NEWS
Friday 17th of January saw the end of our PCP for Coaching course; a really enjoyable and successful programme led by Mary Frances, with input from Dorota Bourne and John Fisher. Participants now have the option of producing a written piece of work to complete the programme.
There is also talk of setting up a Special Interest Group following on from the course. If this goes ahead we will put details on this website.
New book:
Experiential Personal Construct Psychology: Selected papers, P. Cummins and L. Leitner eds. available on kindle or in paperback on Amazon UK.
PCP for Coaching Course
Third day of the PCP for Coaching course
Day 1 of the PCP for Coaching Course. Several participants could not attend on the day, but we were joined by a colleague from Iceland who had come specially for the session.
The second day of the PCP for Coaching Course was led by Dr. Dorota Bourne of Henley Business School, pictured here with Mary Frances, the Course Coordinator.
Participants getting down to work on the second day of the course
Foundation Course 2019
Feedback on PCP Quarterly Study Day 13th September 2019
The PCP Quarterly Study Day 13th September 2019 was titled 'Meet the Family' and led by Sally Robbins. We started with three challenging papers which participants would normally have trouble accessing, and a through lively debate and discussion ranged from the theoretical understanding of family work in PCP through to the implications of this work in terms of practicalities in our everyday lives. There was a particular focus on eliciting non-verbal construing and participants worked together on two new techniques.
Feedback on the day was enthusiastic:
- Fabulous day on Family Construing
- Really interesting, thought provoking day
- Will be using this next week!
- Loved the creativity
PCP Quarterly Study Days - March 2019:
Young people and social media - looking through the lens of PCP
Feedback from the participants:
- Lots of thought-provoking discussion. Great to have discussion with a range of professionals.
- Really good use of examples.
- Perfectly planned and paced presentation - plenty of input and ideas with space to think and consider ways to use these ideas.
- Relaxed and purposeful day; safe to share ideas and ask questions but also learned a lot from others.
- Great treacle cake!
PCP Quarterly Study Days- September 14th 2018 PCP and Supervision
Feedback from the participants:
- An ideal session!
- Helpful and thought provoking. Useful tools/ activities to use again elsewhere. V friendly! Approachable!
- Great to have a day which meets the needs of a group with such diverse needs and roles, achieved by taking ideas from everyone and allowing people to discuss in groups what they do.
- You packed a lot into the day.
- It has made me think hard about my own practice and I came away with ideas about how I might improve.
- Great cakes too!
Feedback from the participants:
- Learning more about PCP, the theory and practical application so that I am able to use it as part of my work - I have already done this during and after!
- The passionate and engaging teaching team. A really lovely bunch of people.
- Meeting other psychologists and gaining different perspectives
- I enjoyed the course very much and hope to see you at a study day in the near future
Prof Harry Procter (photo) – Using Qualitative Grids: Construing Sibling Relationships
(with a focus on developing your knowledge of using PEG grids in your practice)
Feedback:
- brilliant range of techniques for use in clinical practice and supervision
- Harry Procter workshop was very illuminating and brought up a lot of thoughts for my working and personal life
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Lots of usable tools. I love the flexibility that PCP and Qualitative Grids offer for my practice.
I cannot see any other way of eliciting such powerful information. Very enjoyable.
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Thought provoking day, well presented, with clear theoretical links to practice. The flexibility in this approach is refreshing to
think about in all types of professional, clinical and personal relationships.
- Thought provoking day which made me reflect on myself in my work and family roles. Very useful, flexible grids explained.
The George Kelly Society is a multidisciplinary professional society is founded in June 2016, with the aim of supporting the study of, and communication about, the life and work of George Alexander Kelly [1905-1967], the Psychology of Personal Constructs, and Kelly's ongoing influence in the many fields to which he contributed. This includes the theoretical development and the practical applications of the Psychology of Personal Constructs, and its relationships to neighbouring fields. The George Kelly Society supports conferences, websites, journals and other media that share the goals of the society.
The Steering Committee consists of Prof Franz Desley Hennessy (Australia), Secretary/Treasurer, Prof Jörn Scheer (Germany), Information Officer, and, as Members-at-large, Dr.ssa Chiara Centomo (Italy), Prof Gabriele Chiari (Italy), Peter Cummins (UK), MA.
Membership is open to anyone interested in the life and work of George Kelly and the Psychology of Personal Constructs. Currently, no membership fees are charged.
If interested, please contact the secretary, Desley Hennessy (Leslie.Hennessy@gmail.com).
Website: www.kellysociety.org
Check out this book on the iBooks Store:
Using Personal Construct Psychology with Children and AdolescentsHeather Moran Category: Psychology
David Green presented a workshop in Coventry on 13/3/15 called “Come back Idiographic assessment, all is forgiven-almost" 
Another Way of Knowing: the poetry of psychological enquiry. Miller Mair (2014)Miller Mair’s last book has just been published. As its editor ( Simon King- Spooner) says on the cover “ Another way of knowing has the theme of a personal journey, taking in smaller themes as it feels its way forward………… It should be read by anyone tired of bullying know-all reductionism, and feeling the need for another way of knowing”.
Available direct from the publishers Lulu Press, or from Amazon.
A review of a presentation at the University of Herts on 12th June 2014 given by Peter Cummins and Dr Dina Pekkala.
This day course was attended very substantially and reflected the researched experience of the presenters in providing clinical care for those referred for treatment of anger.
They described their utilising standardised instruments, comprehensive survey of developmental features including socialisation and abuse and also, from an idiographic position, what people themselves actually say in the initial phase. The presenters noted that sometimes referrals for anger masked pressing social and interpersonal concerns, more suitable for the resolution of normal social pressure than for ‘Anger treatment’.
They gave an account of their use of popular Anger Management strategies that have owed much to Ray Novaco, portrayed as helpful. At a certain point, though, almost paralleling their treatment progression, the presenters gave their cardinal view that it is structure of meaning issues that lie behind anger. In essence, they demonstrated very clear researchable indications that anger is the expression of some initial change in structure of meaning and subsequent fixity.
Normally, PCP protagonists blather incomprehensibilities about the theory but on this day it slipped in so easily how invalidation of a frame of meaning can in the end lead to stuckness, hostility and, quoting Leitner, “Structural Arrest”.
We received many illustrations of the ways in which, within a semi manualised framework (and, modesty forbids, informed and fluid facilitation) people reconstrued themselves and their anger. And there were graphs to prove it!!
In this day presentation there was everything which the evidenced-‐based afficionado desired and also something more about wider meaning than just the dehumanising label of ‘anger’.
Reference: The supporting literature is available in the text called “Working with Anger: a Constructivist Approach” by Peter Cummins (2005) and published by Wiley. If you are thinking of running an anger programme then this is well worth the investment.