Geri Chavis is a professor of English at St. Catherine University, Minnesota, USA, a Licensed Psycholgist in private practice, and a Certified Poetry Therapist and poetry…
“Through individual and group work we aim to get to know a child really well in order to identify their strengths as well as their weaknesses. We also work closely with parents and have an opportunity to see how family relationships work on a day-to-day basis. We use the information we gain from these close observations to establish a holistic, integrated understanding of all the important factors driving the child’s problems and then use this to plan interventions.”
“There is rarely one route into, and out of, wellness. There are often several contributing factors including lifestyle and mindset. We also need to bear in mind that wellness may not mean “no disease” or “less pain”. It may mean pathways of acceptance or transition.”
JKP attended The National Autistic Society’s conference on Understanding and Managing Challenging Behaviour held at Kensington Town Hall in London on the 6th July. The…
“once people understand meltdown triggers and why they occur the enviroment can be modified to help reduce the number of meltdowns. And more compassion instead of critism can be offered to us because we feel awful afterwards; feelings of remorse and regret are common because we didn’t want it to occur. It isn’t like we have a “quota” of so many meltdowns we need to have in a day. It just happens due to overwhelming factors beyond our (the autistic person’s) control.”
“I’d like to think that balancing the individual and social approaches to crisis does offer something special at a time when people may be so burdened by stressful/crisis situations that they may take too much on themselves. This book really emphasises the idea that crises happen in a social context, that social supports can mitigate the devastating effects of a traumatic event and that a lack of social support can make even a simple problem seem insurmountable.”
“To focus on conflict usually means that individuals and groups get stuck in polarizing positions and are unable to see alternatives. Art-making, within an expressive arts framework, ‘decenters’ from the usual perspective and opens up new possibilities. It also makes us aware of resources that we might have otherwise overlooked in our focus on our difficulties.”
“My personal passion for continuing this work with the incarcerated is driven by my bearing witness to the transformational awakening of the empathic humanity within inmates who were unaware of the innate goodness that dwelt within them, awaiting discovery.”
“…it dawned on me how ridiculous it was that even though I’d had this body for so many years and took an interest in health and nutrition, I was unable to confidently point to my spleen, pancreas or liver. I thought to myself that if I’d learned these exercises as a child, not only would I have known more about my body but I’d have been able to help myself in those dark times when I felt pushed and pulled by my emotions.”
In this video series, Michael Mandelstam talks about his new book, How We Treat the Sick, which shows beyond question that neglectful care is a systemic blight,…