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.”

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.”

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.”

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.”

How Groups Work – An article by Maggie Kindred and Michael Kindred

“We are in groups throughout life. Many different kinds of groups occur in social clubs, health and social care, industry, commerce, education, politics, churches, and voluntary organizations. People of all ages are involved, including small children. Most of them have no idea they are involved in ‘group processes’! Groups are natural, and usually get by without analyzing themselves. So why bother to spend time in training? … We have written this book because we believe that using a group isn’t mystical, but can be considerably more enjoyable and effective if members know a little about how groups function.”