Blogs

I wanted to interrogate the assumptions that pervade theory, research, and practice in mental health. You can see the emptiness of the empirical and philosophical paradigms in circulation.

If we’re courageous enough to imagine a new era of Communitas, and take steps towards it, then we may just emerge from this pandemic with the wisdom it intended us to understand. That mental and emotional equanimity, much like halting the spread of the virus, depends on the actions of society as a whole, as much as it does on the individual

I always seek to use more ordinary language, bringing the person’s own words and metaphors in. It can be painful to hear a person’s detailed and often very meaningful description of their feelings or distress being reduced to a symptom.

Once you have managed to shift the relational dance for a while, you will start to get on with your new life; hopefully you have got far enough forward to establish a new “script”; a new family relational dance.

Participatory theatre like Rose and Thorn can make big differences in people’s lives and in systems, but it has to be well funded and persistent for long term changes to come about. We had fun and hopefully enriched a few people’s lives