Video: JKP author Nick Luxmoore on ‘Young People and the Curse of Ordinariness’

“My goal in counselling young people around issues of ordinariness, I suppose, is to help them begin to feel that the way they are is fine. They’re not going to be as good as they always longed to be, but nor are they going to be as dreadful as they always feared they might be… That’s not to say that they won’t achieve massively, but that they don’t have to be striving for it to such an extent that they then start behaving strangely or self-destructively or being destructive at other people’s expense in order to get recognised, and in order to be different.”

January 11, 2011Autism

How Social Enjoyment Groups Work: An Interview with John Merges

In December, JKP author John Merges shared some thoughts about his passion: helping young people on the autism spectrum enjoy social interactions – an important skill…

January 10, 2011Autism

Something Different: John Swogger on his innovative new graphic novel that helps children understand their Asperger’s parent

“Finding out about something as important and life-changing as your parent’s AS has the potential to overwhelm…I think using comics and graphic formats when talking about things to do with behaviour, health or illness can help integrate the very dense, sometimes technical and “clinical” information into the practical, emotional and deeply personal side of the issues.”

January 7, 2011Counselling

Video: JKP author Tony White on Working with Suicidal Individuals

In this video, JKP author and psychologist Tony White talks about some key features of his new book, Working with Suicidal Individuals, including subjects rarely covered…

Photo: JKP author Dr. Charlotte Thompson

December 22, 2010July 4, 2017Adoption and Fostering

Tips and Ideas for Grandparenting During the Holidays

by Charlotte E. Thompson, M.D., author of Grandparenting a Child with Special Needs With the hustle and bustle of the holidays, parents often turn to…

December 20, 2010Adoption and Fostering

Mary Mountstephen on her new book ‘How to Detect Developmental Delay and What to Do Next’

“The important thing for me is that every child is valued and that we look at the causes of their difficulties rather than just the presenting symptoms: Why are they struggling in school and what can we do about it that is simple and easily implemented as the first stage in supporting them?”

December 15, 2010Counselling

Working with Suicidal Individuals – An Interview with JKP author Tony White

“There is a group of people who have made what is known as the suicide decision in childhood. From a psychological point of view this person could be considered the ‘truly’ suicidal person. Their psychological make up is structured such that suicide is a viable option for them to solve difficult problems at some point in their life. These people can be treated such that they can make a change to that early suicide decision and thus the likelihood of suicide being used as a problem solving technique in the future is greatly reduced.”

December 14, 2010Arts therapies

JKP attends the 2010 American Music Therapy Association Conference (AMTA)

The 2010 American Music Therapy Association (AMTA) Conference took place at the Cleveland Renaissance Hotel in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, this year and JKP was, once…

December 13, 2010Autism

John Merges on Social Enjoyment Groups for young people with Autism Spectrum Disorders

“Social enjoyment, as both an important life and employment skill, needs to be taught and practiced as early as possible. We need to provide our young people with safe, predictable situations to practice enjoying a social interaction. The successes I’ve seen in my own work demonstrate that social enjoyment is indeed a skill – and thus, can be learned.”

December 10, 2010Arts therapies

Pioneering Play and Dramatherapist Dr Sue Jennings on Healthy Attachments and her theory of Neuro-Dramatic-Play (NDP)

“True empathy is part of a very genuine understanding of the other person. And we learn this through dramatic playing which we can observe in the first few hours after a baby is born: they will try to imitate the expression on the mothers face…the baby is responding as if they are the mother; this ‘dramatic response’ continues to develop in those early weeks and months, like a life rehearsal for the development of empathy.”