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1365 Educators providing Influence courses

Gianpietro Pucciariello

gianpietro pucciariello

"Photography is a tool to give voice to the voiceless and to give light to shadows within ourselves and in society“ Hello, my name is Gianpietro Pucciariello and I am an Italian visual storyteller and participatory facilitator based in London. My main work focuses on pushing the boundaries between social impact, dialogue and human conditions. This means that I work following ethical conduct to bring dignity and hope to people's faces and lives. Through my work, I want to celebrate, using empathy, respect but also playfulness, the beauty of the human soul along with its daily struggles and vulnerabilities. I use photography as a medium and a tool to give a voice to marginalised communities and organisations that want to address social and environmental issues in the places they operate by telling stories that mainstream media formats do not often tell, to encourage critical consciousness and influence policy. To do this I usually combine four themes, 1) Human beings, 2) places, 3) food 4) actions for impact, and five elements 1) focused questions, 2) metaphors, 3) storytelling, 4) Participation 5) Action-Driven Challenges. I grew up in the Lake Como area, where I got used to beauty already at an early age, in a family that, despite not being particularly affluent, provided me with a rich and safe place for growing my never-ending curiosity and learning, the value of an authentic soul, and the fundamental importance of social justice. I was lucky enough to have my mother, a kindergarten teacher, leading me by example with playfulness, self-expression and empathy and my father, working for the Italian railways, sustaining my development with strict rules and pushing my need for achievements, but always supporting my learnings with travels and books. I grew up as a really serious and introverted child - many people wouldn't believe so, as I developed more into a shy extroverted character through the years - with a huge inner world and having difficulties expanding outside in words. This is how I first discovered art and particularly photography. What I liked about taking pictures was mainly the idea of using an organic process for self-expression and for absorbing, summarising, explaining and creating knowledge around the social and environmental causes I cared for, and I was involved in since my teenage years. My need for expression became even more evident when my father was diagnosed with a rare neurodegenerative disease in 2003, after 5 years of unusual emotional outbursts, apathy and depression, tremors and personality changes. I put myself more and more on the front line of volunteering in the communities I was part of, and I focus my University Studies on the social sector and welfare, but at the same time, it became even more difficult for me to communicate my inner feelings on the outside. Despite this difficulty, I'm glad I took Economics as a Major subject. This gave me the chance to reflect and work deeply on human behaviour, motivational science, mental models of choice and root causes of oppression. Though, Economics gave me fewer opportunities to express my artistic side. I moved to London in my late twenties, and after a few years, I got stuck between a career I felt detached from, and together with my family situation, I got into a period of severe anxiety and inner chaos. One evening in October 2012 thought, returning from work, I found a leaflet about a course in photojournalism with the City & Guild in Tower Hamlets. That's how my journey in photography restarted. With and through photography, I restarted again to explore in deep the world around me, the condition of human beings and the causes I cared about. Even more important, I rediscovered myself, and my artistic skills, and boosted my self-confidence. Without rediscovering photography I wouldn't have gone back to practice facilitation and I wouldn't discover and loved other practices I work with right now, like coaching, social impact and innovation consulting. Without photography, I would have never become an entrepreneur and I wouldn't have nurtured other creative skills, like sketch noting & doodling. Photography helped me meet inspiring human beings that became friends, mentors, and some of the most important people in my life. That night in 2012 I drew a line in my life with a simple decision. I strongly believe that photography is one of the best ways we have to discover ourselves and the world around us, focusing on the present moment, one shot at a time. This is why I want to support you in using photography differently.

Minerva Consulting Services

minerva consulting services

Plymouth

The VUCA environment demands that dispersed organizations are agile – able to focus, organize and engage people efficiently and effectively as the operating context changes. Covid-19, resilience and business continuity demands the same. Beyond the C-19 pandemic; employees will expect more choice in how they work; regular remote working will become the norm, and Artificial Intelligence will soon make many current jobs redundant. Agility requires collective leadership capability – an adaptable, durable enterprise approach to leading and leadership which develops, executes and evolves strategy in the face of changing context and unexpected progress while pursuing change, transformation, innovation and business performance improvement. Agility requires the creation of 'directional clarity' and 'emotional engagement' on a dynamic basis; this is harder to do in dispersed and remote working conditions. Yet remote working can enable greater participation and collaboration as perceived hierarchical power is eliminated when everyone is a '2 inch box on a screen', and leaders are forced to trust their people more than they have done. This increases people's feelings of 'psychological safety' which is an essential pre-condition for learning and changes to ways of working. Distributed leaders in a team of teams make strategy meaningful to align thinking and priorities; shared leadership, facilitated de-centralised decision making and collaborative planning harnesses peoples’ expertise and commitment, and releases energy and creative thinking and ideas. Doing this remotely requires 'meeting leaders' to develop their basic coaching and facilitation skills while keeping calls focused and minimising 'repetition and deviation''. Structural agility influences how quickly decisions are made, and how co-ordination and collaboration are enabled. Rapid reconfiguration is facilitated by a common approach to defining role-relationships and aligning accountability and authority (both vertically and laterally). Influence, not 'telling' is essential in human relationships, and roles lacking accountability-authority alignment, are ultimately untenable. Our approach to decision-making practice , informed by and combined with digital exploitation, builds cognitive and competitive advantage. VUCA - Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity; a term first used in the US Army War College, 1987. Practical, Scalable, Adaptable Initiatives Embedded with Speed and Accuracy We are a network of experienced senior consulting, business, public sector and academic professionals. Our mission is to provide clients with cost-effective, scalable, coherent and sustainable leadership, transformational change and organization design solutions; in order to address and exploit the strategy, digital, resilience and people challenges and opportunities facing enterprises. The speed, accuracy, economy and effectiveness with which we deliver results set us apart from process-driven and high cost alternatives. With a track record of innovative, pragmatic and effective delivery, the difference we bring is in our depth of understanding, speed of response and cost-effectiveness. We operate without ‘administrative drag’, but with the experience and wisdom to understand our client sectors and the understanding of leadership, strategy execution and culture change gained from personal experience of ‘doing it’ rather than ‘advising about it’. Our ethos stems from our backgrounds of service and motivation to 'add value'. We harness ICT and our network to disrupt large consultancies. We ‘horizon scan’, think strategically and personally lead tactical delivery with speed, accuracy, agility and practical fit to the client requirement. We deploy 'clever creatives' and 'disruptors' who are committed to their work, not to career advancement, to challenge and question the unquestionable. We exploit our combined business, public sector and research experience and insights to anticipate needs and to propose simple, practical solutions to improve the moral, conceptual and physical components of business competitive advantage and organizational effectiveness. Our services deliver real value. We collaborate, research, question and challenge to co-create and embed scalable, durable and adaptable consultancy and applied learning solutions. We fuse live challenges —transformation and change, business continuity, innovation, market disruption— with leadership and strategy execution capability development. We don’t do the transformation to you; we help you to make the transformation yourself and develop your internal expertise to ensure that initiatives are holistic, embedded and sustainable. We support participants and their line leaders in making 'new ways', the 'new norm' by exploiting 'exposure and experience' and not by relying on programmes of 'education and training'. Where are we based? We are based in the Reading, UK area; with associates around the UK, Australasia, Asia, USA and Europe. We have delivered large scale initiatives ultimately reaching 2,500 participating leaders with teams delivering services concurrently in Asia, USA and UK. These teams have comprised mobile subject matter experts, local associate consultants, coaches and actors, and trained client internal consulting and L&D personnel.

ICRS Central London Hub

icrs central london hub

London

We are the UK’s professional body for Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability (CRS). Our mission is to help individuals and organisations be brilliant at CRS. Who we are As the UK's professional body for CRS practitioners, our membership reflects the breadth of practitioners, from students and academics to consultants and in-house practitioners from large and small organisations. The Institute is led by a Board of volunteer Directors. Comprised of senior CRS professionals, they give their time, energy, and expertise to guide the Institute's strategic direction. We also involve technical specialists where required. The Institute is supported by a Secretariat provided by Carnstone Partners Ltd, a specialist management consultancy in the CRS field. The Secretariat manage the day-to-day activity and act as the central point of contact for our members and Fellows. The ICRS Board Chair Jennie Galbraith, ESG Director, Inflexion Vice-Chair Victoria Taylor, Managing Director, Flag Vice-Chair Robbie Epsom, EMEA Head of ESG, CBRE Investment Management Director Dr Sam Healy, Group Director ESG, QinetiQ Director Dr Dorothy Maxwell, Senior Director Sustainability, Davy Horizons Director Karin Mueller, Managing Director, Liebfrog Director Jatin Patel, Head of Diversity and Inclusion, England Rugby Director Andrew Wilson, Director and Head of Responsible Business, Lexington Director Nadia Al Yafai, Head of Mutuality and Social Impact (Purpose Lead), Royal London Jennie Galbraith "I am delighted and honoured to be appointed Chair of the ICRS at this critical time for our profession. As sustainability issues have risen up the global political and corporate agendas, our roles as practitioners have only grown, both in scope and importance. This is a really exciting time to be involved in sustainability and I look forward to working with the Board to ensure that we continue to drive our profession forward and support our members to be brilliant at what they do." Victoria Taylor "This is such a fast-moving and critical time for sustainability within business and society. I am super excited to become Vice Chair of the ICRS – an organisation leading the way for CRS practitioners and the continued establishment of our profession. CRS needs more talented individuals and ambitious companies to be focused on progressing sustainability, and I am thrilled to be a part of what the ICRS has already achieved and can and will achieve" Robbie Epsom "After two years of serving as a Board Director at ICRS, I’m excited to be allowed to continue my support as co-Vice Chair of the Board. As sustainability continues to rise up the agenda, CRS professionals are increasingly taking up senior and influential roles within organisations. I’m delighted to be part of a leading professional body helping individuals and organisations to excel at CRS; their leadership will be crucial in the transition to a sustainable economy.” Dr Sam Healy "There has been a seismic shift in the importance of responsible and sustainable business practice. Climate change, human rights, and diversity and inclusion are becoming critical business enablers. And so now, more than ever, it’s vital that practitioners feel supported - through the development of their skills and knowledge and the forging of their network. I’m proud to serve on the Board and excited to be part of shaping our profession for the challenges and opportunities ahead." Karin Mueller "My passion is developing great leaders. Leaders that can effectively challenge the status quo, inspire others, and make a real difference within organisations in an increasingly fast changing, complex and volatile world. I am delighted to contribute to the success of the Institute as we help our members excel at doing just that, by providing access to the latest thinking, training, debates, mentoring, a resourceful network, and much more." Jatin Patel "The ICRS is operating in an environment filled with opportunities and challenges. Being a Director, and more importantly, being at the forefront of facilitating discussions which address the climate crisis, the importance of corporate responsibility and building inclusivity into the approaches which tackle these issues is a great honour and one I do not take lightly. And only through collaboration can we make collective gains. Collaboration and sharing of best practice is what we’re all about!" Andrew Wilson "I am delighted to be a Board Director of ICRS. It is the preeminent organisation representing the interests of professionals working in this area. What impresses me most is the power and influence of the ICRS which comes directly from the knowledge and wisdom of all our members – both individuals and organisations. I really appreciate the opportunity to contribute to this collective effort we are all undertaking to enhance the positive role of business in society." Nadia Al Yafai “I’m excited to be an ICRS Director at a time when our profession is not just ‘at the table’ but moving swiftly to ‘owning the table’. From community to sustainability to diversity, our agenda is recognised as central to driving change. The move to purpose-driven business is a key shift in the CR&S professional’s portfolio and one I want to drive alongside embedding a just transition/social impact focus, uniting the social and environment. I’m honoured to support the profession to thrive!”

Oxford Open College

oxford open college

Sheffield

Oxford Open College childcare courses are available “long distance and online” through our virtual campus. We work closely with providers to help successful trainees acquire continued employment. Oxford Open College is accredited by CPD (Continued Professional Development), the specialist awarding body for people working in various fields and want to attain continued development and we have a specialist department working in the early years industry. Achieving a qualification in Early Years is a great way for existing and new childcare practitioners to become qualified or for existing workers to gain further knowledge for use in their jobs. We encourage enquirers to browse through our childcare course to find the perfect support we offer. CONTEXT AND PERSPECTIVE Oxford Open College has a concept that : Children brought up well are most likely to be successful as adults. This is only possible where government, parents and childcare providers work together: At one time whole families with their children used to work long hours to earn the bare minimum to have something to eat in England, “a poor Law Amendment Act 1834” was done; this resulted in governments of the day setting up “clubs of workhouses” in which the paupers were to live…. In a way this was as if guaranteeing them an even more miserable time; here widows and orphans lived. The work reform Act decided that children under nine years old should not work, strangely the Law makers seemed oblivious to the reality that children were not working for fun, but survival due to poverty……..surely Childcare has come a long way. Oxford Open College is Giving new ideas to the learner/practitioner of how best to present material; the Course is implementation of good practice; sharing knowledge and experience: Therefore, this book only offers guidance, ideas; pointers of the best responses to commonly asked topical questions in the UK, NVQ Level 3 Diploma in Childcare. The suggested responses are exhaustive. The selected topics are based on real units and questions or tasks. Oxford Open College have used personal experience in “practicing Childcare settings:” This experience is what has been used to address most of the topics, questions; drawing from real life situations of safeguarding and caring for Children. The Course text book is written in the first person context I or in My setting so that the upgrading or aspiring practitioner can put themselves in the context of what is happening in their own situation or setting in order to draw parallels and learn by inclusion and participation of shared experience and good practice towards safeguarding, playing with and development of; Children. Oxford Open College provides aspiring practitioners with a preamble in form of a model self-evaluation of a childcare setting, to help practitioners evaluate own provisions. Oxford Open College recognises that there are key factors of how to deal with different situations and a summary of headings of usable policies that can be developed by a starting practitioner. Oxford Open College ensures that the course will include “Advice” for practitioners and learners to deal with various situations such as learning differences, bullying and keeping an outstanding setting. Oxford Open College has designed a childcare course so that in its recess the learning offers learners and practitioners an adaptable handbook to be used by any setting. Oxford Open College Gives learners and practitioners an overview of United Kingdom’s based study method of the English Early Years Framework. Why study Early Years with Oxford Open College? You’ll be studying courses designed and created by practitioners and trainers , Childhood, Youth and inclusion play. Oxford Open College offers a ground-breaking curriculum, inspiring and engaging teaching methods, and supports childcare research that looks to influence Childcare practices, policies and debate – both in UK; nationally and internationally. The benefits of studying an early years qualification with Oxford Open college are: Oxford Open College believes that your study will be professionally and vocationally relevant across many contexts. You’ll become equipped with the knowledge and experience to make a real difference in this field. You’ll be studying with a university that has 50 years’ experience as pioneers of social justice and social change. You can fit our flexible study around your work and other commitments. Oxford Open college equips individuals with tools to develop Careers in Early Years. An early years qualification – for example, gives you understanding in childhood and youth studies or early childhood which can open up a range of careers, including: childcare, counselling, early years work, youth and community work, and local, national and international policy development. Oxford Open College courses in early years can help you start or progress your career as a: Self employed business operator of a nursery Teacher Teaching assistant Counsellor Education Welfare Officer Family Support Worker Special education needs coordinator (SENCO).

AS Mentoring

as mentoring

Ealing Green,

Aeryn Priyanu , Employment Consultant Aeryn has always had an interest in language and communication. Starting her early career in teaching English as a foreign language, she went on to shadow a Speech and Language Therapist and this started her interest in working with people on the autism spectrum. She worked in primary schools as a Learning Support Assistant then moved on to work for the National Autistic Society in a day centre. Aeryn started off as a Support Worker, moving up to become Deputy Manager of the day service. She supported individuals in their daily life and helped them gain work experience and vocational skills. As well as working as a consultant with AS Mentoring, Aeryn works in a college for young people with autism, facilitating individuals with functional and social aspects of life, supporting students to meet their targets and maintain long life independent living skills. Photo of Alan Alan Castellaro, Employment Consultant Alan's interest in Autism began when he attended St Andrew's primary school in Chinnor, Oxfordshire, one of the first schools in the country to teach Autistic children one to one. In 2009 he volunteered on a project for Kith and Kids supporting a young man with Autism and they have remained in regular contact ever since. He then worked for 4 years with Dimensions as an Assistant Service Manager of a residential home for adults with severe physical disabilities and Autism. For the last 4 years he has worked for Ambitious About Autism starting off as a Learning Behaviour Specialist and moving up to become a Learning Support Co-ordinator, and was instrumental in helping set up Ambitious College, London's first College for young adults with Autism. He has a BA Hons in Writing and Publishing and has a rich and varied employment history to draw upon. Photo of Alice Alice Mitra-Hall, Employment Consultant Alice previously worked for The National Autistic Society where she ran a Day Centre and facilitated a weekly social group. During this time Alice supported adults on the spectrum to develop their independent living and social skills, as well as supporting service users to apply for and attend college and work schemes, CV writing and interview practice. Alice has a BA Hons degree in Psychology and has also worked in a number of schools supporting teenagers with autism and has provided specialist individualised support for a family for over 10 years. Photo of Amira Amira Hassan, Employment Consultant Amira has been a mentor at AS Mentoring for 4 years. Amira has a variety of clients for both workplace and job-seeking support. After completing her PhD in Neuroscience from Imperial College London, Amira decided to be involved with AS Mentoring full time and is currently managing the Workshops Programme, overseeing the development and online delivery of workshops and group events throughout the year. Amira is warm and friendly, providing individual, autism-specific support and advice. Photo of Anna Anna Roads, Employment Consultant Anna spent 24 years in the investment management sector, working in sales, marketing, product development and client relationships for a number of blue chip firms including Lazards, Fidelity and Goldman Sachs. She developed successful business relationships with large corporates, consultancies and public sector organisations. In her leadership roles, she also enjoyed coaching and developing careers for younger team members. These are skills and contacts she brings to ASM clients. Over the past 6 years she has developed a number of voluntary roles; relaunched the local NAS branch as Chair (2011-2015), served on a local parents special needs forum (2012-2014), been elected a parent governor at a special needs school and worked as a volunteer mentor on a Research Autism Project. Her focus has been on education and now employment, both as a parent of a young person with ASC and through the influence of autistic colleagues she has served with before. Before joining the City, she gained a law degree from Cambridge University, an MBA from Cranfield Business School and qualified as a solicitor. Photo of Charlotte Charlotte Leighton, Employment Consultant Charlotte specialises in providing workplace support for individuals as well as working with organisations to provide autism specific support and advice. This experience has been honed through her work at ASM and her previous role as an Employment Support worker and trainer at The National Autistic Society. Charlotte has subsequently worked for HAIL in Haringey for two years managing social enterprises staffed entirely of employees with autism and learning disabilities. She has also worked as an Appropriate Adult supporting vulnerable individuals whilst in police custody. For the past ten years Charlotte has confidently designed and delivered social skills groups and workshops for adults with autism. As well as working for ASM she is also employed part-time for Resources for Autism in Barnet managing their adult services. Charlotte is able to support individuals emotionally as well practically as she holds certificates in Person Centered counselling and a diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. David Perkins, Director David was Head of Services at Prospects, the National Autistic Society's specialist employment service, from 2007 – 2013; he left in June 2013 to set up AS Mentoring. He has extensive experience of supporting people with an ASC into employment across the UK and abroad, and of providing a wide range of training, assessment and consultancy services to employers and other organisations in the UK, Europe and the US. He has worked continuously with people with autism since the early 1980s. David has spent the bulk of his working life in the voluntary sector and prior to the NAS spent many years running a group of specialist adventure playgrounds in London for over 1200 disabled children, (some 30% of whom were autistic). He has a BSc (Hons) in Operational Research from Lancaster University. Photo of Emma Emma Hills, Employment Consultant Emma has been teaching psychology and health related subjects to adults since 2009 with the majority of her work focusing on providing social purpose education in the community to hard-to-reach groups, including those with disabilities. Much of her work focuses on supporting learners through transition and has led her to develop herself as a coach as well as an educator. More recently she has found herself key-working with learners with disabilities in a transition college as well as training and supervising the staff who support them. Emma mentors and tutors a diverse range of learners including learners on the autism spectrum in her continuing work in the community. Emma works part-time as an Employment Consultant with ASM and finds her knowledge and experience gained from facilitating community courses such as 'confidence building', 'communication skills' or 'interviewing skills' compliments the role well. She has a BSc Hons Psychology, PG-dip Social research, PGCE in post-compulsory education and is a registered health and social care trainer as well as a full member of the Association for Coaching. Emma is also currently studying for an MA in Education: Culture and Identity, at Goldsmith university. Photo of Eve Eve Riches, Employment Consultant Eve Riches is an employment consultant for AS Mentoring, where she provides one to one support and workshop creation and delivery. Eve has a background in teaching Psychology and has been involved in mentoring for her whole career. She has a lifetime of lived experience of neurodiversity. Outside of ASM, Eve works as a life coach and mentor. Photo of Gurleen Gené Wyrley-Birch, Employment Consultant Gené is committed to raising awareness and understanding of ASC to improve social inclusion, acceptance and understanding; to making a real difference to the lives of people on the autism spectrum and in broader society. Over the past 12 years, while caring for and advocating for her son, Gené has developed an in-depth knowledge and understanding of autism as well as related challenges including ADHD, PDA, Social Communication Disorder and Sensory Processing Disorder. She has a creative, positive and flexible approach and is determined to combined her personal and professional experiences to help clients into work and successfully retain their jobs. Throughout her previous roles in both Investment Banking at JP Morgan and UBS Warburg and Commercial Conferencing, Gené had an active role in recruiting, training and mentoring new team members. Gené has worked across many sectors, including Finance, Pharmaceuticals, Defence, Utilities, Aviation and Telecommunication. Gené Holds a BA degree in Industrial & Organisational Sociology and Industrial & Organisational Psychology from the University of Cape Town. Photo of Gurleen Georgia Thursting, Employment Consultant Georgia has worked with autistic adults and children in a variety of settings including education, play and social settings for the past year. As a support worker with Resources for Autism, she continues to support her clients in achieving their personal and work goals and loves to get creative with her approach. Georgia also works for Share Community in Battersea as a music tutor/ therapist, building the confidence of adults through music and artistic expression. She also enjoys planning and delivering online workshops for adults with Autism, focusing on well-being, physical health and emotional expression through music making. Outside of her work in Autism, is a trained musician, singer/ guitarist and enjoys performing at events across the UK. Photo of Gurleen Gurleen Manku, Regional Employment Consultant Gurleen has 18 years' experience of autism. She has a sibling on the spectrum, and has previously worked in primary education for children with Special Educational Needs (SEN), and has been a SEN Secondary School Govenor. In 2015 Gurleen volunteered at Autism West Midlands to support adults with autism to find employment. She then worked for Enable, Shropshire Council as a Job Coach in various workplaces supporting adults with autism and learning disabilities. Gurleen is highly experienced in delivering Pre-employment support, mentoring and Workplace support at AS Mentoring across the West Midlands since 2015. Gurleen holds a BSc in Business Psychology and is a member of the British Psychological Society, within the Division of Occupational Psychology. She has also completed her Masters in Occupational Psychology. Photo of Gurleen Mahlia Amatina, Employment Consultant Diagnosed with autism as an adult, Mahlia has first-hand experience of the challenges that can arise from a range of workplace settings, but more importantly; how to overcome these. Outside of AS Mentoring, Mahlia works as a visual artist, where she raises awareness and understanding of neurodiversity through different art forms. With a special interest in autism and work, Mahlia is keen to combine lived workplace experience with her mentoring skills as an employment consultant to support clients. Photo of Helen Mark Blake, Employment Consultant Mark has a broad range of experience across social care with several client groups and in varied settings. Following an arts degree he spent a couple of years on voluntary projects with disabled adults living independently, and with homeless men in an emergency night shelter in central London with subsequent paid roles including community support work with disabled adults moving back into the community following long periods in residential hospitals. Mark has also spent time as a residential care worker in adolescent residential units. The last 30 years has seen a focus on Adults and Children with Disabilities in a both a Day Service and Residential Home setting. As a Manager of services in these fields Mark has increasingly focused his support to children and adults on the autistic spectrum and has become keenly aware of the challenges faced by them and their families in achieving independence and realizing their potential. It is this interest that has led to an involvement in a mentoring role with AS mentoring and employment. Photo of Helen Mike Leat, Employment Consultant Mike comes from a background in advocacy, design and communication. Through his own business he previously ran an Easy Read design service which employed people with a learning disability and autism. In 2015 he co-produced a DVD on Autism and Mental Health for the Autism Partnership Board in Surrey. Mike previously worked for The National Autistic Society Assist service providing one to one support/mentoring sessions, and facilitating social and support groups for autistic adults. After completing an undergraduate module in autism with The Open University, Mike went on to complete a Postgraduate Certificate in Autism and Asperger syndrome. Mike also works with a project called ‘Autism by Experience’ which is a team of mostly autistic adults providing Understanding Autism training to staff in a variety of roles including health and social care. Photo of Laura Lauren Moore, Employment Consultant Lauren has a number of years experience of supporting people with autism as well as additional needs. Her main influence for working with people on the spectrum is her younger sibling who was diagnosed with autism at a young age. Over the past decade she has worked in a school specifically of young people with social, emotional and mental health difficulties, starting as a Teaching Assistant and then working as the Intervention Co-ordinator for the secondary department. Lauren also worked in a specialist autism college as a Learning and Behaviour Specialist, moving up to become a Learning Support Co-ordinator. She studied History at undergraduate level and has more recently graduated with a Masters in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in July 2018. Photo of Rachel Rachel Pearson, Senior Regional Employment Consultant Following a successful 13-year career in the City Rachel moved into HR and Business Consultancy specialising in organisation restructuring projects involving (often large scale) job review, recruitment and redundancy programmes. She has extensive experience of working with SME employers and large organisations in the public and private sectors around all aspects of the employment relationship. Rachel previously volunteered with the National Autistic Society's Prospects Team and she now works as an employment consultant specialising in supporting people with an ASC to find and retain work. She also works with the NAS's Employment Training and Adult Services Teams supporting students and employees, and providing advice and guidance to employers. With a close family member on the autistic spectrum, Rachel also volunteers with her local NAS branch in Surrey. She holds an MSc in Human Resource Management and is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development. Photo of Siobhan Siobhan Pauley, Employment Consultant Siobhan has first-hand experience of supporting someone with Asperger’s Syndrome and ADHD as her son has moved through various life transitions, experiencing the hurdles faced by people on the autistic spectrum. She spent 30 years working within Human Resources of a large financial institution attaining her MCIPD status, where she became the company’s Reasonable Adjustment Officer. It was her responsibility to ensure that employees with disabilities were able to receive the right workplace accommodations to enable them to access various roles in the company. This has given her considerable insight to enable her to support our clients. Following a career move, Siobhan is setting up AS Mentoring services in and around Poole, Dorset- as well as working part time to support an individual with profound learning difficulties within an independent living service.

Lenticular Futures

lenticular futures

Manchester

We're transforming psychotherapy and counselling in three ways: We are re-thinking all therapeutic theory to situate the individual in wider contexts and systems. We ask how everything is connected, by whom and with what consequences! Join us in decolonising, depathologising and ecologising practice, theory and research We can help therapists and training institutes develop future oriented technological competence for more accessible practice. Why is that important? There is a need to decolonise and depathologise the theory and practice of psychotherapy and counselling. We need to understand the problems of the individual as situated in a world which is socially, culturally and economically unbalanced. And we need to have ways of recognising and working with people's complex intersectional community memberships, experiences and talents in therapy. Why now? We are living in a panmorphic crisis (Simon 2021). It's a good time to read the writing on the wall and take action. We can do this by making decolonising and depathologising theory and practice, by responding with EcoSystemic ways of working, by critically engaging with accessible and future oriented technological possibilities. What work do we do? The key areas of our work are Training - Research - Consultancy. We run workshops and seminars to create and support decolonised, depathologised and ecosystemic ways of working. We host conferences on social issues affecting psychotherapy and counselling practice and training. We introduce psychotherapists and their training organisations to new technologies and intramediality to help make learning and assessment more accessible and culturally relevant. We produce research reports on future technology for therapy; neurodiverse therapy; therapeutic space; ecosystemic therapy; indigenous knowing and practice in therapy; new ways of training and assessing counselling and psychotherapy trainees; more... We consult to training organisations and professional membership bodies to help them improve the experience and success of trainees from diverse communities We run leadership and organisational development groups for leaders and managers who are developing inclusive therapeutic services What kind of organisation is Lenticular Futures? We are becoming a Community Interest Company. That means we are a Not For Profit and all proceeds from work support free or low cost projects and research within the organisation. How do we fund this work? We charge for workshops, conferences and seminars we host. We apply for funding. We welcome donations for specific projects or in general What does Lenticular mean? Lenticular Futures is a term borrowed from a paper by Professor Wanda Pillow (link). It's a prompt to hold in mind past, present and future when you meet people or see something. It's an invitation to notice the neurotypical, heteronormative, eurocentric lenses we have been taught to look through and check who-what we are including and who-what we are excluding. It comes from noticing what Wanda calls a "whiteout" in academic and professional literature of Global Majority contributors. This is an era for new curricula and making new theory and practice. Our professions can easily lead changes in the balance of power and develop more user friendly ways of working. What are our philosophical objectives? To theorise and interrogate fundamental taken for granteds in the cultural bias of theory and practice. To develop a lenticular ideology of psychotherapy and counselling which integrates and is led by decolonising, depathologising, ecosystemic, contextual influences of planet and co-inhabitants. To redress the exclusion of knowledge from oppressed population groups. To support therapeutic practices which are generated from within communities. To understand and address systemic influences of capitalism on wellbeing. To critically work with the socio-techno world in which we live. To get that systemic understanding of the world is an overarching metatheory for all our modalities. To decolonise means not having a disordered attachment to theories of disorder. Who are we? The co-founders are experienced psychotherapists and organisational consultants. We bring a vast amount of experience in systemic thinking about organisations, culture, therapy and counselling training, research and management. We also know how to create initiatives from within the margins. The co-founders are Dr Julia Jude, Dr Gail Simon, Rukiya Jemmott, Dr Leah Salter, Kiri Summers, Dr Liz Day, Dr Birgitte Pedersen, Anne Bennett, Naz Nizami, Dr Francisco Urbistondo Cano and Amanda Middleton. Forthcoming events Lenticular Futures: Crafting Practices beyond this Unravelled World FLIP@Brathay 2nd & 3rd May 2022 https://lf2022.eventbrite.co.uk Indigenous and Decolonising Knowledge and Practice Decolonising Therapeutic Practice read-watch-listen-make groups Future Tech to improve experiences for people doing therapy and in therapy training EcoSystemic Return Reading Seminars Professional Wellbeing events Walking and Outdoors Therapy Creating Decolonised Participatory Groups Systemic Practice and Autism Conference Writing Performance as Research Film, podcast, documentary making with people doing training and therapy Watch this page and our Eventbrite page - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - Therapy in a Panmorphic World This era of panmorphic crisis requires urgent, creative, ethics-led responses. Most of the professional theories we live by came into being without their ideological foundations being questioned. We cannot take a step further in this world without a commitment to developing awareness of parallel, criss-crossing, multidimensional, transtemporal, transcultural, transmaterial elements of living – and how they interact. No Meaning Without Context The key systemic value of understanding context is paramount to inquiry, to understanding what is happening and how to move as a relational, situated participant-player. But the contexts in play are often hidden, erased, elusive or remote, and it can be plain hard to see-feel-understand the knowledges and experiences specific to other places, people or disciplines. The Individual Is Not The Problem The psych professions confuse this further through the decontextualising practices of individualising and pathologising explanation of why some people see some things one way and not another. Furthermore, the social construction of truth is a debate that transcends academia and has been put to work by political agendas to foster an era of mistrust of truth. People are now aware that “truth” can be put to work for objectives other than the common good. This undermines social justice issues and what counts as information. Voices from within a community, from within lived experience are undermined by voices from without of those contexts often without a critique of power relations. A Fresh Look at Training Counsellors and "Psycho"therapists We cannot train relational practitioners in aboutness-withoutness ways of thinking. It separates people from place and history, and it creates colonisers and pathologisers whose practices become policy and influence the majority’s “common sense”. Opportunities for other kinds of learning are lost. The first language of the psycho professions of “talking therapy”, whatever its modality, is excluding of other ways of moving on safely and creatively together. The psychotherapies are playing catch-up in how people use technology to communicate in their everyday lives. A Paradigm Shift for Therapy and Counselling The Black Lives Matter movement offers a choice. It can be treated as a passing protest or a cultural shift. This organisation chooses to take the position that no-one should choose to be unchanged by Black Lives Matter. The question is how to be changed in ways that will contribute to a better world? This is more than a matter of equal rights. It is about safety now, it is about heritage, rich, stolen, re-interpreted, it is about past, present and future being held in mind, all the time. Professional practice needs to scrutinise its theoretical heritage with its hidden ideological assumptions to study and guide our ways forward into a new era, to meet change with culturally appropriate language, local knowledges, and ways of being and imagining.