Skip to main content

The Latest Bulletin

Neil Thompson’s Lessons for Living – Focus on what motivates

Neil Thompson’s Lessons for Living – Focus on what motivates

When we need to make changes in our lives we can sometimes find it difficult to motivate ourselves. This is often because we tend to focus on what we need to do to achieve the desired change rather than on the change itself. For example, if you want to lose weight, focusing on eating less and/or exercising may seem like a bind, something you are reluctant to engage in. However, if you focus on weight loss and the benefits it would bring, you are far more likely to feel motivated to make the changes. This may seem simple, obvious even, but that doesn’t alter the fact that so many people continue to focus on means rather than the ends and…
Dr Neil Thompson
July 5, 2022
Reshaping work environments to promote and protect mental health

Reshaping work environments to promote and protect mental health

Workplaces can be places of both opportunity and risk for mental health. On the one hand, workplaces that promote good mental health and reduce work stress not only enhance mental and physical health but are also likely to reduce absenteeism, improve work performance and productivity, boost staff morale and motivation, and minimize tension and conflict between colleagues. So action to protect and promote mental health in the workplace can be cost–effective. On the other hand, unemployment, discrimination in accessing or carrying out work, and poor working conditions can all be a source of excessive stress, heightening the risk of developing new mental health conditions or exacerbating existing ones. Such negative working environments and experiences are the very opposite of what…
Dr Neil Thompson
July 5, 2022
Calls for dignity for dementia patients

Calls for dignity for dementia patients

Heather Lawrence was shocked at the state she found her 90-year-old mother, Violet, in when she visited her in hospital. "The bed was soaked in urine. The continence pad between her legs was also soaked in urine, the door wide open, no underwear on. It was a mixed ward as well," Heather says. "I mean there were other people in there that could have been walking up and down seeing her, with the door wide open as well. My mum, she was a very proud woman, she wouldn't have been wanted to be seen like that at all." Violet, who had dementia, was taken Tameside Hospital's Stamford Unit in Greater Manchester , in May 2021, after a fall. It was…
Dr Neil Thompson
July 5, 2022
Spotlight – Lessons for Living

Spotlight – Lessons for Living

“Where there are people, there will be problems, but there will also be potential” is a key part of Neil’s work. And that is precisely what this manual is all about – equipping practitioners from various professional disciplines to help people address their problems and realise their potential. Part One provides an extended essay on the nature and significance of problem solving to lay solid foundations of understanding. Part Two then offers guidance on using 101 problem-solving tools that can be used in a wide variety of circumstances. Available from here or Amazon
Dr Neil Thompson
June 14, 2022
Neil Thompson’s Lessons for Living – Perspective taking

Neil Thompson’s Lessons for Living – Perspective taking

We get so used to seeing the world from our own point of view that it is easy to forget that how other people see it can be very different. For example, what is routine and straightforward to you can be quite scary and unsettling to someone else who does not have the experience of that type of situation that you have. So, it is important at all times to remember that other people are not inside your head with you – we need to be careful not to be ‘egocentric’ by assuming that our ‘take’ on the situation is the only way to see it. The idea of perspective taking is that of putting ourselves in the other person’s…
Dr Neil Thompson
June 14, 2022
How can employers support staff experiencing loneliness?

How can employers support staff experiencing loneliness?

As research from the Mental Health Foundation tells us, “loneliness isn’t about the number of friends we have, the time we spend on our own or something that happens when we reach a certain age. Instead, it is a feeling we experience when there is a mismatch between the social connections we have and those that we need or want. It can therefore be experienced differently by all of us.” People who experience loneliness often talk of a gnawing sense of isolation, something I think we can all understand a little more after the last couple of years. We probably all need to think about loneliness a bit more than we do currently, and as the people responsible for the…
Dr Neil Thompson
June 14, 2022
Tackling sexual harassment in the workplace: Employer toolkit

Tackling sexual harassment in the workplace: Employer toolkit

Tackling Sexual Harassment in the Workplace toolkit is a free resource. It will help employers create workplaces where women are safe to report incidents of sexual harassment and support employers to respond appropriately – creating environments where sexual harassment does not happen in the first place.  Tackling Sexual Harassment in the Workplace toolkit: Supports employers to change workplace culture, put in place a sexual harassment policy, train employees, make it safe and easy to report and respond appropriately. Is adaptable to suit organisations' needs and allows employers to listen and embed feedback from employees. Provides hard and soft tools to help employers change organisational culture and includes a range of resources, from a template policy, culture survey, internal communications posters and a guide to intersectionality.  Click here…
Dr Neil Thompson
June 14, 2022