Monthly Archives: August 2015

Limbus : confirmation of Kid’s Company event on September 19th, 2015

Farad Dalal of Limbus has written say, “Several people have contacted us to check whether this event is still going ahead given the disaster that has just befallen Kid’s Company. This is to reassure you – Yes It Is!”

This should prove to be a particularly interesting event given the current circumstances.
As always, you can book your place in advance through the website www.limbus.org.uk.

Kid’s Company: Multi-Disciplinary Approaches to Working with Children and Young People

Presenters : Jocelyne Quenelle and Lizzie Smosarkso

The event takes place at Studio 3, The Space, Dartington Hall, Dartington , Totnes
Arrivals from 10am
10.30 to 1pm
Cost £20.

You can download a flyer here.

Future Limbus Events for 2015/16 :

Nov 14             Stephen Roundhill                  Neuropsychology in context
Feb 27             Otto Rheinschmeidt                  On Dreams
May 21             Margaret Landale                     Attunement & Empathy
Sep 17              Sally Sales                             TBA

Abstracts and Biographies on website www.limbus.org.uk

“Care Leavers – Care For Your Health” EPIC and Care Leavers Ireland conference Dublin, October, 2015

Care Leavers Ireland/EPIC are holding their 2nd Annual Care Leavers Conference Care Leavers – Care for your Health on October 8th. at Farmleigh House, Phoenix Park, Dublin.

For booking details go here

The conference is sponsored by Orchard Children’s Services.

The then and now of dealing with child poverty and its consequences in the United Kingdom

Calling the 1940s through to the 1960s ‘a golden age for child care’ Bob Holman in his book, Champions for Children The lives of modern child care pioneers, which recounts the lives of Eleanor Rathbone, Marjory Allen, Clare Winnicott, John Stroud, Barbara Kahan, Peter Townsend and Holman himself, the author makes the following observations in his preface :

Yet from their varied lives, two themes appear in common. First, that central government had to accept responsibility for dealing with child poverty. It was not sufficient to leave it to employers, voluntary agencies or the charity of individuals. Second, that local government should be the provider of high quality service for deprived children. This was not to dismiss the contribution of the voluntary services, but was rather a recognition that only local authorities could ensure a coverage of such services throughout the country. These two themes…appear again and again throughout the book. They are not entirely separate, for the champions perceived that poverty was a major factor in undermining family life.

Some may baulk at the idea of separating out special charismatic champions from the field of support to children and families where so many others have achieved a great deal, but this should not distract us from what might be drawn from Holman’s observations. It seems surprising that during a time when the United Kingdom was struggling to overcome the economic difficulties it faced as a consequence of World War II, it remained able to afford so much more for its impoverished and needy families than it does now when, austerity or not, the United Kingdom is by any measure a significantly wealthier state.

This is a cause for concern not only because of the continuing cuts to the supportive services provided by local authorities and the voluntary sector for the increasing number of children and families from our communities who need our help but also because, as a part of the overall programme of cuts, these services are being farmed out with government encouragement to large private organisations to run on the cheap in order that they can make profit for themselves and their shareholders out of the poverty of others.

Source : Holman, R (2001 ) Champions for Children The lives of modern child care pioneer Bristol, Policy Press (2013)

CBT : science or economic propaganda ?

For some years now Cognitive Behavioural Therapies have successfully held the therapy field persuading governments and health authorities with claims that unlike other therapies, for instance, humanist or psychodynamic, the efficacy of CBT is based on scientifically observed evidence. While CBT may be helpful for some seeking help with anxiety, the claim that it is the panacea for all, including those who are suffering from severe anxieties, fears and other emotional stresses, surely deserves closer scrutiny. Increasingly others are questioning the truth that CBT is evidence-based. However CBT has powerful political and economic allies attracted by the various claims made that it is scripted and time-limited and provides a one size fits all therapy.

Last November (2014), Limbus, an organisation which arranges Continued Professional Development events for counsellors and psychotherapists in the south-west England held a national conference, Challenging the Cognitive Behavioural Therapies : The Overselling of CBT’s Evidence Base, at the Dartington Hall near Totnes in Devon which sought to challenge the evidence provided to substantiate the claims made for CBT. The organiser of the conference, Farhad Dalal has provided us with the following links to presentations made at the Dartington Conference and to other related papers. We offer them here because the predominance of CBT is increasingly evident in the support which is offered to children and young people.

We’ve provided below some to the papers and articles Farad Dalal has brought our notice to but there are more articles, blogs, videos of conference presentations and other resources available from this page on the Limbus website.

Conference Papers

Dalal, F. (2015) Statistical Spin: Linguistic Obfuscation—The Art of Overselling the CBT Evidence Base

Shedler, J .(2015) Where is the evidence base for evidence-based therapy?

Ferraro, D. (2015) Torture, Psychology and the Neoliberal State.

Henrich, M., Heine, J. & Norenzayan,S. (2008) The Weirdest People in the World

Greenhalgh, T. (2014) Evidence based medicine: a movement in crisis?

Shedler, J.(2010) Shedler (2010) The Efficacy of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

Adams, S. (2008) Naughty not N.I.C.E.: Implications for therapy and services

Breen, L., Darlaston-Jones, D (2008) Moving Beyond the Enduring Dominance of Positivism in Psychological Research

Longmore, R. and Worrell, M. (2007) Do we need to challenge thoughts in cognitive behavior therapy?

Samuels, A.& Veale, D.(2007) Improving Access to Psychological Therapies: For and Against

Western, D., Novotny,C., & Thompson,H.(2004 )The Empirical Status of Empirically Supported Psychotherapies: Assumptions, Findings, and Reporting in Controlled Clinical Trials