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

BPS Approved Essential Supervision Skills 2 - 3 July 2015 - places available!

Just to let you know that we’ve had 2 late transfers from this course and therefore:

2 PLACES HAVE BECOME AVAILABLE ON THE COURSE IN LONDON
2-3 July 2015
The British Psychological Society
http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/seminars.php?courseid=114

The places will be allocated on first-come first-served basis, please book quickly to avoid disappointment.

We also still have a few places available on the LIVE WEBCAST of this event: http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/webcast.shtml

 It is going to be a very exciting and extremely informative seminar.

Come and join us either in London or via the webcast.

 Looking forward to seeing you there.

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.

NEW: Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy from SDS

We are holding a LIVE Facebook Question and Answer session on the CBT Diploma at 10.00 am on Thursday 1 December.
To access this simply start asking your questions as comments at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Skills-Development-Service-Ltd/148084035204831 and the SDS team will happily answer them.
If you cannot make that time – please feel free to leave your questions there now.

Read about SDS Diploma in CBT course here: http://skillsdevelopment.co.uk/CBT

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

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: 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.

Paul Grantham on Brief Solution Focused Therapy

Interested in Training?

A lot of people have questions about our Training Courses, especially whether we are presenting certain courses in certain locations, or if we could start running a particular course.

We are always happy to talk about providing in-house courses, or providing Training packages, or even setting up a new course just for you - if it is within our expertise that is!

If you have any queries into our Training Courses please feel free to contact our office through our website (www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk) or posting a question on our FACEBOOK PAGE!

Any queries please do get in touch. You never know, we may be able to provide the perfect training course just for you!

PsychotherapyDVDs

The new facebook page is now up for psychotherapydvds.com

Please join and follow us on facebook as you have been following our twitter and our blog!

Keep an eye out for our new Training Packages coming soon!



LIKE LIKE LIKE!

SDS goes live on facebook

As the first week of August rolls in, it heralds the creation of the new Skills Development Service Facebook page! Although it's a little skin and bones at the moment, it shall soon be full of life, with videos, photos, discussions, updates and much much more! So if you have a facebook account feel free to add us to your list and keep up to date with everything going on with SDS!

With the new facebook page we are hoping to up the ante regarding activity and we hope you will help us. Feel free to message us with links, information, photos or anything concerning psychology, psychotherapy or even just something that will make us here at SDS central laugh!

So tell your friends and colleagues to check us out and keep an eye on us for the weeks to come.

We are hoping to roll out some new CPD Training Packages, which should be up on the website soon as well as some other interesting developments. So keep in touch and keep up to date.

Click on the blog title and be linked to our facebook page!

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

Feedback on Psychological Coping Strategies Post Stroke (Certificate Course)

***
Some examples of comments (In-house Training in Specialist Stroke Unit):

"Excellent informative very high quality training, Fabulous."
"High level of content that was relevant to practice, Delivered in a relaxed and informative way."
"A very useful and interesting day and it has done me good to use my brain again to take on some new ideas, Thank you."
"Excellent content, very useful tool to use at work, speaker very engaging."
"Excellent course."
"Thought provoking excellent day, hope that I will be able to use techniques in practice."
"Paul kept attention all day, would want to attend other training days."
"I found it useful and it has raised many points I can use in my day to day work."
"Excellent course- one of the best I have attended for a long time."
"Excellent course and very valuable for practice, would be interested in attending further courses."
"Comprehensive introduction to Psychological support in stroke.. Good information pack, well planned outpaced allowing time for questions."
"Have gained insight into recognising patient problems and how I may be able to recognise and deal with them."
"Very informative and practical very good at keeping pace/attention. In my field I have daily involvement with CVA residents and families."
"I found this course very interesting and doing the physical exercises were good as you learn easier by doing that than just listening. Overall very good course."
"I feel that I have been given some new ideas to help people work out problems themselves rather than giving them limited options."
"Brilliant course and material, brilliant speaker, best course I’ve been to for a long time."
***

SDS Updates: New DVDs & Courses

This is just a brief e-mail to keep you up-to-date with the latest developments at SDS:

1. To remind you that early bird discount of £24 for our popular seminar “ANGER THERAPY: HATRED, HOSTILITY & BITTERNESS” only available for bookings before 15 May 2010: http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/seminars.php?courseid=61
Book now to make sure that you receive a discount and reserve your place (some venues are almost fully booked now).
________________________________________________________________

2. We received a lot of questions recently about our excellent “SKILLS FOR CLINICAL & CASE SUPERVISION” course. Although the course still available for in-house training, it is not currently running as an open course.

However:
There is good news – this course is now available as INTERACTIVE TRAINING from us. You can book it online as any other SDS training course: http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/seminars.php?courseid=77
When you sign up on this interactive course you'll receive a training pack that contains:

- 2 DVDs "Skills for Clinical & Case Supervision with Paul Grantham"
- CD-ROM with handouts of a PowerPoint presentation, worksheets & reading list
- Online post-course test.
After completion of the course and successful pass of online test you will receive a CERTIFICATE OF ASSESSED ACADEMIC COMPETENCE from SDS that grants you 6 CPD hours.
As this is a new form of training and we are very keen on learning your opinion of it – we are offering only to those who reply to this e-mail £25 off our regular price. Please add code “CCSPORM05” into promotional code field when book on the course via SDS website.
_________________________________________________________________

3. We are running our highly demanded seminar on THE ESSENTIAL TOOLKIT FOR RUNNING GROUPS in November-December 2010 around the UK.

Early Bird booking discount is currently available. Please check the venues – we are sure you will find one near you. Book online at: http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/seminars.php?courseid=67
________________________________________________________________

4. For those who attended group work courses in the past and those who are planning to run groups in the future – new DVD from Paul Grantham – “THE ESSENTIAL TOOLKIT FOR RUNNING GROUPS.17 Point Preparation Checklist”. It is an essential tool that enables you to avoid most common problems arising in group work.
Now available at PsychotherapyDVDs.com: http://www.psychotherapydvds.com/epages/colt5155.sf?ObjectPath=/Shops/colt5155/Products/0107/SubProducts/0107-0001
Exclusively for SDS delegates PsychotherapyDVDs.com gives 15% discount on ANY products from the store. Use your exclusive discount code H9DHMN4W on the checkout. VALID FOR 7 DAYS ONLY
_______________________________________________________________________________________
We are looking forward to hearing from you and to seeing you on our courses soon.

Managing Anxiety-Based Problems in Older People - Feedback

Paul Grantham has just finished the first block of trainings on Managing Anxiety-Based Problems in Older People.
The feedback has been very good - with the vast majority of delegates rating the course as "Very Good" or "Good".
Below are some examples of feedback given by delegates after the course:

"Excellent day + very relevant + helpful to my job role." (A.A., Social Worker)
"Very good hands-on information, good video clips, excellent background information." (I.K., OT)
"Lots of useful ideas to work with." (B.B., CPN)
"Interesting stuff! Will test some of those approaches when the opportunity arises." (T.W. RMN/AMHP)
"Very relaxed style. Have learnt a lot of ideas to try. Thank you." (H.P., OT)
"Very interesting concepts that will aid my support work & counselling." (G.L., CMSW)
"Useful - practical techniques, and interventions." (S.B., Nurse)
"I have learnt a great deal. It was very informative. I will use this when working with anxiety and with illness in my workplace." (G.O., OT/Physiotherapist)

This topic is currently only available for in-house training. If you are interested please contact us via info@skillsdevelopment.co.uk

ALL NEW Brief Solution Focused Therapy Feedback

"Clear content, excellent speaker and very useful for my work, in terms of usable interventions. Clarified my understanding of the approach."
A.M., Counsellor

"Really enjoyed the day, felt I learnt a lot but also leaving reflecting on questions so I feel encouraged to do some further reading. The course will help with increasing knowledge around counselling and with my future career."
S.W., Treatment Manager, Probation Service

"Very refreshing course, excellent speaker. Practical tips + advice given which was helpful. I feel I can apply this approach to my client group (Asperger's)"
R.S., Speech & Language Therapist

"I found the content of the course very interesting & something I had no prior knowledge about. I feel I have gained something I can use in practice."
L.H., Children Centre Worker

"I really enjoyed the day and the topic was very helpful, giving me lots of pointers to help families."
J.W., Family Support Worker

"Always enjoy Paul Grantham's training."
G.P., Counsellor

"Very pleased with the course, will be of use."
T.O., OT

"Really good trainer, very knowledgeable. Thank you."
P.R., Psychologist

"Paul is always confident in his knowledge and teaching - EXCELLENT!"
R.W., Social Worker

One more day on this topic is available in London on 29 April 2010.

Book early to avoid disappointment.

SDS News

Here are the latest SDS news updates for you:

1. We had lots of interesting and thought-provoking replies to our last Delegate Debate: Award Winning Neurologist Challenges Our Therapy Practice. You can read all comments at: http://sdsmedia.blogspot.com/

2. We are running ALL NEW Brief Solution Focused Therapy (BSFT) Seminars around the UK in March. It is a brand new seminar that was created following your high demand for more practical knowledge on BSFT. Paul Grantham is leading these seminars, you can read his big interview about his professional and personal take on BSFT at: http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/images/appl_form/course_73.pdf .
Places for this seminar are still available and you can have £10 off if booking online or with credit card over the phone.

3. Our 3 day Introductory CBT courses (approved by the BPS Learning Centre) proved to be very popular with events fully booked in London, Birmingham and Manchester. We are running more courses in London in 2010 – they are available for booking on our site: http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/seminars.php?courseid=69 . We are planning to run additional CBT courses in Bristol, Manchester, Birmingham and York – they will be advertised on our website shortly – please stay tuned.

4. We have our first delegates who have successfully completed CBT online assessment following their course and received their Certificates of Assessed Academic Competence. Lisa Jayne Walker kindly shared her experiences of the course and assessment with us – you can read her interview at http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/images/appl_form/CPD%20Interview%20with%20Lisa.pdf .

5. Our highly demanded seminars on Anger Therapy are running in June. Be among the first to book and receive a massive £24 “Early Bird Discount”: pay only £75 + vat (regular price £99+vat). See http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/seminars.php?courseid=61 for details.

Looking forward to seeing you on our courses and always interested in your feedback.

SDS Debate: Award Winning Neurologist Challenges Our Therapy Practice

Here's a question for you: What do your clients spend most of their time talking about when they are with you?
• About how worthless they feel?
• About their negative core beliefs and how to challenge them?
• About their damaged histories and how these might be overcome?
• Or what they have been doing over the last week, month?

Marc Jeannerod may not be a name you're familiar with, but he is an internationally recognised expert in cognitive neuroscience and experimental psychology. His research has highlighted a significant process that is both theoretically interesting and contains very challenging implications for our practice.

Firstly, he has found that at a neurological level, the brain operates in exactly the same way when “simulating an action or behaviour as it does when actually doing it." In other words the same areas of the brain are used in exactly the same way when we talk about or visualise an activity or action as those that are used when we actually do that action.

Secondly, we have known elsewhere for a while that repeatedly using the same areas of our brain reinforces such connections and makes them MORE LIKELY to be used in the future.

Putting the two together suggests that what our clients spend their time visualising or thinking about increases the likelihood of them doing those things in the future. Basically, if our clients spend their time with us talking about their inactivity or inability (even when thinking about how to overcome it) INCREASES the likelihood of them continuing with their inactivity or inability.

The implications for us are more than just trying to make our clients "more positive". Firstly and most importantly, it has major implications for the agendas and protocols that both we and our clients use. Any time spent NOT talking about "successful" activity (as defined by the client) is at best a wasted opportunity and at worst – reinforcing the problem. Even if we only spend 50% of our time with clients talking about the problem, this is 50% of time spent on reinforcing the problem. Secondly, talking about "overcoming the problem" is little better – unless it focuses on what the client wants to be doing instead. Focusing on how to overcome a problem is not the same as focusing (e.g. visualising) on actually overcoming the problem.
For those of you who are wondering where ‘listening to the client's worries in order to engage them’ comes in, the answer is in the question. Attending to the client’s inaction, confusion, or distress is a necessary activity to engage the client initially, but should never be a central tenet of helping because despite best intentions it ultimately leads the client back to the place where they do not want to be.

If this issue interests you and you'd like to explore it further, or even if you fundamentally disagree with it, I'd love to discuss it with you.

You can do this in a number of ways:
• You can reply to this email directly
• You can post your reply on the SDS Blog (http://sdsmedia.blogspot.com)
• Or even better – come along to one of the SDS Seminars "All New Brief Solution Focused Therapy" (http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/seminars.php?courseid=70). Anyone who has worked us with before will know I love lively, honest, and considered debate.

Looking forward to hearing from you and working with you again.

Take care

Paul

Paul Grantham
Consultant Clinical Psychologist

SDS Debate: Facebook, Self Esteem & Aiming for 153.5 Friends

Many of you probably caught the research study that hit the Sunday Times last weekend about the number of "true" contacts that people have on their Facebook account http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article6999879.ece).

Professor Robin Dunbar at Oxford University found that although some Facebook users had thousands of online "friends", in reality they only managed to maintain regular contact with about 150 of them.

Past delegates on our "How to build clients' self esteem" workshop will already be familiar with Professor Dunbar's work regarding the relationship between the size of people's social networks and their self esteem. According to Hill and Dunbar (2003), the average size of someone's social network (based on their Christmas card list!) is 153.5. Now, whether that personally makes you feel proud or whether you feel like "Billy-No-Mates", one thing that is clear is that most of our clients' social networks are considerably smaller than this! Indeed the work that I've done suggests they are frequently in single figures.

We have known for over 30 years through the work of Brown & Harris that social support is a very important preventative factor regarding depression and that the size of someone's social network is an important feature of this. For that reason, when our clients have low self esteem we often try and get them to expand their social networks as a way of addressing this.

However we are often rather uncreative when we try to do this. The most commonly used strategy is "getting them to join a pre-existing group with a shared interest." Unfortunately however, this is often one of the most challenging and stressful ways of doing it and many clients with low self esteem fail as a result.

On our "How to build client's self esteem" (http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/seminars.php?courseid=1) courses we explore other ways of building clients' social networks which are not as threatening for them and as a result are more successful. If you are interested in this topic and can be available on 5th February (London) or 12 February (Manchester) why don't you sign up and come along.

Last minute online bookings for these events even have £25 off!

However, prior to the course I would be interested to hear from you about other ways you have used to help your clients build their social networks. Lets share ideas and draw on our experiences. As always please forward your thoughts to me and we will post the best of them on the SDS Blog (http://sdsmedia.blogspot.com/) so that others can make use of them. If you prefer - post your comments on the blog directly and follow us to keep up with future discussions.

Take care,

Paul

Paul Grantham