Humanism in Counselling and Psychotherapy

The Humanist Tradition in Counselling and Psychotherapy

The April lecture to Hastings Humanists will be given by Andrew Colquhoun, who provides counselling and psychotherapy services in Hastings (at 44 Wellington Place). His talk will cover the various schools and their history, with emphasis on the humanist tradition in person-centred and cognitive behavioural therapy, and will also touch on national policy and regulation. This is a subject in which great strides in scientific effectiveness have been made in recent years.

The meeting is at the Arts Forum, 36 Marina, from 6:30 pm, Thursday 14 April.

The above is the wording of a press release I have sent out. A PDF poster advertising the lecture is available here. This is an unusual subject and I hope it will be of interest to a wide range of members. The talk will be followed as usual by a question and answer session.

Skeptics in the Pub comes to Lewes

I've only recently found that there are now Skeptics in the Pub meetings being organised in Lewes, at the Elephant and Castle, White Hill. The March 24 Meeting, featuring Simon Singh on Alternative Medicine is already sold out. There are meetings planned from April to August, but it looks as if it is necessary to book in advance.

There is also an established programme in Brighton. They meet at the Caroline of Brunswick, 39 Ditchling Road. The April 12 talk is by David Aaronovitch on Conspiracy Theories.

There are other Skeptics in the Pub groups all round the country, though not all are as active.

A Multifaith Royal Wedding?

Our discussion of Monarchy v Republicanism at our March meeting didn't get very far. In fact there was such an evident disparity of views that I thought it best to cut that part of the discussion short in case it led to violence! On the other hand our discussions on the Census and on Disestablishment were largely consensual.

There are a lot of amusing suggestions coming forward on Twitter on the subject of making the Royal Wedding a Multi-Faith event. This spoof seems to have originated from a Jewish Chronicle article.

A pastafarian (follower of the flying spaghetti monster) suggests serving meatballs and spaghetti. An alarming number call for human sacrifice: Wiccans want to burn a chief constable in a giant wooden effigy in Trafalgar Square: Hindus favour the Queen committing Sati on the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral pile: Jedi's want to see Charles chop off William's hand with a light sabre. Pagans want a bearded Chief Druid to lead the celebration ... Oh, hang on ...

Local BBC Radio Sussex

I had a phone call from BBC Radio Sussex last week asking if I would be willing to appear, via telephone, on their Sunday morning programme, at the impossible time of 7:15 in the morning. Fortunately they got Mr Edmonson from Worthing Humanists to chat to them about the Census campaign, and he came across quite well. Not having listened to anything much on local radio I tried to continue listening to the programme, but found it to be three hours (6 to 9) of relentless religiously biased propaganda. I did think of phoning in to express some contrary views, but after spending some time searching for the contact details, found better things to do. It is perhaps fortunate that these religious programmes are mostly confined to times of the week when very few people will be listening. What are the chances of getting the BBC to put on a three-hour broadcast with a relentlessly atheistic slant?