Tag Archives: Anne Clilverd

Podcast Episode 053: Anne Clilverd Interview ~ Pets as Therapy

Full faceIn this interview Anne Clilverd talks about the important therapeutic value that pets provide for their owners and for others. They offer a remarkable range of functions that can help people across all age groups. She also talks briefly about her work with the Pets as Therapy charity.

For the full content of this episode click on the links to iTunes and Sound Cloud (or go to Stitcher Radio):

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/strengths-revolution-steve/id867043694

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/053-anne-clilverd-interview/id867043694?i=340049503&mt=2

Podcast Episode 049: Anne Clilverd Interview ~ Team-Working

TheStrengthsRevolution_albumart_2-2An interview with Anne Clilverd as she reflects back on three specific teams to identify what elements contribute to good team-working.

An acute admissions ward where, despite being based on a hierarchy, a strong sense of belonging was fostered. The environment was supportive through all staff being encouraged to contribute their observations in a way that was respected by multidisciplinary colleagues.

Compass as a walk-in advice and mental health centre also offering a degree of outreach work as a new initiative at a time when long-stay hospitals were beginning to be closed down. This initiative was joint funded and managed by health and social care, operating as a small multidisciplinary team of four people committed to a strong set of values and principles. As a group the workers need to feel confident to have their ideas openly and constructively critiqued; and they were supported by an advisory group that included several service users and representatives of local voluntary sector services.

As team manager Anne worked in the Kings cross Community Mental Health Team. This type of team functions as a group of individuals who come together for a common purpose, but belonging may be more to the team name than a sense of full collective working. The team manager carries the specific responsibility to stamp a personality on the team through a vision for common goals and purpose, and the quality of supervision as a means for encouraging reflection and professional/personal development.

Anne also briefly reflects on the optimal size of good functioning teams. For the full content of this episode click on the links to iTunes and Sound Cloud (or go to Stitcher Radio):

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/strengths-revolution-steve/id867043694

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/049-anne-clilverd-interview/id867043694?i=337032545&mt=2

Podcast Episode 047: Anne Clilverd Interview ~ Narrative Therapy

TheStrengthsRevolution_albumart_2-2This episode is the first part of an interview with Anne Clilverd, formerly Team Manager of the Kings Cross Community Mental Health Team in London. In this discussion Anne reflects on where she first became aware of Narrative Therapy, how she followed through the specific training faciltated by Michael White, and some of the challenges of embedding it into her primary work role in a community service.

The concept of the ‘outsider witness’ as a distinct function within Narrative Therapy is explored in relation to the therapeutic role offered with clients. Specific reference is made to use of the therapeutic approach in locally designed ‘Mental Health Matters’ workshops, where a client, carer and practitioner are able to work together in supporting people to tell and analyse their own story. The role of family and cultural values are able to be honoured as an element that can emerge through a workshop style of approach to embedding the ideas of Narrative Therapy.

The approach can also be shared and adapted through staff supervision with practitioners open and interested in developing the ideas into their practice, and for exploring how they are functioning in the practitioner role.

For the full content of this episode click on the links to iTunes and Sound Cloud (or go to Stitcher Radio):

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/strengths-revolution-steve/id867043694

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/047-anne-clilverd-interview/id867043694?i=335937142&mt=2

Podcast Episode 046: Valuing Narrative

TheStrengthsRevolution_albumart_2-2The term narrative is important for many reasons; it is the means by which we recount our lives, the events, emotions and experiences that make up the patchwork of our existence. It is the core of each interpersonal relationship, and it has become a continual theme throughout my working career. The fundamental basis of mental health care is the trust and confidence built through the power of working relationships, enabling people to tell their stories.

Documenting our work also presents a conflict between the dominance of bureaucratic tick-box approaches and the need to represent someone through a narrative of their lives. Then there is narrative therapy as a psychotherapeutic approach to talking treatments. This episode concludes by outlining two of the core components of narrative therapy, before the next episode which will take the form of an interview with a friend and colleague who has trained in narrative therapy.

For the full content of this episode click on the links to iTunes and Sound Cloud (or go to Stitcher Radio):

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/strengths-revolution-steve/id867043694

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/046-valuing-narrative/id867043694?i=335428751&mt=2

“We construct a narrative for ourselves, and that’s the thread we follow from one day to the next. People who disintegrate as personalities are the ones who lose that thread.” [Paul Benjamin].