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How to teach your children to be happy

How to teach your children to be happy

As parents, all we want for our children is for them to grow up happy. Compared to this one ultimate goal, others pale into insignificance. It doesn’t matter if your child has a school career festooned with string of A* exam grades and is set for a braggable future career, if they’re not happy. That means happy in themselves, happy with the world around them and armed with an ability to shrug off problems and move on. And that’s a state of mind we can nurture in our children - an acceptance of themselves, a mental contentment, a willingness to see the glass half full rather than lament the lack of more. Click here to read more
Dr Neil Thompson
May 17, 2018
Public Concern at Work – The whistleblowing charity

Public Concern at Work – The whistleblowing charity

Public Concern at Work is the whistleblowing charity. Established in 1993, we have led the new approach to whistleblowing that - both at home and abroad - recognises the key role it can play in anticipating and avoiding serious risks that arise in and from the workplace. Public Concern at Work aims to help make whistleblowing work so that dangers, wrongdoing and serious risks that threaten the public good are deterred or at least detected before serious damage is caused. We pursue this aim through our free confidential advice line, the support and services we provide to organisations, our policy work and our public education activities. Through these activities we promote the role of whistleblowing in furthering organisational accountability, individual…
Dr Neil Thompson
May 17, 2018
Neil Thompson’s Lesson for Living – Consider what your legacy will be

Neil Thompson’s Lesson for Living – Consider what your legacy will be

We can look back over our past and savour the beautiful and important moments as well as learn from the not so beautiful and the not so positive experiences. Equally, we can look back and dwell on the negatives, the mistakes, the regrets. We can also look forward and consider our future, plan ahead, anticipate and look forward positively. Or, we can look to the future with dread and anxiety, fearing the worst and thereby make our current situation quite an unpleasant one. So, whether we look forward or look back, we can focus on the positives, the negatives or a mixture of the two. But, what we have to recognise is that all this is likely to have an…
Dr Neil Thompson
May 3, 2018
A prosecutor’s vision for a better justice system

A prosecutor’s vision for a better justice system

When a kid commits a crime, the US justice system has a choice: prosecute to the full extent of the law, or take a step back and ask if saddling young people with criminal records is the right thing to do every time. In this searching talk, Adam Foss, a prosecutor with the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office in Boston, makes his case for a reformed justice system that replaces wrath with opportunity, changing people's lives for the better instead of ruining them. Although this inspiring presenter is focusing on the North American justice system, what he says provides significant food for thought about other criminal justice systems too. Click here to read more
Dr Neil Thompson
May 3, 2018
How training our managers to ‘listen’ reduced absence

How training our managers to ‘listen’ reduced absence

As a nation, we’re getting better at opening up the conversation around mental health, with many employees opting to confide in their manager in the first instance. On the face of it, this seems like a good idea: their manager knows them and has demonstrated experience at solving workplace problems. So, the employee naturally assumes, their manager might also be able to help them find answers and solutions to more personal problems. However, for those managers who haven’t had any training or experience of dealing with a distressed employee, the chances of them providing an appropriate response are limited. So when feedback from our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) revealed the extent to which our own workforce was struggling with emotional…
Dr Neil Thompson
May 3, 2018
#WalkTogether piece on inequality in UK

#WalkTogether piece on inequality in UK

This Sparks of Hope website, a global initiative, includes an interesting piece on inequality in the UK. The UK has the seventh highest level of income inequality out of 30 countries in the developed world. While the top fifth of the population earn 40% of the country's income, the bottom fifth earn only 8%. Wealth is even more unequally divided in the UK than income: the 1,000 richest people have as much wealth as the poorest 40% of households. Wealth is also unevenly spread across Great Britain. An average household in the South East of England has almost twice (183%) the amount of wealth of an average household in Scotland. Click here to read more
Dr Neil Thompson
May 3, 2018
Older women are victims of domestic violence, too

Older women are victims of domestic violence, too

Shortly before she reached retirement age, Marie Burke’s husband had a stroke. After a week in intensive care, he was moved to a care home to aid his recuperation. So that he didn’t have to go into care permanently, Burke (not her real name) agreed to leave her job two years early and become his full-time carer. Then the problems in their relationship began. Her husband would pore over bank statements, demand she hand over receipts for all expenditure and raise his voice if she couldn’t account for any small sums. “I paid for two cappuccinos, a juice and some cake in Starbucks, forgot to get a receipt and he accused me of lying,” Burke says. “He was convinced I’d been meeting…
Dr Neil Thompson
May 3, 2018
Neil Thompson’s Lesson for Living: Don’t lose sight of the little things that can make a big difference

Neil Thompson’s Lesson for Living: Don’t lose sight of the little things that can make a big difference

It is very wise to be clear about your priorities and make sure that you attend to them. So much time, effort and energy can be wasted if you spend time on lesser matters and lose sight of the most important. It makes sense that the big, important issues need to come first. However, there is also much to be gained from appreciating the little things. The two ideas are not incompatible. It is perfectly possible to focus primarily on the main issues you face, while also setting aside some time for the things that, at first view, may not seem to matter much, but which can actually be of great importance and value. What I am talking about is…
Dr Neil Thompson
April 18, 2018