Context magazine

Contents snapshot

Editorial – Gary Robinson and Ali Robertson

The ‘kitten that stood on stones’ – A story written by Anna – supported by Kimberley Hollis, a systemic family practitioner and multi-agency worker for Derbyshire Social Care Services

“Thank you Taylor Swift”: Impacts of a raid on the random in systemic family practice – Chris Heseltine, Zara and Katherine

Lessons hard won: An introduction to the theory and applications of ‘consulting your consultants’ – Lindsey Hampson

Exploring self-harm – Gary Robinson

The wolves and the river – a story by Holly and Nicola

Shantomon: Bangladeshi women using their voices – Romena Toki

In the multiverse of the multi-family group: Co-constructing new understandings and sharing expertise of anorexia nervosa – Gail Eglin and Stephanie Keith

‘Tishisms’

“Experts by experience”: Do we pay lip service to working collaboratively with people? Ali Robertson

The Mental Health Schools Network: Sharing expertise with teachers and schools – Hannah

Frantic Families support group – Leigh Morton and Tracey Goodrum

Bryan Lask, 1941-2015 – Judith Lask

Cybernetico-epistobabble, the emperor’s new clothes and other sacred cows – Bryan Lask

AFT news

AFT guidelines: Levels of systemic training and competence for practice

Continuing Professional Development (CPD Policy)

AFT representation at public policy events – Tessa Jones

What does the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence have to do with the Association for Family Therapy and Systemic Practice in the UK? Helen Schur

Letters to the editor

• Additional letters to the editor
  
  • Letter 1
  • Letter 2

Contents snapshot

Editorial – Gail Simon

Some thoughts on communication, empathy, and sensory differences in autism – Ann Jinks

Working with autism – Sami Timimi

Are we not autistic? David Steare

Working with autism spectrum disorder and challenging behaviour: Using non-violent resistance strategies in systemic practice – Claudia Forero Jurado and Ruth García

“My life is a soap-opera”: Autism and collaborative and dialogical therapy – Fran Urbistondo Cano

Systemic therapy and autistic spectrum conditions – Mark Haydon-Laurelut

“I just like Lego!” Self-autism mapping as a non-totalising approach – Rebecca McKenzie and Rudi Dallos

How some systemic practices might help young women with autism spectrum conditions, and their families – Sarah Helps

How I discovered Asperger’s – Peter Attwood

Is it (Asperger’s) or isn’t it (Asperger’s)? Is that the (only) question? Explored through ‘6 D’: A model (in progress) for systemic practising – John Burnham

Different brains in nurturing contexts create all sorts of benefits for society – review of Neurotribes; the legacy of Autism and how

to think smarter about people who think differently (Steve Silberman, 2015, London: Allen and Unwin) – Sarah Helps

Kent conference 2015. Peace and values: Connecting spirituality, systems thinking and activism

Letters to the editor

AFT joins the Relationships Alliance Network – Nicola McCarry

AFT news

Contents snapshot

Editorial – Michelle Newman Brown and Pete Brown

Strength in horses; Strength through horses – Jemma Hockley

The problem pizza – Robert Montagu

“A rainbow in someone’s cloud”: Enabling social workers to form a spectrum of ideas to hear the child’s voice – Jennifer McKinney and Daron Askin

Hairdresser therapy of engagement – Michelle Newman Brown

Creating a space with children to listen, to think, to reflect: Small groups in a London primary school – Tanya Smart

An exploration of chess games in therapy – Pete Brown

More than pen and paper – a closer look at a family therapist’s tool kit – Lynsey Waterhouse

The dog and the top hat: A systemic exploration of the game of Monopoly as used in therapy – Elaine Holliday and Ruth Morgan-Jones

Closing comments: “Leslie, age 14: Did not engage; case closed” Re-visiting alliances in therapy with adolescents – Martin Allen, Tayo Aderemi, Nana Bonsu, Karen Burgess, Hannah Collyer and Abigail Richards

How much ketchup can be used when it falls from the overfilled cupboard of anger? Michelle Newman Brown

Reflecting-puppet shows and therapeutic messages – Pete Brown, Lilia Colandrea, Annmarie Tampling, Camilla Waldburg and Elaine Williamson

Creative techniques for child-focused family therapy – Liana Lowenstein

When a picture is worth a thousand words – Lesley Hanney

Learning, teaching, growing self-reflexivity – Leanne Bannister, Dan Jacobs, Mike O’Connor and Joana Ribeiro

Paws – for walks, reflections, and connections in creative processes – Stephen Thomson

The importance of play and playfulness in an attachment-based model of practice for looked after children and their new families – Jane Clark

Film, theatre, music and puppets: A parental mental health worker’s toolkit for creative working with families – Noah Solarin

Review: McColgan, M. and McLaughlin, E. (2014) When Worry Came to Visit. London: Speechmark. Reviewed by Camilla Waldburg

DVD review: Therapeutic Responses to Families in Crisis. Reviewed by Annabelle Gilham

AFT news

Contents snapshot

Editorial – Brian Cade

Humour as a therapeutic cure for ‘seriousity’: Reflecting on the work of Moshe Lang – Janice Florent

Music as metaphors for thinking about interaction in families: The ‘Not So’ Young Persons Guide to the ‘Interactional’ Orchestra – Michelle Newman Brown

Faith in recovery: Adapting the tree of life to include Islamic ideas of wellbeing – Shirin Mustafa and Angela Byrne

Eggshells and elephants – Amy Urry and Jessica Brock

What’s in a word? A short story – AM Toase

Acknowledging elephants in the room: A response to Chrissie Blackburn’s resignation letter (2015) – Robin Darracott

Art of forgiveness: A systemic community project – Alastair Pearson

Pre-deciding about violence – Elizabeth Traubman and Lionel Traubman

What didn’t I do? – Anne-Marie Schuller

The true story of mothers with learning disability – We CAN do it! – Iiris Kleinberg and Kate Theodore

A narrative of networking – Karen Holford

Miriam Richardson and Fiona Peacock with Geoff Brown, Tracey Fuller, Tanya Smart and Jo Williams (2016) Fostering Good Relationships: Partnership Work in Therapy with Looked After and Adopted Children. London: Karnac (The United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy Series). Book review by Jim Wilson

McCarthy, I. & Simon, G. (eds.) (2016) Systemic Therapy as Transformative Practice. Farnhill: Everything is Connected Press. Review by Paul Stockwell.

International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, 17 – 20 May 2016, University of Illinois, Champaign, USA

Minutes of the 40th AGM of The Association for Family Therapy and Systemic Practice held on 10th September 2015 at Keynes College, University of Kent, Canterbury, 6.30pm to 7.45pm

Report of the Directors and Unaudited Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31st December 2015 for The Association for Family Therapy Ltd (a Company Limited by Guarantee)

Chair’s report 2016

Treasurer’s report for the 2016 AGM reporting on the financial year ending December 2015

AFT committee annual reports

Journal of Family Therapy report 2016

Update from project co-ordinators

Letter to the editor

AFT news

Contents snapshot

Editorial – Ged Smith

Engagement in dialogue: Some brief unfinished thoughts – Harlene Anderson

DSM-5 in context – Tom Strong

“If I were you, I wouldn’t start from here”: Working for real change in societal responses to distress – Dave Harper

Tweaking the frame: An ethic for collaborative practice in family therapy – Glenn Larner

Systemic considerations in diagnosis – Kelley Quirk and Jay Lebow

Paulo Freire and radical humanism: An invitation to debate – Jim Wilson

Making sense of distress without using psychiatric labels – Kev Harding

Psychiatric diagnosis: Problems and its persistence – Steven Coles

Nomadic inquiry – all in the mind – Kieran Vivian-Byrne

The art of looking like you are doing very little: Working on a psychiatric ward with people experiencing psychosis – Andrea Davies

Meaning-making in a meaningful way – Aisling Mannion

Mindful family therapy in a medicalised setting – Kate Nobbs

Phenomenology in psychiatry – Miles Clapham

Operative diagnosis – new possibilities for a systemic radical-constructivist diagnostic system – Padraic Gibson

Barratt, S. & Lobatto, W. (2016) Surviving and Thriving in Care and Beyond: Personal and Professional Perspectives. London: Karnac Books – Reviewed by Bebe Speed

Confederation of Family Therapy Training Institutes – update – Mair Thomas and Kevin Hawkes

Annie is thinking of becoming an Independent Practitioner – a helpful conversation with Aspens

AFT news

Contents snapshot

Editorial – Yoko Totsuka and Wendy Lobatto

A systemic conceptualisation of the process of change in local authority children’s services – Barbara McKay

A day in the life of a family therapist and manager, 2025 – Tom Jewell and Henry Ker

Leadership: Putting our systemic sensibilities to work – Christine Oliver and Martin Miksits

“Atmosphere is my style” (J.M. Turner to Ruskin, 1844) – Philip Messent

Five principles of systemic management – Daniel Moonman

So everything is relational? Experiences of reflective-letter writing in organisations: A letter from the City of Culture – Anne Oakes and Nuala Cullen

Comments

My relationship with the ‘evidence-base’: Reflections on current ideas about psychotherapy research with children and young people from a systemic perspective – Sarah Coles

Newham’s journey towards organisational change: Moving from compliance to a learning culture using systemic approaches to social work practice – Beverley Halligan

Performing John Shotter: A day of conversational ‘becomings’ – Leah Salter and Steve Mills

AFT news

Annie’s first steps as independent practitioner – a helpful conversation with Aspens