Links & Other Resources
Blogs and websites that I follow and value as giving insight into therapy and the messy and sometimes glorious business of life:
http://www.briancollinson.ca/index.php/vibrantjungthing
I really value Brene Brown’s perspective on shame and vulnerability and would urge you to listen to her ted talks.
http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_listening_to_shame.html
www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability.html
If you live with serious mental distress, you may wish to look at the work that Hearing Voices Network does on www.hearing-voices.org/
If you would like to read a sane account of what we call insanity, look up Carolyn Spring at www.carolynspring.com
Shout is the UK’s first 24/7 text service, free on all major mobile networks, for anyone in crisis anytime, anywhere. It’s a place to go if you’re struggling to cope and you need immediate help.
Text: 85258
Samaritans -Provides confidential, non-judgemental emotional support for people experiencing feelings of distress or despair, including those that could lead to suicide. You can phone, email, write a letter or in most cases talk to someone face to face.
Telephone: 116 123 (24 hours a day, free to call)
I believe that psychotherapy is a cultural and a social issue because culture and society deeply impact us so in order to understand ourselves, we have to understand our environment.
Towards this, I suggest books by Dorothy Rowe, Susie Orbach, Harriet Lerner and Andrew Samuels. Books that some people have found useful in learning about therapy are M. Scott Peck’s A Road Less Travelled, Thomas Moore’s Care of the Soul and Dark Nights of the Soul.
If you wish to learn more about the process of therapy, I value the approach to therapy that Phillippa Perry takes in her book, Couch Fiction and Stephen Grosz in his book, The Examined Life or books by Irvin Yalom.
For gay men, I recommend Velvet Rage by Alan Downs as a good introduction to how social factors affect the gay psyche. For British gay men, perhaps Matthew Todd’s Straight Jacket better describes the problematics in our culture. There are also books by Meg John Barker which address sexual minority issues.
If you would like recommendations on some psychotherapist colleagues, please follow these links:
http://www.wernvalcounselling.net/#!/home
My colleagues at Number 42 are the best. They may be able to help you when and if I can’t.
