I have been a psychologist for more than 30 years. Unusually, I specialise in a number of different applied areas within psychology: Clinical Psychology, Forensic Psychology, Counselling Psychology, and Occupational Psychology. This may be because I have a shorter attention span than most people, but I like to think that it is more likely due to the fact that I am genuinely interested in both human behaviour and the context in which that behaviour occurs. There are overwhelmingly similar aspects of all human beings and overwhelmingly unique aspects of all human beings, and the same applies to the many contexts in which we live, love, work, and experience the world around us.
I worked for many years exclusively in conducting assessments and delivering treatment. For the last 15 years or so I have spent much of my time providing expert opinion and testimony in a variety of different cases.
I am engaged now in what will probably be the last enduring adventure of my career, which is my virtual clinic ipsychology.clinic.
When I first started to deliver psychological counselling using the medium of the internet (in particular Skype video conferencing) I was perhaps a little apprehensive as to how successful the delivery of remote psychological services could be. My apprehension lasted almost 10 minutes into the first session. To my delight, I have discovered that not only does delivering therapy by this means provide much needed access to a wider population in much more convenient ways, but there seems to be something about the interaction between client and therapist via video conference that actually enhances the experience. I know that this is somewhat counter-intuitive, but my experience is that the boundaries created by the medium provide a safe context in which to experience the intimacies of the therapeutic relationship.
In addition to launching this exciting venture, which I hope and expect will grow into a virtual clinic with many providers, the platform allows me another exciting opportunity, which is this blog.
In a sense I have been ‘blogging’ for years; just not in the medium of a blog, so to speak. It has always been a matter of fascination to me that so many people are so fascinated by various aspects of psychology. My blogging to date has been on planes, trains, and in entirely social contexts when others have discovered what I do for a living, and I then find myself responding to the many questions that follow.
This is exactly how I want to engage with this blog in this space. Initially I will be expecting to post weekly, but this could become more frequent if demand dictates. Where we go from here will be entirely demand-led.
I have many topics and anecdotes that I will be sharing with you— some topical, some poignant, and (I hope) some humorous.
Over the coming weeks I expect to talk about false accusations of historical sexual abuse (I have given evidence in quite a number of such cases); the frailties and fallibilities of memory and the myth of recovered memory; the lifelong effects of narcissistic parenting; and many other diverse topics.
My request to you is to help enable me to structure this blog in the conversational way I have been able to do informally for so many years. If there is any aspect of psychology that interests you, or if you have a question that you have always wanted answered, please feel free to contact me. If I know nothing about the subject I will let you know; but if I do, and if it is a subject that I think will be of interest to others, I will address it here.