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Author Archives: Staff writer

1. Advice for honest communication, Time to Talk Day 2019

   6th February 2019 4:40 pm Leave a Comment

   The ‘Time to Change’ organisation are a social movement committed to ending the overbearing stigma that surrounds mental health in the UK and thus improving social accessibility for treatment. Led by the Mind and Rethink Mental Illness charities, the group have undertaken many campaigns in recent years to this end.

   You may be familiar with their adverts, promoting the value of reassuring the people in your life that you’re there to listen if they have issues with their wellbeing that they need to discuss, even if they’re initially dismissive. The #asktwice hashtag has been a central focus for this sentiment, one that we at JSA readily endorse, conscious as we are to the pervasiveness of mental health issues in society and the importance of embracing support.

   

   One of their outreach tactics takes the form of their official ‘Time to Talk’ day. The object of this annual observance is to find the time to have an important and open conversation about mental health with your friends, colleagues or loved ones that you might otherwise avoid. This year, Time to Talk day falls tomorrow, on Thursday the 7^th of February.

   In their own words:

   “Mental health problems affect one in four of us, yet people are still afraid to talk about it. Time to Talk Day encourages everyone to talk about mental health. This year’s Time to Talk Day is all about bringing together the right ingredients, to have a conversation about mental health. Whether that’s tea, biscuits and close friends or a room full of people challenging mental health stigma, we want you to get talking. However you do it, make sure you have a conversation about mental health this Time to Talk Day.”

   As far as we’re concerned, it’s well established fact within the field of psychology and psychotherapy that setting time aside to confide your thoughts and concerns with someone else is immeasurably more beneficial than keeping quiet about them to ruminate alone.

   Sometimes, the biggest barrier to a frank and open discussion can be finding the right words to let others understand how you feel. One way to get around this is to time your conversation so that it takes place while you’re walking somewhere with the person you’re opening up to. In the simplest terms, the rhythmic motion of moving your feet serves as a biological shortcut to encourage both hemispheres of the brain to work more efficiently in a process known as bi-lateral stimulation. It’s a simple technique, but one that can kick-start the brain into piecing together the puzzle of communicating your needs, so you won’t find yourself frustratingly tongue-tied when the time comes.

   We’ll be following Time to Change’s lead to stay earnestly honest and direct in our discussion of mental health. If someone in your life seems to be suffering in silence or you’re feeling uncomfortable expressing your own worries for fear of sounding silly, Time to Talk 2019 can be your chance to have a much-needed walk, meal or meeting to address the elephant in the room.

   

2. Alicia Barrett celebrates 4 year anniversary!

   4th February 2019 10:24 am Leave a Comment

   There is cause for celebration in the office today, as our Practice Supervisor Alicia Barrett has hit an important career milestone. As of yesterday, she has been working at JSA Psychotherapy for four years!

   Since initially joining as an apprentice at the start of 2015, Alicia has been an integral component of the operations team. Throughout the various changes to our management structure in her time at JSA, Alicia has been dutifully facilitating the day-to-day running and organisation of the practice. On top of this, she has consistently used this time to hone her skills and build on her understanding of how it is run, and taken on increasing agency and responsibility. Currently studying for further professional accreditation in leading a professional team, she is making rapid progress on the pathway to becoming Practice Manager in the near future.

   Speaking of her time at the company so far, Alicia states that “I feel very proud to be a part of this practice and I look forward to the next 4 years!”

    

   

3. New website feature: When to Seek Help

   28th January 2019 4:20 pm Leave a Comment

   In keeping with our recent additions to expand the functionality of the JSA website, this week we have added a new page. Located under the ‘What you can Expect’ heading alongside the disambiguation of our referral process and introductory information of our therapeutic models, there is now a section titled When to Seek Help.

   The purpose of this page is an effort to make the process of self-referral for assessment at JSA more approachable for people who are considering therapy. The resource also exists to deconstruct some of the stigmatic barriers and offer guidance for those who perhaps have only just recognised that something isn’t right with their mental health and are unsure about their options.

   To normalise the often daunting or even embarrassing burden of suffering issues with emotional wellbeing and mental health, the text contains statistics that illustrate their tremendous scope worldwide and the frequency of their occurrence within the population. The page also contains a bullet point list that gives a rundown of the most common symptoms of anxiety & depression. These are included to demonstrate how a build-up of easily dismissible, everyday problems such as heart-racing stress or tiring low mood can be indicators of a deeper health issue if they’re particularly persistent or overwhelming.

   It’s sadly true that a significant majority of people with very easily treatable mental health conditions never take the first steps towards getting help. At JSA, we’re eager to decry the stigma and make the process of reaching out as straight-forward as possible. We’re hopeful that this new online feature will make some difference in tipping the balance on that unfortunate statistic.

   If you feel that there’s someone you know who could do with a helping hand but doesn’t have the confidence or assurance to make an informed decision about getting assistance with their wellbeing, perhaps a link to this quick and easy run-down might give them the confidence to access the clinical support that will set them on the path to a better life.

   

4. JSA Psychotherapy furthers involvement with Academic Health Science Networks

   24th January 2019 3:53 pm Leave a Comment

   One of our many targets for the new year is to revitalise the work we do with clients that we receive through the NHS, by recommendation or otherwise. In the interests of gaining a greater understanding about the needs and demands of the ever-changing industry, we have been seeking to engage with leading professionals and decision makers from the NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups. Our ultimate goal is to integrate our service more cohesively into the corporate ecosystem of private and public care. 

   To this end, we have invested time to attend a number of seminars and workshops that are being organised by the Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs). Established in 2013, this group of self-described catalysers are responsible for bridging the knowledge gap between the CCGs and innovations provided by the private sector and university research programmes. For small to medium enterprises such as ours, the AHSNs serve a crucial function in facilitating dynamic communication that will allow us to provide the best possible service to meet the demand issued in public demand contracts. 

   This week, JSA were represented at one such event. Health Innovation Manchester, the AHSN presiding over Greater Manchester and its surrounding areas, held a Q&A with several key note speakers from the NHS’s CCGs and procurement teams. Hosted at the convention centre in Alderley Park’s world-famous life sciences research and development campus, the conference offered varied insights into the projected ambitions of the group, and the roles that private healthcare providers can fill in order to make them a reality. 

    

   

    

   We are also excited to have reservations for the upcoming symposium titled Creating a Narrative for Trauma Informed Service Transformation. The Academic Health Science Network for the North East and North Cumbria will be hosting this symposium in March, in association with the North of England Mental Health Clinical Network. Addressing a more specific issue than the ongoing problem with disconnected services, the focus of the day will be to explore the potential value of further promoting the integration of trauma informed care into the mental health sector. 

   As avid proponents of trauma-informed care, JSA already utilise the principle within the extensive span of our clinical psychotherapeutic models and practice. For a more detailed understanding of how this informs our standards of care, see the section of our website concerning the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics and its application. Unsurprisingly, there is a palpable, company-wide enthusiasm for the potential to further proliferate this framework in the assessment and treatment of mental health issues, for the local region and beyond.

5. Does TalkTalk’s recent marketing promote parental negligence?

   22nd January 2019 3:29 pm Leave a Comment

   Telecommunications provider TalkTalk have recently printed a new advert for their range of broadband packages. This is part of their ongoing marketing campaign called ‘Fairer Broadband for Everyone’, developed by ad agency The&Partnership. You may have seen the most recent version of the advert posted at a local bus stop or train station this month. It portrays a woman looking blankly down at her phone with a baby in her lap, who faces the camera. The caption reads “I’m a multi-tasker” to highlight the utility of the company’s strong internet connection for staying organised while on the go.

   The majority of the immediate audience response to this particular advert from the campaign seems to have taken a starkly disapproving tone of the sentiment being expressed in the image. Many find the depiction of a young mother coldly ignoring her child to be disturbing and indicative of an unhealthy prioritisation of technological convenience over meaningful human connection. More directly, some have commented that TalkTalk appear to be celebrating neglectful parenting with this message.

   These arguments are particularly compelling when considering the psychology of adverse parental attachment. The dangers of this are exemplified in Dr Edward Tronick’s still face experiment, which demonstrates, in summary, the degree of distress and confusion an infant will present with when their primary attachment figure fails to provide them with emotive cues to signify that they are acknowledging them. The study serves as a shocking demonstration of how impactful empathic connection is to a child’s cognitive development.

    

   

    

   This principle forms key elements of the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics that we use to underpin our clinical practice. The NMT has been discussed at length in previous blog posts, and more information on how it is core to the work we do at JSA is available elsewhere on the website. With specific relation to this topic, however, our therapy is informed with the understanding that a child must receive consistent nurture and warmth in order to effectively regulate their emotions later in life.

   To provide an opposing perspective, one might contend that the concern for over-using electronic devices around children is misplaced. It’s easy to argue that detractors of the campaign are adopting a reactionary attitude. Indeed, the lack of familial warmth during infancy is not a problem that originated in the information age. It may be reductive of broader social issues to direct blame for a lack of quality enrichment exclusively at the use of mobiles and tablets.

   Despite this, TalkTalk do appear to have provided some indirect admission of guilt in response to the controversy. Though the promotional posters remain in the public eye at street-level, all mention of the advert has been removed from online promotion and social media. To see this in action, try searching “Talk Talk” and “I’m a multi-tasker” on google for a list of search results that are devoid of any relation to the campaign. It seems that the company themselves consider this advert to have been a regretfully distasteful representation of their brand, or at least an unflattering one.

   Irrespective of intent or connotation, it’s unavoidable that the social benefit of greater engagement with the developing young people in our lives would be far reaching, and is in dire need. This certainly seems to be the crux of the more condemnatory perspectives currently being shared on social media, which suggests no small amount of merit to their accusations.

    

   

6. Mindfulness techniques for Blue Monday

   21st January 2019 2:54 pm Leave a Comment

   According to urban legend, the third Monday of January is, officially, the most depressing day of the year. This is due to a combination of dark nights, a fading of the Christmas buzz and the arrival of a range of bills and has led to the rather dramatic title of ‘Blue Monday’! Though the term was initially coined as part of a pseudo-scientific study, it’s comforting to know that there is no credible evidence to suggest that the third Monday of January is inherently more depressing than any other day of the year.

   Despite this, it’s unavoidably true that the term has become a focal point for discussion around how to effectively deal with low mood in what really can be a common lull of emotional wellbeing during the dim depths of winter. As part of our contribution to the discourse, CBT therapist Alastair Barrie has provided a few simple tips that can be really quite effective at lifting your spirits if you are experiencing some trouble with your mental health this week.

    

   • Getting outside

   Exercise and fresh air are both well known to be helpful at lifting low mood. In combination, they can be surprisingly powerful. This could take the form of something as simple as a walk into town or a stroll around the local park. Even a brief change of scenery can be enough to clear away some of our new year blues. You could also leave the car at home for a local journey or try getting off the bus one stop earlier than usual and walking the rest of the way. Why not message a friend or family member and go out together? If you are unable to walk or just don’t feel like doing so, simply spending some quiet time outside gives your mind permission to begin to unclutter and de-stress.

    

   • Mindfulness

   Mindfulness is simply the process of focusing your perspective on what’s going on right here, right now. We do this by paying attention to what we can sense instead of what we are thinking about. So often we get so wrapped up in our thoughts that we don’t properly experience what is occurring in any given moment. You can be mindful at any moment in life and you don’t have to take extra time out of your day to practice it. All you have to do is focus attention on what you are currently seeing, hearing, tasting, feeling or smelling. You can have a mindful brew, a mindful shower or, as we previously mentioned, a mindful stroll. Essentially, mindfulness is enjoying ‘what is’ instead of worrying about ‘what if’. Even a momentary reprieve from getting lost in spiralling patterns of negativity can provide invaluable psychological respite.

    

   • Gratitude

   The scientist Padesky demonstrated that developing gratitude can lead to ‘greater happiness, improvement in a variety of moods and even improved physical well-being’. If you’re experiencing low mood, there’s a good chance that you could easily write a list of negative things that you’re currently experiencing. Why not try writing down things which you appreciate instead? These could be things in the world, things in your life, things about yourself or things about others which you are grateful for. Spending time deliberately focusing on these can help shift a negative mindset to a more positive one. Gratitude doesn’t mean ignoring negative experiences or neglecting stressful but important priorities, only ‘balancing the scales’ and making sure that you have the whole picture, considering the positives as well as the negatives.

    

   These techniques can be practiced by anyone who is struggling with poor emotional wellbeing to improve their daily experiences. However, if you are dealing with issues that are burdensome enough to still be leaving you unhappy and distressed even after giving these a try, it might be the case that clinical help is necessary to fully resolve the core problem.

   The basics of mindfulness are expanded upon further in the application of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). If you feel that you or someone you know would benefit from this intervention, follow the links in this article to our website for more information on the model and our practitioners.

    

   

7. JSA Psychotherapy and Barnabus complete donations drive for Manchester homeless

   21st December 2018 4:56 pm Leave a Comment

   At end of November we shared with you that we were organising a collection of food, clothes, toiletries and other essential supplies for the homeless population of Manchester. Following our efforts to do something similar last year, this time we decided it would be more effective to distribute the goods we collected through Manchester based charity Barnabus. 

   Sadly, the need for help has turned out to be more important than ever this Christmas, with the despondent news published this week that fatality figures for homeless people have risen by 24 percent over the last five years. A catastrophic lack of supporting response from government services has exacerbated this terrible ongoing crisis, with those already worst off paying the ultimate price.

   Thankfully, we received an overwhelming response to our request. We’ve seen a surge of generosity and consideration from the local community, with donations coming in from our neighbours in the business centre and as far afield as Briercliff and Helmshore. We mostly received bags of warm clothing, but many contributions of food and sanitary products were also made.

   Once the assortment of boxes and bin bags were all gathered together, we delivered them directly to Barnabus’ Beacon drop in centre at 45 Bloom street in central Manchester. With any luck, they’ll help to make that crucial difference that’s so sorely needed this winter.

   We really appreciate how keen everyone has been to get involved and make our contribution to helping safeguard some of the most vulnerable and unfairly neglected members of the community. Despite the apparent enormity of adversity posed by our society’s failings, you’ve been instrumental in making it known that we refuse to become disheartened in making a difference to look after those who need us.

   Special thanks to Charlotte Hudson, Gary Mills, Jude Colbert and everyone in the office who donated.

   

    

8. Psychotherapeutic interventions for personal injury: What are the benefits?

   19th December 2018 2:26 pm Leave a Comment

   Clinical psychotherapeutic intervention can be of significant benefit for those who have suffered adverse experiences, such as traumatising accidents and other injurious events. Even where the most significant harm for the victim appears physical, emotional wounds accompany any such occurrence and can cause or exacerbate a host of mental health issues in the months and years that follow what may otherwise seem like a neatly resolved process of legal compensation.

   This is particularly significant in the field of personal injury, when considering what services may be most valuable for a client seeking recompense for traumatic circumstances. Much of the work we do to assist clients suffering the mental health conditions that stem from trauma is solicited under the catchment of personal injury, and we have a consistent record of observing substantial growth and recovery for those clients in terms of emotional wellbeing and peace of mind.

   If appropriate help is not provided, unresolved trauma typically leads to additional problems in daily life. For example, symptoms of anxiety and depression can manifest as an inability to adequately manage the stress of work, leading to the affected individual taking long term sick leave and entering a more severe state of financial vulnerability, despite receiving monetary compensation to account for their initial crisis.

   When assessing a victim of a potentially traumatic incident to formulate a plan of appropriate compensation, it is important to consider the impact of the adversity they have experienced. Intensive, targeted therapy will most likely be necessary for victims who have sustained significant changes to their quality of life, or for survivors and witnesses of traumatic incidents to name a few. In some cases, it may be that the issue being resolved is one of prior clinical negligence, where medical care has not been issued appropriately.

   In short, therapy would be essential when a client’s confidence and emotional wellbeing are in clear decline. An evaluation performed by a psychologist or, more frequently, a psychiatrist can determine with certainty what mental health needs have arisen.

   

   In this scenario, psychotherapy can be instrumental in assisting the process of adjustment to serious incidents such as bereavement or life-changing injury. In particular, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can be a regrettably common result of adverse life events like these, from accidental injury to sexual abuse. Once compensatory funds are secured for the victim, these resources have the potential to attain not only short-term relief from financial pressure, or the treatment of bodily harm, but also to mitigate negative changes to their quality of life for years to come.

   Psychotherapy directly address the array of life problems that these mental illnesses are responsible for. The longer that trauma is left unresolved, the greater opportunity it has to develop complex and far reaching psychological consequences. If intervention is sourced in good time after the event, it can serve as a preventative measure against future issues by bolstering emotional resilience and confidence.

   The therapeutic models that we typically employ for treating clients that come to us for trauma recovery as part of a personal injury package are Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). The latter often takes the form of the more targeted model known as Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (TF-CBT). Please follow the enclosed links in this article to our main website for disambiguation of the terms used. Alternatively, if you would like to inquire further about the utilisation of psychotherapy in personal injury cases, feel free to contact us at office@jsapsychotherapy.com or on 01282 685345

9. JSA share knowledge throughout team with Therapy Information Morning

   13th December 2018 4:01 pm Leave a Comment

   If you would like to learn more about any of the therapy models described below, be sure to follow the links embedded in this article, which will direct you to the relevant areas of our website.

   Yesterday morning, members of the therapy team gave presentations about their particular specialist forms of therapy, and how they fit into their models of practice. The goal of this seminar was to share understanding between the different clinicians. However, it has had the added benefit of enabling JSA’s operations staff to answer clients’ queries about the work that they are involved in with greater confidence while making appointments, or while liaising with other industry professionals.

   Delegates from residential children’s home provider Life Change Care attended as well. They were able to gain a deeper understanding of how JSA’s therapy packages are integrated with the support that they provide for looked after children. The clinical interventions that we provide for adolescents in the care system are dependent on a holistic environment of emotional regulation that is facilitated by their care workers between sessions. In this way, we aim to equip the therapeutic carers with the knowledge they need to best implement techniques that will promote healing and recovery in their children’s homes. 

   The primary focus of the information morning was a play therapy workshop run by our therapists Heidi Graydy, Katy Walker and Tanya Lyons. Play therapy is a clinical approach that, in the simplest terms, provides children and young people with the opportunity to express and connect with their inner feelings where they might otherwise struggle to effectively engage with a talking-based therapy. This form of therapy is extremely effective in this regard, even for older clients. When working with adults, drama and creative arts therapy is typically more age-appropriate, though both work with the same core principle.

   

   Delegates take part in an exercise illustrating the use of visualisation to reveal subconscious feelings and ideals

    

   Cognitive Behavioural Therapist Alastair Barrie also provided an overview of the versatility of CBT. He addressed how the popular talking therapy helps clients deconstruct their perceptions of the issues that they experience, and how crucial this is to the recovery process. Linking the framework inherent to both presentations was a summary of the NMT model provided by Principal Psychotherapist Julie Stirpe. This detailed the importance of neurological development when formulating a course of therapy to ensure that trauma-informed, evidence based practice is achieved.

    

   

   Julie, demonstrating the sequence of brain development and its relation to treating mental illness

    

   We’re planning to schedule another event like this one soon to cover more topics and broaden the knowledge of our staff team. We hope to set aside a full day next time to explore the more targeted forms that a course of CBT can take, such as trauma-focused CBT or schema therapy, as well as Dialectical Behaviour Therapy and Emotion Focused Therapy.

   After the presentations concluded, all of us at the office got together for a Jacob’s join, organised by Senior Practice Administrator Alicia Barrett. With everyone in the company contributing to the shared meal, it served as a fitting end to the morning.

   

    

    

    

    

10. JSA Psychotherapy celebrate with Christmas meal at Bertram’s

    11th December 2018 4:52 pm Leave a Comment

    JSA have been celebrating the end of the year in style, getting everyone on the team together for a meal!

    Last Friday we met up for the office party at Bertram’s restaurant in Crow Wood leisure centre. Bertram’s has been a company favourite for meals out in years past, but this time we’ve had lots of new staff acquisitions that made it difficult to get seats together. Instead, we booked their upstairs function room for a quieter gathering. This turned out to be a great decision, with everyone getting the chance to chat and unwind over the food and music without getting drowned out by the crowds downstairs.

    The operations team, directors, therapists and associates were all invited. As per tradition, our sister company Life Change Care joined us as well. Emma Bogle and Kelly James were in attendance, the Registered and Deputy Managers of the children’s home that LCC oversee. So was as Shannon Shirtcliffe, their operations apprentice. A real highlight of the evening was when the time came for the everyone in each section of the company to share gifts with each other from an anonymous Secret Santa pool.

    Overall the night was a joyous celebration of everything we’ve accomplished this year, despite major changes to JSA and LCC’s organisational structure. The last few months have been a time of incredible growth and improvement for both companies, and everyone’s earned a break from some of that intensity now. The meal has been the first opportunity for respite until we finish up the last essential matters of business and close up on the 21st. After that, we’ll all be enjoying a long awaited intermission for the holidays. At least until the new year, when it’ll all start again in earnest.

    We couldn’t be more excited to find out what 2019 has in store, and we’ll be sharing the news every step of the way once we get there.