS Debate: Are you using the Resilience Model yet?

Dear All

Happy New Year! I hope you have had a restful holiday period and are geared up for 2010!

I wanted to discuss with you some recent research in the Positive Psychology field.

Longitudinal research by Professor Emmy Werner over last two decades has firmly established that poverty, having substance dependent parents and being abused do not necessarily produce damaged children and adults.

Although the chances of damage are higher, a third of children studied showed no evidence of problems. Of the remaining two-thirds, psychological difficulties usually developed during adolescence but then markedly declined or disappeared in their 30s and 40s.

It appears that protective factors (or their absence) are much more important than risk factors in determining people's mental health and that the skills of "framing" and "reframing" are central in this.

Most significantly, it also appears that people can be taught such skills both before (as a protective measure) and afterwards (as therapy). The Penn Resilience Program (PRP) developed by Professor Marty Seligman, is just one application of its use which has been extensively evaluated over the last 16 years and has been found to significantly reduce a range of problems - from depression to criminality.

The forthcoming SDS workshops on Positive Therapy - http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/seminars.php?courseid=52 - will be examining the question of building clients' resilience along with other practical applications from the positive psychology field. I am looking forward to working with you and am sure that these events will be stimulating for all of us.

However, I also welcome any of your thoughts on the topic prior to then. It will help us to shape the discussion on the course around the most practical issues as perceived by you.

References:

Resilience: A Universal Capacity (2004) www.wested.org/online_pubs/resiliency/resiliency.chap1.pdf
Cardemil, E.V., Reivich, K.J., Beevers, C.G., Seligman, M.E.P., & James, J. (2007). The prevention of depressive symptoms in low-income, minority children: Two-year follow-up. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 45, 313-327

Kind Regards

Paul Grantham
Consultant Clinical Psychologist

We are now on YouTube

The Skills Development Service Ltd in association with SDS Media now publishes previews of our DVD training materials on YouTube.

You can find their fragments from our currently published DVDs as well as of those that are coming soon.



For the full list of psychotherapy training DVDs visit
www.psychotherapydvds.com

Is selflessness an essential part of being happy?

Positive Therapy (and its academic parent - Positive Psychology) have focused extensively on the question of how individual happiness can be increased. One area of work which has produced interesting results is the role of gratitude. The PRACTICE of gratitude and kindness has important implications for how happy and content people are... and it acts as a strong antidote to negative states such as depression, anger and anxiety.
How exactly do you practice gratitude and kindness?
Martin Seligman's early work on gratitude suggested writing a 300 word statement to someone who had done something good for you (but whom you had never thanked) and to go round to their house and read it to them!
Robert Emmons therapeutic interventions have asked clients to write about five things for which they were thankful, every week for 10 weeks.
Sonja Lyubomirsky meanwhile found that asking clients to perform five acts of "kindness" a day significantly improved their mood.
There are of course motivational issues around with this work which would have to be addressed with our clients. However it does appear to raise a number of important issues:
It suggests client improvement can occur NOT by addressing their problems but instead by enhancing qualities and emotions that are incompatible with those problems;
It suggests that to be truly happy it is essential that you practice some form of selflessness;
It suggests that "going through the motions" of kindness and gratitude produces useful results even if one does not initially have these feelings.
We welcome any of your thoughts on the topic.