eicolab.com.au

How men experience counselling: research identified themes

Fri, 20 May 2022 02:00:00 GMT

This is a summary of themes and subthemes identified in my Master's research project. The excerpt below is from Table 3 on page 41.

Men prize agency. They are affected by social norm even when they are not aware of it. Self-reliance is an important yet ignored male strength. They are guarded with self-disclosure. Men have the strength to overcome much hardship.

The geography of discussion amidst political polarisation

Fri, 13 May 2022 02:00:00 GMT

I created this model to illustrate the landscape of political discussions.

In the current climate of simplistic divisiveness based on shallow identities and fragile egos, real discussions with subtlety and depth, with genuine insights, are few and far between.

Two modes of working

Wed, 11 May 2022 02:00:00 GMT

I see myself engaging with my clients in two ways.

Coaching vs Consulting vs Counselling

Tue, 10 May 2022 02:00:00 GMT

Contemplating these three professions led me to plot the experience of them in the above five dimensions. Coaching sits between the two.

In the first dimension, counselling is more focused on examining the client’s internal psychological world, while consulting is more focused on external behaviours and factors.

My problem-solving method 2022

Thu, 05 May 2022 02:00:00 GMT

This is the current evolution of my problem-solving method. It is a hybrid of Design Thinking and Integrative Psychotherapy.

It is creative, human-centred, strengths-based, and action-oriented.

A glossary in everday language

Thu, 05 May 2022 02:00:00 GMT

Switching between academic research and working with clients is an interesting experience. Words from one area keep leaking into the other!

I keep a glossary of academic definitions for my research work. And here is a selected version of that list in everyday language.

Successive approximation in psychotherapy and design thinking

Thu, 14 Apr 2022 02:00:00 GMT

“Successive approximation” is a technique used to change behaviours in psychotherapy. Once a desired behaviour (eg quit smoking) has been identified, a series of incremental changes are planned. These may be: reduce consumption by 10% in a fortnight, then 25% by end of the month, then 50% by the end of the quarter. These smaller approximations of the ultimate goal are easier to accomplish. Having regular successes helps motivate the client.

A similar concept can be found in Design Thinking. This is the MVP or Minimum Viable Product. As the development of a product progresses, incremental versions are released. Customers use these and provide feedback. This feedback is then incorporated into the next MVP release. Developing a product this way delivers usable outcomes to the client and keeps the developers closely tethered to the actual, and often gradually emerging, needs of the client.

Deadly design

Thu, 07 Apr 2022 02:00:00 GMT

Facebook served up this image. The source is unknown.

It looks like someone mashed all the options when composing the instructions. These appear to be the options:

Every night before food
Once daily
To be taken four times a day
To be taken three times a day
Every [some unit of time]?
Three times daily
Take one
Take two
Take three
One or two

How to inspire creativity/innovation in your team

Thu, 17 Feb 2022 02:00:00 GMT

Someone who is a team lead in a corporation asked: “How would you inspire a stakeholder group to be more creative/innovative?”

Here are my responses.

Engaging with diverse peoples and cultures

Thu, 10 Feb 2022 02:00:00 GMT

Culture: the customs and social norms an individual subscribes to and is influenced by. Culture affects just about every aspect of our lives, including how we cope with difficulties, approach problems, and seek help for difficulties.

An individual’s culture may comprise family of origin, ethnicity, spirituality, sexuality, life philosophy, as well as the norms of their profession and workplace… Cultural influences are pervasive and often subconscious.

Myst: thoughts on a revolution

Thu, 27 Jan 2022 02:00:00 GMT

I remember playing this game decades ago. And being blown away by the graphics and game design. It was a nice reminiscence to find this interview on YouTube.

Accessible and usable knowledge

Fri, 21 Jan 2022 02:00:00 GMT

In the US, corporations now spend nearly triple the amount on research compared to public sources such as the US National Science Foundation (Science Progress 2011). IBM estimates that humans now generate 2.5 quintillion bytes of data each day, with 90% of the information ever created having been produced in the past two years (IBM 2013). …
Much of this falls within the domain of Web 2.0, that is, user-generated content, through billions of blogs, tweets, texts, pictures, and videos, as well as cell phone GPS signals and purchase-transaction records. The resulting infosphere has become a smog of information that one surfs, cherry-picks, or simply ignores.