#14. Seasons Intelligence (Therapy Tip of the Week)
A client said that this idea of thinking in Seasons changed the experience of her struggles. She just came back from being away for several months due to her work. She was finding it hard...
Category: First Principles
#13. Therapy Tip of the Week: 5 Basic Needs
In this series on Therapy Tip of the Week, we’ll provide psychologists, counsellors and psychotherapists one practical tip at each episode.My idea of giving you this is not so much as to prescribe to...
To Be Altered
Renowned improv teacher, Keith Johnstone says the following: Instead of telling actors that they must be good listeners (which is confusing), we should say, ‘Be altered by what’s said.’ Good theatre is like tennis in...
Take Note of These 4 Perennial Factors of Your Clients
I’m amazed it has taken me about 2 decades of writing case-notes to finally come up with this system for myself. I’ve been using this particular format to capture what I call “evergreen” information,...
Listening Into Speech: Will Say, Won’t Say, Can’t Say.
A version of this first appeared in The Network of Alcohol and other Drugs Agencies (NADA) newsletter in 2020. NADA is the peak organisation for the non government alcohol and other drugs sector in NSW....
Adjustable Seats
In the 1950s, A fairly unusual be-spectacled and slender Lieutenant Gilbert Daniels was tasked to solve one of the biggest problems in the US Air Force. A botanical loving man, not the kind of...
The Language of Inner Life
“The limits of my language means the limits of my world.” ~ Tractatus, Ludwig Wittgenstein. The language that we need to learn and to know, not so much as to explain things (see this...
Myths About Myth
A myth is the image we have of the world and our relationship with it, and the story we tell ourselves. A myth is not the opposite of fact. All of us carry myths—implicit...
The Clock of Learning Across Disciplines (CLAD)
The Reimagining Education in Psychotherapy (REP) Series, Part 5. In the previous article (REP part 4), I made the case to be playful and tolerance for mediocrity as part of the learning journey. To...
Lego for Psychotherapists
Turns out that there there is a key difference between teaching kids how to play with legos, versus telling them what to build.
“It’s All About the Process…”
We need to trust the process of therapy, but without clarity on the effect of therapy, you are likely to get lost in the weeds—lost in our theoretical explanations and pet solutions—especially when the client isn’t experiencing any real gain.
Explainoholic
Last week, I discussed why information does not typically lead to transformation. and how the over-emphasis on content knowledge. I alluded to our over-emphasis on content knowledge over relational knowledge. So why can’t we...
How Do You Go Faster on a Bicycle?
Pedal harder. Build you leg muscles and increase your stamina. Wrong. Watch cyclist Michael Guerra tap into the principles of aerodynamics in catching up on the race.
Feathers and Wings, and How We Fly
Developing better psychotherapy methods and techniques to increase impact, is akin to building better wings and more feathers to fly. We have made an attribution error. Recall the history of mankind’s attempts to fly.[1]...
Is Less Really More?
Turns out that in order to make better decisions, we need less information, rather than more. Director of the Harding Center of Risk Literacy at Max Planck Institute German psychologist Gerg Gigerenzer notes “Experts...
Here’s the Payoff
It all begins with an investment of faith. Organisations, supervisees, and practitioners whom I consult with know that, for the most part, they wouldn’t see immediate results. It’s a calculated gamble. I recently began...
Personal Learnings: Looking Back In Order To Move Forward (Part II of II)
“What is essential is invisible to the eye.” ~Fred Rogers In the last blog post, I wrote about the personal side of I’ve learned from the peaks and troughs of 2018. Today, I’d...
A System of Practice
Join our in-depth, cutting-edge learning platform, Reigniting Clinical Supervision (RCS). Registration closes this Friday, 3rd of May 2019. We begin on Monday, 6th of May 2019. If you are a subscriber to Frontiers of Psychotherapist Development,...
Value What We Measure, or Measure What We Value?
Do we value what we measure, or do we measure what we value? This is not a play on words. It turns out that we often end up valuing what is easy to measure...
First Principles: The 5-Step Process for Deep and Accelerated Learning in Therapy
In a previous post, I’ve talked about the importance of Developing First Principles Before Methods. I’ve also talked about the ways you can develop first principles from challenging situations, therapeutic mistakes, and guidance from...
Three Ways to Develop First Principles in Your Clinical Practice
Try this little thought experiment: Take a piece of paper, and in the next 2-3mins, in no more than 2-3 paragraphs, write down your philosophy of what guides you in therapy. Most of us...
Develop First Principles Before The Methods
As a field, we were obsessed with methods, approaches, tools, theoretical orientations, and schools of thought. Money poured into establishing treatment efficacy differences have not yield much fruit; therapists investment in time, effort and...
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