“Touch is one of the most fundamental ways to offer support and caring and is often underestimated or disregarded in healthcare settings… A hand massage is a wonderful, easy introduction to using touch. From a caregiver’s perspective, they often feel disconnected from the person who is ill or weary of touching them, so it’s a wonderful way to approach the ill person and provide care in a manner that is satisfying to the ill person and to the caregiver, and safe.”

“It was an exciting time, because it felt like a real movement in personal well-being was taking place. It wasn’t being led by doctors, but by ordinary people who were looking for more than symptom relief. They wanted therapies that were natural and non-toxic, and a way to be involved in the healing process. That was a key—becoming an active participant in wellness and illness instead of being a passive recipient of care. The quest for ways to be involved in the healing process, and for tangible ways to share it, became the continuing thread of my studies, writing and teaching.”

Brian R. King is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and an international consultant on the Autism Spectrum. He, his wife and their three sons are on the Autism Spectrum, and his social work practice focuses exclusively on working with the Autism community. Sharing his inspirational personal experiences and interweaving every chapter with practical tips, Brian’s[... read more]

“The intergenerational nature of poor attachment can be a unending cycle if there is no intervention to help bring understanding of it. Children whose educational attainment is low very often are avoidant of their teachers, as they are of parents with whom they do not have secure attachment, and so they pay little attention to the teacher or become disruptive which often leads to exclusion.”

“When we begin our work with children, young people and their families we work towards establishing what their goals for the work would be by asking such a question as: ‘How will you know that the work of The Junction has been helpful?’ Inevitably there are times when a young person will make reference to no longer needing to come to the service. Whilst this could be construed as a negative comment it is clearly understandable. Furthermore, it enables us to ask questions that appropriately place responsibility on the young person: What needs to happen? What do you need to do differently? What do you need to demonstrate to others for them (professionals) to be confident that you no longer need to come?”

“…the book is about how ritual theatre can be expressed in a contemporary way that fits in with the way our lives are. People are hungering for this because the technological age is making us more and more disconnected, more in our heads and this is producing tremendous suffering under the labels of stress, fatigue and health problems. Ritual theatre along with the Arts Therapies counteract this. So the book includes ways in which ritual theatre is being brought into hospitals, institutions and work with marginal groups as well as to the general public.”

“I never actually drew the pictures to be entertaining! I did the drawings because that’s what I thought when I heard the expression… However I soon realised that people found my drawings amusing because they then realised how little sense the English language makes!”

Dr Gillie Bolton is a renowned therapeutic writing practitioner and author of many JKP books, including Write Yourself: Creative Writing and Personal Development. In this video, Dr Bolton discusses the new book – the latest in the Writing for Therapy or Personal Development series, of which she is also the series Editor – and shares[... read more]

BASW Social Work Reclaimed Conference Transforming Social Work and Social Care in the 21st Century 14th December • London, UK Seen as an example of excellence by Eileen Munro’s recent Review of Child Protection, ‘Reclaiming Social Work’ is one of the most discussed models of practice in recent history. Read an article about the Reclaiming[... read more]

By Charlotte E. Thompson, MD, author of Grandparenting a Child with Special Needs. Over the years, many grandparents have contacted me about how to be sure a grandchild with obvious muscle weakness received a correct diagnosis. Unfortunately, misdiagnosis often occurs because there are no diagnostic tests for many neuromuscular disorders and not enough pediatric neuromuscular experts[... read more]