Honouring the Psychological Commons:
Peer to Peer Networks and
Post-Professional Psychopractice
An eIpnosis Review March 8, 2010
As the Regulation of the psychological therapies in the UK moves towards an endgame, eIpnosis attention has turned from resisting the Health Professions Council's [HPC] codification of the ineffable strands of working with the human condition, to re-stating, exploring and developing what we value and trust.
Foremost among this for eIpnosis has long been the notion of a 'Psychological Commons', an abundance of psychological knowledge and practice that has been more or less freely available for decades.
A Psychological Commons
Ordinary Wisdom - Shared Power
This chapter from a forthcoming eIpnosis book THERAPY FUTURES, introduces the concept of a psychological commons and outlines its relevance for the psychological therapies more .doc.mp3
Kite-Flyers Convention Meets
BACP Reference Group June 22, 2011
The accreditation of voluntary practitioner registers - presentation by Christine Braithwaite of the Professional Standards Authority more
Psychological therapies, regulation of,
Enantiodromia Government reverses policy - from centralised control to pluralism eIpnosis review
The Health Professions Council faces a Judicial Review of their failure to observe due process in their approach to regulating counselling and psychotherapy Game, Set... and Match? The Realities and Inequities of Positional Power
eIpnosis editorial Word .doc.mp3
Humanistic Alchemy
21 weekend workshops with Amadis Cammel, Guy Gladstone and visiting facilitators.
Humanistic Alchemy will provide an extended forum for psychological healing, authentic spirituality, reconnection with our bodies and the natural world.
This is a post modern interpretation of the traditional alchemical process, based on prevailing transformational paradigms and grounded in humnaistic actitivities. We Depart September 2011
Contact: 020 7263 4885
A Psychological Commons,
eIpnosis text for the International Commons Conference Berlin, November, 2010
eIpnosis - a change of direction
eIpnosis is shifting emphasis from resisting state regulation of the psychological therapies to championing new and existing ways of approaching 'human condition work' and 'civic accountability' post state regulation*.
This is a new beginning. While there are several established projects and initiatives, we are in discovery and exploratory mode. If you would like to contribute, get in touch.
THE INDEPENDENT PRACTITIONERS NETWORK
civic accountability for psychological work
a peer to peer network approach
This article introduces The Independent Practitioners Network [IPN] as a thriving example of a peer-to-peer [P2P] organization.
The article begins with a brief account of the political context out of which IPN emerged and moves on to outline the IPN process of holding civic accountability. This is followed by accounts of how network coherence and cohesion are sustained and IPN's basic protocols. How IPN provides civic accountability for psychological work is described, along with some of the values that inform IPN. I conclude with a short account of an IPN group meeting, some consideration to what I might have left out, and end with a Q&A listing. more | .doc | .mp3 | podcast
Are you feeling lonely, isolated or unsettled in your life as a practitioner?
Have you recently finished, or will soon complete, a training in working with the human condition?*
Or have you been working long enough to appreciate why it is important to have a form of practitioner civic accountability that matches your values?
Perhaps it is time to check out the Independent Practitioners Network [IPN] a national gateway to practitioner communities based on peer review. IPN consists of self-directing groups of five-eight practitioners plus external validation, organised via low/no hierarchy network structures.
To get to know the IPN culture, and to find out how to sign up as a participant, join an existing IPN group, start a new IPN group, or convert an existing group, see the IPN website or email eIpnosis or phone 03333 213 004 (Calls cost the same as 01 & 02 national numbers)
NEW WORDS FOR NEW TIMES Moving to Post-Professional Practice eIpnosis Editorial by Denis Postle
How we name what we see, what we do, what we believe, matters a lot.
This is especially true when the State is seeking to discipline and control the psychological therapies. The mainstream accrediting bodies have moved from outright opposition to regulation to collaboration, and even enthusiasm.
This editorial seeks to build a transition. A bridge that would give us a path away from these professionalized priorities, towards a more fruitful destination. One where the values that are already being compromised by association and integration with the State's agendas, can be affirmed and consolidated. more | .mp3 |.doc | podcast
V I D E O S
What might be core values in our field? How might we build civic accountability for our work around them?
Video seems a good way to raise awareness of such questions
Ipnosis video Holding the Big Picture - Love Matters - further reflections on the State regulation of the psychological therapies
This video version of an introduction to IPN was originally given at the IPN 2006 Conference. Part 1 deals with why IPN is a good idea.
This video version of an introduction to IPN was originally given at the IPN 2006 Conference. Part 2 deals with the practicalities of participation in IPN
Validity In the Psychological Therapies - Why Love Provides a Better Benchmark Than Science. This video builds on the earlier Love Matters. eIpnosis argues that the culture of evidence-based practice compromises and damages work with the human condition and that enquiry - based therapeutic relationships rooted in love provide a better form of validity than science. 25 mins
eIPnosis has long argued that the underlying model of human nature that we adopt, or have sold to us, has a deep formative influence on our present preferences and actions. Behaving Ourselves, a video I made for C4 featuring historian of science, Professor Robert Young, Steven Chorover and Donna Harraway, looks at some of the ways in which our ideas of human nature are shaped. 54 mins
IPN may be a good way to undertake civic accountability for psychological therapy practitioners but it isn't the only way. An alternative is a Practitioner Full Disclosure List [PFDList]
See my original 2003 proposal, recently retitled and updated as a demo web-site thelist.info Here (below) is a video presentation of thelist from the November 2009 Alliance Conference, that includes discussion by some of the people developing a pilot PFDList for counsellors and psychotherapists in the Bristol area that will shortly go out to tender.
A parallel, highly authoritarian proposal for 'functional' regulation of all psychological therapists via a PFDList appears in the Maresfield Report from the psychoanalytic community.
There must be a wing on which to fly
Wallace Stevens