The Latest Bulletin

Stress is increasingly being recognized as a serious problem in the modern workplace. In this practice manual, Neil Thompson uses his decades of experience of helping people tackle stress to provide a clear and helpful guide to the key issues and lays the foundations for a positive and constructive response to the challenges involved. This is an essential guide for anyone wanting to keep pressures within manageable limits. Available for purchase along with many other books by Neil here or from the Avenue Learning Centre here.

Many people confuse sympathy (sharing the same feelings as someone else) and empathy (being able to recognize someone else’s feelings and being able to respond appropriately, but without necessarily having those feelings ourselves), while others settle for apathy, in a state of semi-burnout. But clearly empathy is what we need to aim for: being able to be supportive of others who are wrestling with emotional issues, but without facing the same emotional challenges ourselves. However, what is very clear is that this is not simply a matter of saying: ‘I know how you feel’. This is a very unhelpful and potentially quite counterproductive way to respond, partly because: (i) we do not know how someone else feels (for example, if…

More than half of all harassment in German workplaces goes unreported due to fear of repercussions and being disadvantaged against in career progression, according to a report published last year by the Forsa Institut. This 56% includes incidents involving sexual harassment, discrimination and bullying. These statistics were one of the driving factors behind the launch of Lytt, an app aimed at fighting social injustice in Germany’s workplaces. After experiencing workplace discrimination herself, co-founder Lara von Petersdorff-Campen, 24, decided to take action. Click here to read more

The G7 leaders have been told to get rid of discriminatory gender laws that still exist on their statute books and begin enshrining equal rights in the legal system. All G7 countries, including the UK, still have discriminatory laws on their statute books or substantial loopholes that allow discrimination, the G7’s gender equality advisory council said at a key summit session attended by all leaders, including the US president, Donald Trump. Discriminatory laws range from the UK’s legal position on child marriage, with children as young as 16 allowed to marry if their parents give consent, to limits on free contraception in Germany, or regressive laws on abortion in certain US states and a lack of federal law guaranteeing paid maternity leave. Click here to…

Resources to help educate children and young people (ages 5-25) about dementia and support social action in your local community. Click here to read more

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Stress is increasingly being recognized as a serious problem in the modern workplace. In this practice manual, Neil Thompson uses his decades of experience of helping people tackle stress to provide a clear and helpful guide to the key issues and lays the foundations for a positive and constructive response to the challenges involved. This is an essential guide for anyone wanting to keep pressures within manageable limits. Available for purchase along with many other books by Neil here or from the Avenue Learning Centre here.

In working with people emotions are never very far away. Being able to tune in to other people’s emotions, to be aware of our own and get the balance of head and heart right is often referred to as ‘emotional intelligence’. A key part of this is being able to tolerate silences. When someone is distressed or otherwise in the grip of strong emotions, they may fall silent, and that silence can feel very uncomfortable for us. We can be very tempted to jump in and ask a question or just fill the gap in some way. Understandable though this may be, it can be quite problematic because we are, in effect, giving the person concerned the message that dealing…

  Skills are vital in enabling individuals and countries to thrive in an increasingly complex, interconnected and rapidly changing world. Countries in which people develop strong skills, learn throughout their lives, and use their skills fully and effectively at work and in society are more productive and innovative, enjoy higher levels of trust, better health outcomes and a higher quality of life. This is your chance to debate the issues. The OECD Skills Strategy dashboard shows the UK is a relatively strong performer overall in developing and using people’s skills. However, the UK is not a leader in skills development and use. The comparatively low levels of basic skills among tertiary graduates in particular is a concern. There are important…

(Unless they want to) Humans are unique in their ability to willingly change. We can change our attitude, our appearance and our skillset. But only when we want to. The hard part, then, isn’t the changing it. It’s the wanting it. Click here to read more