Training update for October-November

Here’s a brief overview of the British Psychological Society Approved courses we have coming up over the next few weeks. Be sure not to miss out on the training you want and need!

Commencing in London tomorrow the 10th October with POSITIVE PSYCHOTHERAPY: SUPERCHARGE YOUR PRACTICE. Discover an evidence based approach to positive therapy - invaluable in a range of therapeutic, social care and educational environments across the age span. There are still a few places available so it’s not too late to book it if you are quick and do it today!
http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/seminars.php?courseid=52

On the 11th – 12th October WORKING WITH PANIC DISORDER, covering issues of definition and the relationship with agoraphobia, theories of Panic Disorder and a range of CBT interventions as they apply to this common debilitating problem. There is limited availability if you wish to attend.
http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/cbt_seminars.php?courseid=162

18th - 20th October is our ever popular and highly recommended 3 day CBT INTRODUCTORY COURSE. It’s being held in Manchester this time and there are only a couple of spaces left. Don’t miss it because we won’t run it again in Manchester any time soon!
http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/cbt_seminars.php?courseid=69

19th - 20th October is also when we are running CBT FOR WORKING WITH POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER in London with Dr Fiona Kennedy. This course can be taken as a stand-alone module or as part of our BPS Approved Certificate in Trauma Treatments, plus it’s also an integral part of our Master Practitioner Diploma in CBT. There are not many spaces left so book it now if you ever have a need to identify PTSD, make sense of it and most importantly learn how to treat it. This recommended training course is also being made available via Live Interactive Webcast. Join us without the hassle and additional cost of travelling. It’s a really popular way of training!
http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/cbt_seminars.php?courseid=163

Heading into November on the 8th - 9th we have NEW APPROACHES TO TRAUMATIC GRIEF & LOSS, again part of our full certificate in Trauma treatments. Discover how to understand the nature of Traumatic Grief, work effectively with Traumatic Grief problems and Therapeutic Interventions including the dos and don’ts of grief work. Also available via webcast. Take a look at the full details by following the link below.
http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/seminars.php?courseid=180

14th - 15th November CBT FOR COUPLES. This course will teach you how to identify an introductory structure for assessment, formulation and treatment of couples relationship problems as well as common difficult to manage therapeutic obstacles such as sexual unfaithfulness, including an unwillingness to disclose, deciding on a therapeutic focus and how to sequence interventions.
http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/cbt_seminars.php?courseid=167

THE ESSENTIAL TOOLKIT FOR RUNNING GROUPS is on the 16th November. A one day BPS approved training course being held in London and also via Live Interactive Webcast.
http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/seminars.php?courseid=67
There is currently not a single service that is not under pressure to deliver more client contacts and more effective interventions. This is the case whatever field we work in; from mental health to changing health behaviours working with young people, from dietetics to psychotherapy. Unfortunately however, our primary training is often in one-to-one models of change. Equally, more specialist training in group work often requires commitment to expensive and time consuming long courses for which funding is often not available. This can be particularly pressing because dynamics within groups often mean that what works in one-to-one work does not always transfer to working with multiple clients and that problems in group work are often more common as a result. Run by Consultant Clinical Psychologist Paul Grantham this course provides the necessary basic toolkit to address these issues successfully and prepare and refresh professionals in their group work. Whether you are new to running groups or are simply looking for a refresher to provide new ideas and strategies, this course is invaluable.

Join us in London for this course or from the comfort of your own home via webcast plus get 28 days to catch up via a recorded version if you are too busy on the day! THE EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT IS STILL AVAILABLE BUT IT EXPIRES ON MONDAY! DON’T DELAY!
http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/seminars.php?courseid=67

Last in November but definitely not the least, on the 21st – 23rd the comprehensive 3 day CBT INTRODUCTORY COURSE comes to Birmingham, it won’t be run there again for a while so book it whilst you can!
http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/cbt_seminars.php?courseid=69

Don’t forget. All of these courses come with a BPS Approved Certificate of Attendance and include those valuable CPD hours.

We look forward to working with you.

Kind regards

Q&A Session on CBT Training on Facebook

The session has just closed.
You can read the transcript below.
Also - feel free to add your comments there - we will be answering your questions daily.

Transcript:

•  Paul Crawte So, how much does it cost and how long does it take?
• Paul Crawte Also... how is the course delivered ? Attendance somewhere? Mail outs....

 Skills Development Service Ltd Hi Paul. The modules cost between £20 and £160 each (depending on which are taught and which are self directed.) The overall cost if purchased in advance is £5195+ VAT. You will not find a cheaper open access route to covering training for Accrediation. The period over which it is completed is up to the delegate because it is modular. However, the shortest period for completion would be 12-18 mths.

Skills Development Service Ltd To Paul Crawte: Hi again Paul. The course is a combination. The dierect skills taught modules (200+ hours) are delievered in Central London at the British Psychological Society. The self directed case formulation modules are emailed, completed by yourself and sent back to tutors for assessment and feedback. The self directed raeding modules are sent by email and there are online quizzes which are used to evidence knowledge obtained. Hopefully this clarifies.

• Alex Grant I like the look of your courses, but not sure I am able to commit to the full Diploma. Can I just go to the individual courses from time to time for CPD and see where it takes me after a while?

 Skills Development Service Ltd To Alex Grant: You can just attend the modules for CPD purposes without any commitment. We know that some delegates have already expressed interest in them in their own right irrespective of wishing apply for Accreditation. In other words there is no commitment

•  Skills Development Service Ltd ANONYMOUS QUESTIONER “I am shortly about to retire from teaching and youth development work at the age of 61. I want to retrain as a BACBT accredited therapist. Using your route how quickly can this be achieved, and how many hours of supervision (at your charge of £45 per hour) need to be completed? Thank you”
  ANSWER “Hi. How quickly Accreditation can be achieved varies according to previous experience / qualifications and is difficult to be explicit about. However...there are certain teaching qualifications and social work qualifications that are considered core professions OR you can go via the KSA route which would be based on your CPD throughout your career. Assuming this was covered,you could cover the taught parts of the course within 12-18mths. Additionally you would need to be able to demonstrate a minimum of 200 hours of CBT practice that had received 40 hours of supervision. Hopefully this clarifies things”
•  Alexis Khlay I'm not sure if I'm eligible for BABCP accreditation. Can I still attend the courses and can anybody help me to check my eligibility? Thanks, Alexis Khlay

 Skills Development Service Ltd For Alexis. Hi Alexis. There are 3 elements to Accreditation. 1. Core Profession/ KSA 2. Training 3. Supervised practice. We can provide an opinion and advice on all three both in advance as well as "hand hold" you at the time of application for eligibility through our Accreditation Support Programme. Because this can sometimes be a complex issue we have to charge for this unfortunately. HOWEVER, should you decide not to proceed with training after our intial feedback we refund the fee for the Accreditation Support Package (minus a cancellation fee)

•  Gemma Phillips-Pike Hi - just wondering how the practice of CBT works on this course - i.e. is it assumed you are in private practice with a supervisor as I guess you will need to have the opportunities to practice the skills? Also, if this is the case, how many client hours are required to obtain the Diploma? Thank you.
•  Gemma Phillips-Pike Sorry, just seen your response above which answers my question - 200 hours with 40 hours supervision. Can the supervision be with any accredited supervisor or with SDS?

 Skills Development Service Ltd It can be with any CBT Accredited Therapist not simply SDS'. However, it can not simply be with any Accredited Supervisor eg. BACP Accredited (rather than BABCP). The BABCP lists such Accredited CBT Therapists on their website www.babcp.com and you are free to approach them. Expect a cost of £80-£120 / hr. SDS is offering group supervision which fulfills Accrediation requirements for £45 / hour. Hope this helps.

BABCP Home Page

www.babcp.com

•  Skills Development Service Ltd A question by EMAIL: My question is I have almost completed the PG cert with Anglia Ruskin Univ in Cambridge and would be looking to do the second year for the PG Dip.
  
  Q. Is the PG Cert transferable to your course?
  
  What days would the course be offered?
  Where would the course be held?
  What are the costs entailed and what support systems are in place if needed?
  Would there be support on offer to students who need to take KSA route in getting their accreditation with the BABCP.

 Skills Development Service Ltd IN REPLY TO THE EMAIL QUESTION : There is no requirement to start again with our Diploma should you wish to transfer from your existing University course. If you purchase our Accreditation Support Package we will provide you with an assessed opinion of what additional moodules you need to complete in order for you to apply for Accreditation. The cost of this is £195+VAT (or included for free if you sign up for the whole Diploma).This covers any advice regarding KSA. Wherever possible, SDS will attempt to help you meet any outstanding KSA requirements but can not guarentee this as it obviously depends on circumstance. If we can not we will sign post. Please note that the Accreditation Support Package also covers ongoing email and telephone support through the process of Accreditation application. Courses are run in Central London, typically at The British Psychological society (close to Moorgate Tube). Hope this helps

•  Skills Development Service Ltd The LIVE Q&A session is now FINISHED.
• You can still add your questions to this post and we will be answering them every day.

24 Hour Deals

We are extremely excited to bring to you today an amazing 50% discount on one of our most popular and demanded courses:

THE ESSENTIAL TOOLKIT FOR RUNNING GROUPS http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/seminars.php?courseid=67

Please explore the website for detailed description of the course and download PDF leaflet for further particulars.

This special deal is available for 24 hours only. Until midday tomorrow (7 September 2011) you can book this course online with 50% discount, paying only £70 + vat for it. Same discount applies to telephone bookings made within this period (call: 0870 241 7294 with your credit card details).

If you are not paying for yourself and need your organisation to be invoiced – please make sure that the letter of authorisation from your manager with the invoice address reaches us by the midday tomorrow by fax (fax 0870 199 1838) or e-mail (info@skillsdevelopment.co.uk) and you will still be able to enjoy the same 50% discount.

We hope you will find this course topical for your work and take advantage of this short-term offer.

More 24 hours deals are coming to you shortly – keep an eye on our e-mails or our Facebook page (search “Skills Development Service Ltd”).

Debate on Motivational Tools - Feedback

What do you usually do with your unmotivated clients? Discharge them? View them as resistant and work with them accordingly? Hope your supervisor got some ideas?
What do you do if you’re a supervisor and are at a loss?

The fact of the matter is that we could always do with some new ideas and tips on how to approach our most difficult clients.

Our recent delegate debate on motivational techniques produced some fascinating discussions about the topic and I would like to share them with you. Please read the comments to this post and feel free to contribute to this discussion by commenting yourself.

The issue of motivation is extremely interesting and multi-dimensional - that is why our training courses on Motivational Interviewing are always very engaging and lively. They are currently run in Manchester and London and until tomorrow you can book them with 30% discount. If you would like to learn more about this training follow the link:
http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/seminars.php?courseid=5

I hope you will find this post an interesting read and look forward to continuing this discussion with you at one of our training courses.

Take care
Paul

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

Please welcome our new SDS Tutor!

I am very pleased to introduce to you today a new SDS tutor, my good friend and colleague Dr Fiona Kennedy: SDS Trainers

Fiona has a vast clinical experience in mental health (from anxiety through eating disorders and PTSD to psychosis and personality disorders) and learning disability fields. Fiona’s main orientation for many years has been Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and she is an established and well respected figure in the field.
Dr Kennedy will be delivering two very practical and highly demanded courses for us:

• Working with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and
• Teaching Clients to Use Mindfulness Skills

Please explore the website for detailed description of the courses and download PDF leaflets for further particulars.

As you are our continuous supporter we here at SDS decided to offer you a special deal to make training more accessible at this difficult and financially uncertain time: for 24 hours only you can book these courses online with 50% discount, paying only £70 + vat for each.

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

I will be in touch shortly with some feedback on our recent debates.

Best wishes
Paul Grantham

CBT and Bipolar mood swings

Previously Bi-polar disorder (or 'Manic depression') was thought to be largely biologically or genetically based, meaning there was little that patients could do about their mood swings other than medication.

However researchers at Manchester and Lancaster Universities have found that mood swings can be predicted by patient's thoughts and behaviour. This finding is significant as it opens the door for therapy techniques such as CBT to be used effectively.

"Individuals who believed extreme things about their moods, for example that their moods were completely out of their own control or that they had to keep active all the time to prevent becoming a failure, developed more mood problems in a month's time. In contrast, people with bipolar disorder who could let their moods pass as a normal reaction to stress or knew they could manage their mood, faired well a month later." said study lead Dr Warren Mansell.

This is obviously encouraging for CBT as it aims to help patients talk about their moods and change their thinking about them. A new CBT method known as TEAMS (Think Effectively About Mood Swings) is currently under development at the University of Manchester.

Anybody interested in the SDS CBT course can find it here:
SDS 3-Day CBT

Our June course is already fully booked so make sure you book September now to avoid disappointment!

Also to be released soon is our new range of CBT Training Series! So please keep an eye out of upcoming information!

CBT: Introductory Course

Our most popular CBT Introductory Course was run by Paul Grantham last week for the first time.

Delegate`s feedback was extremely positive and we want to share with you some of the comments - please see the comments to this post.

Please note that this course is run in very small groups (no more than 18 delegates) - therefore the places are strictly limited. We only have ONE place still available for the June course in London.

In the Autumn CBT Introductory Course will take place in Manchester, Birmingham & London (facilitated by Paul Grantham) - please secure your place early to avoid disappontment.

How to be more Effective

This is just a blog to share with you delegates’ feedback on our new course HOW TO BE MORE EFFECTIVE: THERAPY APPLICATIONS OF TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH (CETS - MODULE 2) that run for the first day in London last week: http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/seminars.php?courseid=67

The feedback is extremely positive with 90% of delegates assessing all elements of the course as “Very Good”, indeed some of them marked it even as “Very Good +++”.

Paul Grantham, who facilitated the course, was extremely pleased with the delegates’ participation and their involvement during the course.

I just want to quote one response that summarised the overall opinion of the delegates:

• “Today has taken me out of my comfort zone, but in a good way. I would never have thought of using this kind of research to help my clients but there is so much to choose from!”

Remember, if you are booking online you can still take advantage of Early Bird Booking Discount and save over £25 of the regular price: http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/seminars.php?courseid=67

This course is a module of the Certificate in Essential Therapy Skills, approved by the BPS Learning Centre for the purposes of CPD: http://skillsdevelopment.co.uk/ets.html

Looking forward to meeting at our courses soon.

A message from Paul Grantham

Hello all!

Just wanted to share with you a few things that had been on my mind over the last couple of weeks:

- I was applying some finishing touches to the presentation for my new course “HOW TO BE MORE EFFECTIVE: THERAPY APPLICATIONS OF TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH (CETS - MODULE 2)” that goes ahead this week in London (Wednesday) and then rolls around the country during March. Again and again, while working on this topic, I felt astonished by the vast number of extremely useful research studies in the fields of social psychology, anthropology, management & development, that can be directly applied to therapeutic settings, to everyday work that all of us involved in, but that in the overwhelming majority of cases remain totally unknown and unused by our profession. The interventions and changes that can produce remarkable results and change clients’ response to therapy are incredibly simple and sometimes seem surprisingly obvious, (after you read about them that is), and they often left me wondering – why – WHY? – I haven’t thought of this before and why these approaches are not used every day in everyone’s practice?

I am pleased with the way the course is now shaping up and look forward to working on it with you – it promises to be stimulating and exciting, hopefully for you as well as myself.

You still can book with the online discount here

I am very grateful for all the replies we’ve received from our delegates to our latest delegate debate. I was particularly interested in comments made by L.A. on the situation regarding psychological support for stroke patients. She writes: “…the recent CQC review highlights that only about 40% of stroke survivors receive any psychological support at all and what that consists of is anyone’s guess due to the shortage of Clinical Psychology positions within the NHS.” I cannot agree more – as you know SDS runs a unique training course for a wide range of health professionals working with stroke patients “PSYCHOLOGICAL COPING STRATEGIES POST STROKE (CERTIFICATE COURSE)” (http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/seminars.php?courseid=75 ) designed specifically to address this issue. We’ve run this course as in-house training around the UK as well as the open course (completed recently) and the response to this training has been extremely positive. If you want to know more about various options of this training – check out the website of get in touch with our training co-ordinator Peter Musham (petermusham@skillsdevelopment.co.uk ).

In her comment C.C. makes very valid point about similarities between this situation with Mental Health and current policies in Education. P.H. takes the argument further presenting us all with extremely difficult questions about choice and priorities that the NHS will inevitably have to face in the not too distant future.

Thank you!

I am personally particularly grateful for the comment by L.V. who, apart from adding interesting points to our discussion, shared with me her first experiences of using the Miracle Question with her clients, following her participation in our Brief Solution Focused Therapy workshop. She says about her clients that after the use of the Miracle Question “…their attitude, animation and level of involvement in the session changed dramatically”. These sort of comments are so rewarding for me and all of us here at SDS – we feel that our work makes real difference to delegates’ practice and it is what we are here for! Please keep sharing with us your triumphs and achievements no matter how great or small.

You can read all the comments on this topic at: "No Health Without Mental Health"

And finally – we’ve completed a new training DVD in series “Training with Experts Series” – “New Approaches to Grief & Loss Work (with me!) - 3 DVD Set”

You can find it here.

My colleagues at Psychotherapydvds.com tell me that currently it is on special offer. You can save £10 off the set and receive CPD certificate for 3 hours. Have a look.

Looking forward to seeing you at our training events again soon!

Early Bird Reminder!

This is just a quick reminder that the Early Bird Discount (EBD) of £26 for the “How to Be More Effective: Therapy Applications of Translational Research” course will be expiring during February. (With EBD you pay £99.00 (£118.80 inc VAT) instead of the regular price of £125.00 (£150.00 inc VAT))

The Early Bird Discount is only applicable to the places booked a month or more prior to the chosen date of course.

Please check the dates and venues and book quickly to make sure that you take an advantage of this discounted rate: http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/seminars.php?courseid=78

Read more about the course: http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/files/Eff_Therapy_Interview_Nov2010.pdf

Psychotherapy DVD Training Zone and Offers!

Hello all!

We are excited to introduce to you our new:

ONLINE VIDEO TRAINING ZONE: http://www.psychotherapydvds.com/epages/colt5155.sf/secsiIQ7zi_BI6/?ObjectPath=/Shops/colt5155/Categories/For_our_customers (sign in required).

In this area we will regularly post online video training materials. This training is absolutely free for registered customers.

You can watch these videos of live case consultations and work with suggested reading materials at your own leisure. Once you’ve completed each training module you will be entitled to receive a CPD certificate for 2 hours absolutely free (postage payable).

First module available for you now is a case consultation conducted by Dr Robin Hart, MSc MA DPsych, BABCP (Accred), with a client experiencing anxiety problems and fears about not being a good mother.

We hope you’ll find this new development valuable for your training needs.
__________________________________________________________

DO YOU WANT TO SAVE UP TO 50% ON THESE AND MANY OTHER TITLES?

The Abused Woman: A Survivor Therapy Approach £17.47 plus delivery (Regular price - £34.95)
- Dr. Lenore Walker has worked with physically, psychologically, and sexually abused women for more than 30 years and has developed an approach to their treatment called Survivor Therapy.

Tools and Techniques for Family Therapy £12.47 plus delivery (Regular price - £24.95)
- John Edwards has spent the last twenty years distilling the intricacies of family systems theory into a user-friendly approach that has enhanced the work of thousands of clinicians and trainers around the world.

Visit our January Bargains Store and select your training packs: https://estore.eclipse.net.uk/epages/colt5155.sf/secpeeV3wjf_qU/?ObjectID=2374030&ViewAction=View&PageSize=20

Hope to see you in our training zone really soon!

Certificate in Essential Therapy Skills and More!

We have received a lot of questions about our new course “CERTIFICATE IN ESSENTIAL THERAPY SKILLS” http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/seminars.php?courseid=79 (Approved by The British Psychological Society Learning Centre for CPD).

This Certificate Course consists of 4 modules two of which are currently running and two others will be offered later this year:

• HOW TO BE MORE EFFECTIVE: THERAPY APPLICATIONS OF TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH ( dates & venues: http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/seminars.php?courseid=78 )
• THE ESSENTIAL TOOLKIT FOR RUNNING GROUPS (dates & venues: http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/seminars.php?courseid=67 )
• THE ESSENTIAL TIME MANAGEMENT SKILLS FOR THERAPISTS (will run in June 2011)
• EFFECTIVE THERAPEUTIC PROBLEM SOLVING TECHNIQUES FOR CLIENTS (will run in June 2011)


Paul Grantham has kindly answered some questions about the course. You can find his interview in Therapy Today or on our website: http://skillsdevelopment.co.uk/files/COUN_Feb_2011.pdf

Many of you have already attended our seminars on effective group work – it means that you’ve completed 25% towards the new Certificate. Book now on “How to Be More Effective” ( http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/seminars.php?courseid=78 ) course – early bird discount is currently available – you can save over £25 if you act swiftly.

To read more about this new certificate go to: http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/files/Eff_Therapy_Interview_Nov2010.pdf

_______________________________________________________

Our courses on Certificate in Resource Based Therapies (RBT) are booking fast.

BSFT course in February is fully booked, but due to a cancellation we have ONE place left on Motivational Interviewing (http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/seminars.php?courseid=5) and BSFT with Complex Cases (http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/seminars.php?courseid=70) in February. Jump in if you were waiting for these places.

RBT courses are running in Birmingham and Leeds in May – many of you were asking us whether we will bring this training to other parts of the country – here is your opportunity to book them outside London and save on travelling costs.

We are looking forward to seeing you on our courses soon!

Motivation and Good Health

Another big NHS story to hit the news recently is the idea of the NHS providing incentives to motivate patients to become healthy.

An interesting idea in theory, as there is evidence that incentives do encourage people to continue behaviours - so if your goal is to quit smoking the the NHS rewards you, by whatever means, you are more likely to stick at it. In this example, the short term rewards for quitting is just as great (if not better than!) the long term reward (good health.)

But this idea hasn't come without controversy.

The first barrier is whether incentives are actually effective - or would the NHS just be throwing money away? So far, the results seem mixed - some hits and some misses. Unfortunately there is very little evidence at this point in time to suggest that even the positive evidence will last long term, especially after incentives are removed.

Unsurprisingly, in my mind at least anyway, a large percentage of the public is actually against NHS incentives, which struck me as rather amusing as the percentage of overweight and obese people in the UK is over 50% (or so my quick google for statistics told me.) Read into that what you will - there's no direct link between the two points, I honestly just found that interesting.

.. But people just don't feel incentives are fair.

And perhaps this is what it comes down to - fairness. It's not fair that people ruin their own health then are paid by the taxpayer to improve their health. The public seems to have no problem with surgery, e.g. for heart or lung problems, after the event - we don't seem to want people dead! - but it's not viewed as fair to help people before the absolutely need it.

I don't know which way to think - it's just an interesting point of note.

The thinkers at the NHS may have been along the right lines - motivation, it can be argued, is the number one reason people change their behaviour. I mean, why would you change your behaviour if you weren't motivated to do so - right? So their heart was in the right place.

But perhaps their are other motivations that can be used in the stead of taxpayers money? Smokers, for example, save a huge amount of money by simply not buying cigarettes! If smoker 'Frank' enjoys playing sports, what's going to motivate him more than being able to breath properly when he's running around the pitch?!

Motivation may be the key to helping people improve their on health - but maybe financial incentives are not the way to about it?

Looking to help motivate people yourself? - For more information on Motivation, have a look on our website www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk and check out our course "Motivational Interviewing and Beyond."

Post Stroke Support

Post-Stroke care has been in the news this week, with a number of people complaining about the lackof after-care provided by the NHS. Now, although these complaints were aimed mainly towards the physical side of after-care (statistics say that 50,000 people a year are left with disabilities following a stroke) it doesn't take much of a stretch to see that the psychological aftercare maybe in question also!

And then we have to think of the 50,000 people a year left with disabilities after stroke and their psychological well-being.

And the psychological wellbeing of those around them!

Testimonials such as this:
"My wife and I didn't get offered counselling for three years and that's something that needs to be considered more - it's a lot of stress for carers as well as those who have had the stroke."

Show just how the psychological aftercare for stroke victims is far behind what it should be!

The difference in aftercare between Cancer survivors and Stroke Survivors is vastly different:
"After my cancer, the hospitals wrote to me but with my stroke there was nothing."

Perhaps it's just there arn't enough people equipped with the psychological know-how to help stroke survivors? If the Stroke networks find they cannot meet targets for psychological support post-stroke then perhaps they need more people trained in areas that will directly benefit those post-stroke.

Courses such as this from SDS: Psychological Coping Strategies Post Stroke (Certificate Course) provides training for stroke-network staff that can directly benefit stroke survivors.

If you would like to know more contact us through our website: www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk - available as an open course or in-house.

SDS Report: What’s the Ideal Size for a Therapy Group?

As you remember we promised to share with you our report on the ideal group size based on your responses.

The report is now available here: http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/seminars.php?courseid=67
 – just follow the link: “Is there such a thing as the “ideal” group size? We asked our delegates of their opinions on the subject. Read our report based on your replies here.”

You still can add your comments to this discussion in our blog: http://sdsmedia.blogspot.com/2010/09/request-for-help-whats-ideal-size-for.html or contribute to many other debates of hot topics in psychology and health care: http://sdsmedia.blogspot.com/

A quick reminder: EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT OF £26 on "The Essential Toolkit for Running Groups" seminars is available only until 15 OCTOBER 2010.

Why CBT often isn't what it seems

I would like to share with you today a piece of research that I recently came across.

Isn’t it interesting how stereotypes develop? Many practitioners and clients expect CBT to be prescriptive, directive and "top down". A recent study by Westra et al (2010) * certainly questions such stereotypes:

In the study, eighteen clients were interviewed following 8 sessions of CBT. 84% of them stated that their experience of CBT was not as they expected. Most related to the fact that therapy was more collaborative than expected and that they learnt more about themselves than anticipated. Even in instances where the outcome of therapy was negative, clients typically still remained positive towards their therapist and attributed lack of progress to other factors such as time constraints.

The gap between prejudice and reality is a common psychological and social phenomenon with pre-existing attitudes often leading to selective attention. CBT is not only a valuable approach and toolkit of strategies which therapists can use to help change emotions and behaviour – it also "bolts onto" other existing modalities of helping people to change.

If you are interested in exploring the reality behind the myth and the prejudices surrounding CBT, have a look at our Introductory CBT course: http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/seminars.php?courseid=69

OR

if you have your own thoughts or experiences on the topic let us know by reply or commenting on our blog: .

As a "big tent" training organisation we are interested in all views on this subject... supportive or otherwise. :-)

Best Wishes
Paul Grantham

* Westra, H., Aviram, A., Barnes, M., & Angus, L. (2010). Therapy was not what I expected: A preliminary qualitative analysis of concordance between client expectations and experience of cognitive-behavioural therapy. Psychotherapy Research, 20 (4), 436-446

Paul Grantham on Brief Solution Focused Therapy

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!

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Best wishes

Julia Budnik