One minute of fame

Hi, Just got my first capuccino of the day from Raquel, whose is almost but not quiet from Barcelona! I found myself singing an extract from 'Jerusalem' to her - "And did those feet in ancient times" etc. I am just back from a conference in Cardiff and the craick (conversation not the drugs)was good and we sang a bit in the bar till 2 in the morning. We being Vee, Parveen and a bunch of others. Vee can do Bohemian Rhapsody words and guitar solos perfect! I persuaded people to do one song recorded by the Pets - 'You were always on my mind' but they did it more Elvis than Neil Tennant. Hey ho.

I had one minute of fame rather than my usual 20 mins or so. But at least I had my 1 minute with the whole conference of about 200 people listening (or not) rather than 20 minutes with 20 or so people. So I decided to share part of a poem that I had written on the train on the way. Here goes:

Suppose

Suppose we have got it wrong
Suppose our cherished counselling ways
Are not the best we can offer the world
What if there are better ways of helping
To be found
In the rain forests
Or in the slums of Nairobi
Or on the street of Moss Side?

Bit above shared)

Are British people
(Whatever that means!)
Happier, healthier
Does British counselling
Even answer British problems
And even if it does
How universal is that?

Is counselling blind to culture?
If not where should it end?
Where should it begin?


I had had an eppithany on the train to the conference on Friday when I realised that all my thinking about culture and counselling applied to class and counselling. My colleague Liz had kept talking to me about class (that makes me uncomfortable - but that's another story or blog entry) and suddenly it made sense. Counselling and psychotherapy largely work with white middle class women clients and therapists. It is a minority group practice nothing wrong with that but it is not universal. Liz thinks it has a missionary feel to it when it engages with working class people - remember the origins of counselling in the churches and voluntary agencies? As my colleague John said this morning can we integrate into our practice approaches that do work well with groups less likely to access counselling? I then thought of my friend Dawn Edge's research among Black Caribbean women and post natal depression and how some of the women in her study used their faith - prayer, the Bible to help them cope.

Enough for now, work calls. As ever do email em back on or off blog if so moved.

Best to all,

Bill-on-bike