Humansolutions Bulletin - April 5th 2023

Coping with a significant loss is one of the most demanding experiences each of us will ever have. Supporting people who are in the throes of grief can also be a highly challenging experience. This manual, with its exemplary blend of theory and practice provides a solid foundation of understanding alongside helpful practice guidance that will be of immense value to members of the caring professions, managers and supervisors and, indeed, anyone called upon to support people on their grief journey. Available from https://neilthompson.info/shop/ or Amazon  

A crisis is a turning point in someone’s life, a situation that will either get better or get worse. By definition, if it stays the same it is not a crisis. What can be a strong temptation when working with someone who is in crisis is to try and get things back to normal as soon as possible. While this is perfectly understandable, we have to recognize that this means that the positive potential of crisis is being missed. Crises can do a lot of harm (the situation gets worse) but they can also do a lot of good (the situation gets better) – for example, when new coping skills are learned, when longstanding obstacles to progress are removed and/or…

I do a significant amount of autism testing. I also treat many adults with autism using neuroaffirmative approaches to autism treatment. In my practice, I have noted that one of the diagnostic criteria that other providers evaluate heavily when assessing children with autism (ASD) is an inability to engage in pretend play. According to Rudy (2022), children with autism are less likely to engage in games that require “make-believe." One of the critical subgroups of questions on the Autism Diagnostic Interview (ADI-R) revolves around assessing whether the child being assessed engages in imaginative play. Click here to read more

We know that children who have a parent in prison can feel isolated and ashamed - and most feel unable to talk about it because they're scared of being bullied. They're also more likely than other children to have mental health problems and to get in trouble with the law themselves as they grow up. These children are often left in the shadows, their needs forgotten, and this can have devastating impacts. Despite their situation, they are locked out of the support they need to give them a better chance in life. Barnardo's is one of the few organisations to help children with a parent in prison. We run training services for professionals as well as services in the community…

As a society, our views on employer responsibilities are evolving. The Covid-19 pandemic has spurred employers to adopt a more proactive approach to staff wellbeing. While there will continue to be variation in expectations between employment relations that are transactional and those that are deeper, the cost of living crisis provides an opportunity for employers to accelerate their focus on financial wellbeing at work. Recently published Work Foundation research on this topic found that nearly seven in ten senior decision makers (66%) feel they have a substantial role to play in supporting their staff through the cost of living crisis. We found that where employers have introduced financial wellbeing support for their workers over recent months, this has often been…

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