The Latest Bulletin

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 Amazon

Email has proven to be a very effective communication tool, saving a great deal of time, money and effort compared with the pre-email days. However, email has also brought problems, not least the well-documented ‘flame wars’ where miscommunication upon miscommunication has produced a series of heated interchanges that would probably have never happened in face-to-face circumstances. One problem that has received far less attention is the tendency to overuse email, to use it as the tool of communication, rather than one amongst many. For example, some matters can be much better dealt with by a telephone conversation or even a face-to-face meeting. And, while email has replaced letters in many situations, there remain many circumstances where a letter is a…

No end of studies show that loneliness is bad for us, and the BPS has urged action from the government to tackle this 'scourge' in the UK population. But while loneliness entails feeling that a need for social connection is going unmet, solitude is different. Most of us are able to spend periods of time alone, and not feel lonely or unhappy at all. In fact, research is showing that time in solitude can even be beneficial. Time alone can calm us down. This is the message from studies by Thuy-Vy T Nguyen, now at the University of Durham, and colleagues. In one study, published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, the team found that just 15 minutes of…

Most visions of the internet in 1995 were about individuals interacting with content online. It turns out that the internet (inter plus net) is actually about connection. The apps and businesses that were most successful connected people–to ideas, to things or mostly, to each other. The current range of AI feels like content creation. You can have an AI write your high school essay, draw you a picture or invent a recipe. But perhaps history will repeat itself. Perhaps developers will realize that persistent knowledge of what came before and who needs help and connection is the next frontier. Click here to read more

The country’s health is changing. We are living longer and more of us will need care in the future.  This will lead to an increase in the need for paid care services but will also require an increase in informal care because not all people who need care receive paid care, and some of those who do receive both formal and informal care. Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) analysis found that over the period 2016–2022, over half of people aged 65 and over who were being cared for only accessed informal care, around a quarter accessed both formal and informal care and just under a fifth only accessed formal care. Informal care is an inevitable part of how care needs are…

Connect with Neil online

There is no room for racism in a civilised society. The recent surge of interest in anti-racism is very much to be welcomed, but we have to guard against oversimplifying some complex and sensitive issues. This book, from the author of Anti-discriminatory Practice and Promoting Equality, provides an important foundation of learning that will be helpful for anyone committed to a genuinely anti-racist approach to practice. Available from https://neilthompson.info/shop/ or Amazon

Saying please and thank you is a basic part of what we are taught as children. But saying thank you is more than just good manners. It is a way of showing appreciation and of cementing cooperative working relations. While it is certainly not uncommon for people to say thank you to one another in the appropriate circumstances, there are also very many occasions when it is not said and when it could have been very helpful to do so. There are also many times when it is said in a curt or routine way that does not really convey appreciation – it comes across as just a social ritual, rather than a meaningful (and effective) communication. Try two things…

Saying 'thank you' can be powerful — sometimes unexpectedly so. Gratitude can foster greater happiness, which can be particularly impactful in romantic contexts, offering what one study referred to as "a booster shot" for relationships. Now a new study on gratitude looks at the power of a 'thank you' in a family context. Writing in The Journal of Positive Psychology, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign team explores gratitude between both parents and children, finding that gratitude doesn't just strengthen relationships between couples, but other family ties, too. Click here to read more

We have long been calling for early support hubs to be established in every local area so young people can access early mental health support and advice in their community. After years of campaigning, we are proud to see a commitment to early support hubs in the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat manifestos. The political parties have listened to our calls to fund the hubs. We would like to thank the thousands of young people and our colleagues from across the sector who added their voices to our campaign. This is a fantastic win for the Fund the Hubs campaign. But the truth is that a manifesto commitment is only the first step. Click here to read more