Three years ago I stepped away from my teaching job in the physiotherapy programme here at AUT University, in Auckland, New Zealand, to manage a team of psychology and psychotherapy lecturers and researchers. The secondment comes to an end in a few weeks time and it's given me an opportunity to reflect on what it's like working with people who think and work completely differently to physios. The first thing that struck me about my time with the 'psy' disciplines is how little time physios actually spend thinking about what they do. Personal therapy and supervision are absolutely intrinsic to the profession, and no-one here believes that you can be a mindful practitioner without also … [Read more...] about Lessons learned from leaving physiotherapy
All feedback is projection
I spend a lot of my time at the university these days working with psychologists and psychotherapists, and one of the things I am always struck by is how much of what they learn could be applied to other healthcare practices, especially professions like physiotherapy. The quote in the title; 'All feedback is projection', for example, was told to me by a psychotherapy colleague who was explaining how it is that people will give you feedback from their own perspective but, more often than not, what they're really doing is projecting their own values and beliefs and its not ever entirely about you. I've thought about that a lot when I've reflected on the advice I've been given by people … [Read more...] about All feedback is projection
Learning to think otherwise
One of the real pleasures of my job is the chance to supervise students doing lengthy doctoral and masters theses. I have a number of students doing different project, and they seem like the epitome of the kind of close personal relationship at the heart of learning and teaching. I had pause to reflect yesterday on an experience with one of my students who is looking at the way that biomedical discourses have come to dominate the way we think about cancer. He's using the writings of Michel Foucault to guide his thinking and, having no real appreciation for Foucault, he's made really good progress. Throughout his project he's grappled with his own belief that environmental and … [Read more...] about Learning to think otherwise
10 critical suggestions for new graduates
This image is free for you to print or download. It is formatted in A4 landscape. Please share with colleagues: other physiotherapists, doctors, nurses, occupational therapists, etc...whomever you think might find it useful. … [Read more...] about 10 critical suggestions for new graduates
