Heather Moran’s Study Day on March 13th “It’s all about the how” was really well attended, despite a handful of cancellations. The day focussed on all the practical issues about how to work with children and young people using PCP, which was very relevant to other age groups as well. Heather introduced us to two new techniques, which we were able to try out in the afternoon. The whole day related to her new book - A beginner’s guide to Personal Construct Therapy with children and young people - available at all good bookshops, as they say.
Feedback included:

• A really productive day that I will find very helpful in my practice
• Tools really relevant to my role - can pick up and use straight away
• Environment felt comfortable and relaxed - as a newcomer I felt welcome

Using Qualitative Grids - March 16th 2018 – by Prof Harry Procter



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



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.



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.

News is emerging of a soon-to-be-launched website featuring the ICP International Lab [ICP stands for Institute of Constructivist Psychology Padua]. The purpose of the site and the grouping is to promote development of Personal Construct Psychology. As a founder member of the European Constructivist Training Network, ICP is already established as a creator of innovative and exciting international learning opportunities including the very successful and popular Racconti Mediterranei Summer Schools and Alpine Tales Winter Workshops. The plans are coming forward to have development programmes, based in lovely hills just outside Padua, starting in spring 2017. ‘PCP Foundations for Professionals’. They say this is to be “an immersive residential workshop offering a comprehensive and practical introduction to the theory and practice of PCP” - it may also be of interest to people looking for a refresher, or a boost to their existing practice. ‘PCP Approaches to Coaching & Consulting’ - is a programme designed for people working those fields who would like to find out more about working from a PCP approach. This will include a 3 day residential experience in Italy, followed by individually-tailored online tutoring.

You can register your interest in the programmes in advance of the Website launch coming early this year by Email: icp.intlab@gmail.com; Facebook: ICP International Lab and Twitter: @icp_lab.

We shall watch this space.​

The Organising Committee of the Padua Conference have generously offered that PCPA can access the resources of the Conference this year.
Here are their instructions:
1. Enter in  https://accounts.google.com
2. Put the email address  “epca2016share@gmail.com”  and the password  “2016share”
3. Click  the upper right corner  on the small  squares
4. Then select DRIVE
5. In "my files" you can download the files or  add one  by dragging it  in.

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

Extending the Range of Convenience of Personal Construct Psychology to the Extremes of Human Experience
Professor David Winter
December 9th, Coventry
This workshop will focus on attempts to extend the range of convenience of personal construct psychology in two main, but related, areas:

i) exploring the limits of Kelly’s credulous approach by the attempt to apply it to people who have committed acts of extreme violence, including serial killing, mass murder, and genocide;
ii) applying personal construct psychology in a country (Sierra Leone) very different from that in which it was developed in an attempt to understand the experiences of perpetrators and victims of horrific atrocities; of psychiatric in-patients, many of whom were survivors of the country’s brutal civil war; and more recently of people who, having survived the war, have now been affected in some way by the Ebola epidemic.

The advantages and challenges of applying personal construct approaches in situations such as these will be considered, and illustrated by numerous examples.

The workshop will include opportunities to explore the application or adaptation of personal construct approaches and techniques (e.g. the credulous approach; repertory grid technique) with people whose construing, perhaps because of the acts that they have committed or because they are from a different cultural background, might seem very different from one's own

Further Information: Sally Robbins: sally@covpcp.com

PCPA now has its own channel on YOU TUBE. The channel can be accessed at:
PCPA YouTube channel

The course will provide an introduction to the theory and principles of Personal Construct Psychology (PCP). The theoretical base of PCP is broad and robust, which makes this an approach with wide applicability in clinical and educational settings, but also in supervision, coaching, staff management, staff development, and organisational change. Following completion of the Foundation Course there are opportunities to attend further workshops and supervision in order to help you to begin to apply the theory in your own setting, should you wish.
Personal Construct Psychotherapy, which has developed from PCP, is a flexible approach to therapy which is well suited to consultation and short term work, as well as to more intensive clinical work. It is suitable for all client groups, ages, and ranges of ability. In this age of the quick fix, Personal Construct Psychotherapy is often useful when other therapies have failed to produce sustained improvement. The course is taught by tutors who are all HCPC registered and have many years of experience in PCP. Between them, they have a range of publications about their therapeutic work using PCP. The tutors are Diane Allen,Peter Cummins, Heather Moran, Sally Robbins and Grant Weselby. A maximum of 12 places are available which means that the group is small enough for both good discussions and personalised teaching. The Foundation Course has always contained a large component of practical exercises which help participants to engage well with the materials presented. The course is delivered in a seminar format and so participants are expected to prepare for sessions in advance in order to benefit from this.
This course is offered in Coventry by the Coventry Constructivist Centre (PCPA), and runs for five full days. It is held at Queen’s Road Baptist Church, Coventry, from 10.00am – 4pm each day. Details can be found on the PCPA website at http://www.personalconstructuk.org and also on the Coventry PCP website at www.covpcp.com
The course dates are largely on Thursdays, but there is one Wednesday : May 19th, May 26, Wednesday June 8th, June 16th, and June 23rd (NB: NO session w/c May 30th). The course fee has been kept at the 2015 level of £150 for the whole course, which includes the seminar materials. The fee includes drinks and biscuits but it does not include lunch. Participants are asked to provide their own packed lunch for the short lunch break, or they can use the café on site. If you would like to attend, please email sally@covpcp.com to book a place. When that is confirmed, you will need to pay the fee to secure your place, together with details of your name, professional role, personal email address & mobile number (for emergency contact in case of a problem before or during the course). Places are allocated on a first come, first served basis. In the event that there are insufficient numbers to proceed with the course, all monies will be refunded. Please note that the fee cannot be refunded for failure to attend once a place is reserved.

A really useful, up to date guide to PCP resources on the net has been produced by Professor Brian Gaines. You can access it at: Gaines-Internet-PCP-2016a.pdf

Following a really successful first meeting, a further seminar of the Education Community of Practice is planned for the 19th March at Syracuse University London. We look forward to teachers joining in the day. The programme will include presentations from the group with a longer practically focused session in the afternoon. The programme for the day will be published in mid February.
contact: chris walker

Professor Harry Procter writes:

It is now 13 years since the late Fay Fransella presented us with the International Handbook of Personal Construct Psychology (and its shorter practical edition, the Essential Handbook of PCP, both published by Wiley in 2013 and 2015. In this entirely new handbook covering the field, David Winter and Nick Reed, of the University of Hertfordshire, have assembled a completely fresh collection of 40 excellent chapters. The book shows how PCP is alive and well and it reflects the tremendous diversity of its application covering topics in clinical, educational and organisational psychology. But Kelly’s psychology’s not restricted to its original focus of psychological therapy and proves its usefulness in fields well beyond psychology. This is shown by the Handbook’s inclusion of chapters on philosophy, restorative justice, forensics, sex, politics sociology, religion, the arts and the environment. Well worth the outlay to have on your shelf for reference and study.

For a full list of contents, see Harry’s post on Academia: www.academia.edu/20217319/New_Book_The_Wiley_Handbook_of_Personal_Construct_6nd

The new Handbook of Personal Construct Psychology is through.
Its full title is the “Wiley Handbook of Personal Construct Psychology” with David A Winter and Nick Reed as Editors. It’s a modest £120 for 567 pages to buy in print BUT you can purchase an electronic version for as little as £32. Strangely, some “used” copies are already appearing on Amazon. There are many contributors and they are all helpfully bunched up into areas of interest and knowledge. These areas represent up-to-date expertise and they break new ground as well as some reflective original writing. The volume kicks off with the late Fay Fransella’s definition of “What is a Construct?”
We shall bring you reviews of various aspects of this volume, which is going to be with us for a long time to come.
If you would like to contribute yours views and impressions, please write them to us for collation and publication on this site. Our address is via the site or at pcp.assn@gmail .com

Have you come to our site, wondering a bit about what Personal Construct Psychology offers and........
Would you like to know more about it?

Would you like to know more about it? Are you interested in Therapy, Education, Organisations or Coaching?

PCPA offers a day in London for low cost, just £50, to explore some of the theory, see a little of the practice and take away some further ideas.

At the end of the day , you will have had an introduction to some of PCP’s basic ideas and have:

• Seen some modern practical studies showing successful application
• Had some experience of the sort of language used in discourse and how this might be helpful in counselling and therapy
• Had a demonstration of some verbal tools
• Had some introductory demonstration of more solid paper and pencil type tools
• Seen some creative ideas taken from resources in PCP
• Had some examples of how cases might be formulated and perhaps combined with other modalities
• Been given Information about options for developing your knowledge of PCP on the Web .
• Been given information about how to progress if you wished to follow (or add) a PCP route into therapy practice
  
  The course will be led by Dennis Bury, a member of PCPA, a PCP Therapist, a Chartered Counselling Psychologist, and Accredited Cognitive Behavioural Therapist.
  The venue will be Syracuse University in Central London
  The date is: Friday 13th May 2016
  For more details: write pcp.assn@gmail.com or ring Dennis on 020- 8348 9181 or 07469 952112
  

EMBODYING CONSTRUCTIVISM -the Winter School of Constructivist Psychology

4-7 February 2016 - Pecol di Zoldo (BL) - Italy  

After the success of February 2015, Alpine Tales returns with new ideas and opportunities that will provide the perfect occasion to experience what living constructivism means.
The event is going to be a “tangible experience of embodied constructivism: A “not-scholastic school”, where everybody is a teacher and a student at the same time, just like in our life, where everyone has something to offer or to embrace”.
Teachers, scholars, students and clinicians are going to be living together, sharing ideas and learning from each other, building bridges and sharing resources that will enrich their professions and their experience of Personal Construct Psychology.
The Winter School offers an interesting program of experiential workshops, supervisions and Open Space Technology meetings. There will also be plenty of leisure time, in order to visit the surrounding area, relax or enjoy the local winter sports, socializing and exchanging ideas and interests in a more informal way.
Everybody is invited to participate in the co-construction of Alpine Tales, so feel free to present your experiential workshop proposal interpreting this year’s theme: “Embodying Constructivism”!  
You can register and find more information on the website www.costruttivismo.it

The first three to complete the Internet based diploma in Personal Construct Psychology were recently awarded their diplomas. Pictured are Andrew Blaylock, Alex Swarbrick and Dina Pekkala.

For more information about the PCP Diploma see the Diploma section within the communities of practice heading.

Using Personal Construct Psychology in Practice with Children & Adolescents, edited by Heather Moran, includes practical case work examples. You can get it in the iBook store or as an online version on Issuu.

For anyone who is wondering about PCP and what it is, and what you might actually do using this approach, you will find some nice case examples. The style is easy to read, deliberately aimed towards readers with less experience in PCP and beginners. It has been edited by Heather but there are chapters by various authors. There are many interesting interventions and assessment tools for use with this client group. It will suit psychologists, counsellors, teachers and coaches.

This book is available for download with iBooks on your Mac or iPad, and with iTunes on your computer. Multi-touch books can be read with iBooks on your Mac or iPad. Books with interactive features may work best on an iPad. iBooks on your Mac requires OS X 10.9 or later.

Get free ebook

Get it from issuu

One book – two versions in case people don't have iPads.

Miller Mair: Another Way of Knowing: the poetry of psychological enquiry (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.

October 2014 saw the publication in a premier British Journal of the further research of Professor Guillem Feixas of the Barcelona centre showing that Implicative Dilemmas consistently occur in Depressed people.

Very striking is mention of the widening of the Dilemma model to be used in other modalities of therapy as an “add-on”. There are also allusions to the presence of Dilemma focused formulations in other models such as Motivational Interviewing. There is mention of the involvement of CBT.

The article gives a very coherent account of the diagnostic steps involved leading to the Dilemma Formulation using a Repertory Grid method, inter alia. It is a how to do it item.

We are perhaps coming to the start of a season of RCT’s on Dilemma-focused therapies which will finally support notions which PCP has always suggested, namely that the system of construing will adapt in order to preserve meaning, even if it means becoming depressed.

You can read it online without access problems as it is published under open access provision:

Onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Its formal title is:

Feixas, G., et al (2014). Cognitive conflicts in major depression: Between desired change and personal coherence. British Journal of Clinical Psychology.53. 369 – 385.