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Neil Thompson’s Lesson for Living – Need to know not nice to know

Neil Thompson’s Lesson for Living – Need to know not nice to know

Gathering appropriate information to get a helpful picture of the situation we are dealing with is a central part of the role of a wide range of professionals. If we do not have a reasonably clear picture of the circumstances we are engaging with we can miss significant issues, distort and oversimplify the situation and potentially make a bad situations worse. Not having enough information can therefore be problematic. However, what can also be problematic is if we have too much information. This is because: (i) we can waste a lot of time and effort in gathering more information than we need; (ii) we can confuse ourselves and others if we end up drowning in far more information than is…
Dr Neil Thompson
May 4, 2021
Good time management seems to have a bigger impact on wellbeing than work performance

Good time management seems to have a bigger impact on wellbeing than work performance

As our lives have become busier, desire to do things quickly and efficiently has grown — something the rise of speed reading apps, lack of break-taking at work, and a general focus on “productivity” has shown. Good time management skills, therefore, are now highly prized both at work and at home. But do such techniques actually work? In a meta-analysis published in PLOS One, Brad Aeon from Concordia University and colleagues find that they do — but perhaps not for the reasons you’d expect. While time management skills have become more important in evaluations of job performance since the 1990s, their biggest impact lies elsewhere: in personal wellbeing. Click here to read more
Dr Neil Thompson
May 4, 2021
How does body image impact young people’s mental health?

How does body image impact young people’s mental health?

Body image is how we think and feel about ourselves physically, and how we believe others see us. When we talk about body image, there are lots of ways we can think about our body and the way we look. In June 2020, the Women and Equalities Committee launched an inquiry to hear from young people and professionals about how body image can impact how people feel about themselves and how it can impact their mental health. Click here to read more
Dr Neil Thompson
May 4, 2021
Useful resources for Carers Week (7-13 June 2021)

Useful resources for Carers Week (7-13 June 2021)

We want carers to know all about this year's Carers Week and how they can get involved with helping Make Caring Visible and Valued. To help you get the word out, we've a range of resources for you to download and use. Whether you're looking for logos in English or Welsh, social media graphics or materials to print at home, they're all free for you to use. Click here to read more
Dr Neil Thompson
May 4, 2021
Neil Thompson’s Lessons for Living – Keep your records up to date

Neil Thompson’s Lessons for Living – Keep your records up to date

There is a general expectation that professionals should keep a record of their work. Such records can often be assigned a secondary role and dismissed as relatively unimportant – just the ‘paperwork’. Although this is understandable, we also have to bear in mind that record keeping is a form of professional communication – the absence of which can at times be potentially disastrous. What can easily happen is that a vicious circle can develop: record keeping is put off so that, by the time the professional concerned gets round to getting records up to date, there is an annoying and energy-sapping backlog. Dealing with a backlog of ‘boring records’ can demotivate us and make it even harder to keep up.…
Dr Neil Thompson
April 20, 2021
Stereotypes damage us all

Stereotypes damage us all

Gender stereotypes strike early. From the age of six, children associate traits like ‘intelligence’ with being a boy and ‘niceness’ with being a girl. Gender stereotypes continue to damage children everywhere – and affect their whole life. Young men and boys who hold rigid beliefs about gender stereotypes are more likely to be perpetrators of violence against women and girls. We hear from girls who have low self-esteem and feel insecure, with one in five 14-year-old girls self-harming. This is heart-breaking and it cannot continue. Click here to read more
Dr Neil Thompson
April 20, 2021
Theme of Refugee Week 2021: We cannot walk alone

Theme of Refugee Week 2021: We cannot walk alone

There is a moment in Martin Luther King’s historic ‘I have a dream’ speech when he turns his attention to the White people who, realising their destiny and that of their Black fellow citizens was intertwined, joined the movement for equal rights. “They have come to realise that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom,” he said. “We cannot walk alone.” Life is tough for many of us right now, and the future feels very uncertain. Looking after ourselves, our families and communities takes time and energy. There is so much to do. The challenges of the past year have exposed the deep inequalities between us, including in housing, income and access to healthcare. But the crisis has also shown how interconnected…
Dr Neil Thompson
April 20, 2021