16 Association for Specialist Fire Protection (ASFP) courses in Coventry delivered Live Online

Polarization, or the “polarized mind,” is a fixation on one view, causing widespread destructiveness. It needs presence and love to address. We aim to explore the lived experiences on irregular perceptions of reality with an open mind. Each Saturday includes: a live dialogue between Prof. Ernesto Spinelli and an International Existential Therapist; a moment to share your thoughts and feelings with the teachers; and a final integration facilitated by Bárbara Godoy. This series of ten dialogues set out to explore the multifaceted dimentions and complexities associated with Existential Therapies. It attempts to engage with various interpretations of insanity through the lens of patients often painful, confounding, and deeply unsettling life experiences. Polarisation - between Prof. Ernesto Spinelli and Prof. Kirk Schneider “I view polarization or that which I call the “polarized mind” as the fixation on a single point of view to the utter exclusion of competing points of view, and I see it as a core dimension of human destructiveness both individually and collectively. Arguably, polarization or the polarized mind is responsible for more devaluation and abuse than any other general psychological dimension, and it crosses cultures, parties, disciplines and so-called diagnosed and undiagnosed populations. In fact it is the undiagnosed populations—polarized cultural, political, and religious leaders and their followers–who have arguably caused the most human destructiveness by far, over those whom we conventionally termed the diagnosed The polarized mind may be partly dispositional but appears to be largely fear-driven and requires abiding presence and love to address it. We are in a race against time to avail people to these “nutrients.” Prof. Kirk Schneider. Prof. Kirk J. Schneider, Ph.D. is a leading spokesperson for contemporary existential-humanistic and existential-integrative psychology. Dr Schneider was a 2022 Candidate for President of the American Psychological Association (APA), a co-founder and current president of the Existential-Humanistic Institute (an award-winning psychotherapy training center), and a two-term Member of the Council of Representatives of the APA. He is also past president (2015-2016) of the Society for Humanistic Psychology (Division 32) of the APA, recent past editor of the Journal of Humanistic Psychology (2005-2012), a founder and frequent presenter/facilitator of the bridge-building dialogue approach the Experiential Democracy Dialogue and a trained moderator for the conflict mediation group Braver Angels. Dr Schneider is also an adjunct faculty member at Saybrook University and Teachers College, Columbia University and an Honorary Member of the Society for Existential Analysis of the UK and the East European Association for Existential Therapy. He received the Rollo May Award for “outstanding and independent contributions” to the field of humanistic psychology from the Society for Humanistic Psychology, APA and is a Fellow of seven Divisions of the APA (5, 9, 32, 42, 12, 29, and 24). His work on existential-integrative psychotherapy has been featured in a special issue of the Journal of Psychotherapy Integration (March 2016), as well as The Wiley World Handbook of Existential Therapy and the APA’s forthcoming Handbook of Psychotherapy. Dr Schneider has published over 200 articles, interviews and chapters and has authored or edited 14 books including The Paradoxical Self, Horror and the Holy, Rediscovery of Awe, Awakening to Awe, The Spirituality of Awe, The Polarized Mind, The Handbook of Humanistic Psychology, Existential-Humanistic therapy, Existential-Integrative Psychotherapy, The Wiley World Handbook of Existential Therapy, The Depolarizing of America: A Guidebook for Social Healing and his latest volume (February, 2023) Life-Enhancing Anxiety: Key to a Sane World. Dr. Schneider’s work has been featured in Scientific American, the New York Times, USA Today, The Guardian, Vanity Fair, Forbes Health, Psychology Today, BBC World News and many other health and psychology outlets. Prof. Ernesto Spinelli was Chair of the Society for Existential Analysis between 1993 and 1999 and is a Life Member of the Society. His writings, lectures and seminars focus on the application of existential phenomenology to the arenas of therapy, supervision, psychology, and executive coaching. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society (BPS) as well as an APECS accredited executive coach and coaching supervisor. In 2000, he was the Recipient of BPS Division of Counselling Psychology Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Profession. And in 2019, Ernesto received the BPS Award for Distinguished Contribution to Practice. His most recent book, Practising Existential Therapy: The Relational World 2nd edition (Sage, 2015) has been widely praised as a major contribution to the advancement of existential theory and practice. Living up to the existential dictum that life is absurd, Ernesto is also the author of an on-going series of Private Eye novels. Date and Time: Saturday 12 April from 2 pm to 3 pm – (UK time) Individual Dialogue Fee: £70 Venue: Online Zoom FULL PROGRAMME 2025: 25 January “Knots” with Prof. Ernesto Spinelli and Bárbara Godoy 22 February “Healing” with Dr. Michael Guy Thompson and Prof. Ernesto Spinelli 22 March “Difference” with Prof. Tod DuBose and Prof. Ernesto Spinelli 12 April “Polarisation” with Prof. Kirk Schneider and Prof. Ernesto Spinelli 3 May “Character” with Prof. Robert Romanyshyn and Prof. Ernesto Spinelli 21 June “Opening” with Dr. Yaqui Martinez and Prof. Ernesto Spinelli 19 July “Meaning” with Dr. Jan Resnick and Prof. Ernesto Spinelli 25 October “Invention” with Dr. Betty Cannon and Prof. Ernesto Spinelli 15 November “Hallucination” with Prof. Simon du Plock and Prof. Ernesto Spinelli 13 December “Hysteria” with Bárbara Godoy and Prof. Ernesto Spinelli Read the full programme here > Course Organised by:

The BCS Foundation Certificate in Business Analysis is a foundation- level certification that provides a broad understanding of business analysis principles and techniques. It is offered by the British Computer Society (BCS), a professional association for IT professionals.

About this Virtual Instructor Led Training (VILT) Hydrogen will play an increasingly critical role in the future of energy system as it moves forward to supplement and potentially replace fossil fuels in the long run. Offshore wind offers a clean and sustainable renewable resource for green hydrogen production. However, it can also be volatile and presents inherent risks that need to be managed. Even though offshore production of hydrogen has yet to achieve a high state of maturity, many current projects are already dealing with the conditions and effects of offshore production of hydrogen and are grappling with the technological requirements and necessary gas transportation with grid integration. This 2 half-day Virtual Instructor Lead Training (VILT) course will examine the technological options for on-site production of hydrogen by electrolysis (onshore or offshore directly at the platform) as well as the transport of hydrogen (pipeline or ship). This VILT course will also explore the economic considerations and the outlook on future market opportunities. There will be exercises for the participants to work on over the two half-days. This course is delivered in partnership with Fraunhofer IEE. Training Objectives By the end of this VILT course, participants will be able to: Understand the technological attributes and options for green hydrogen production based on electricity from offshore wind. Explore the associated economic analysis for offshore wind hydrogen production, including CAPEX, OPEX, LCOE and LCOH Identify the critical infrastructure and technical configuration required for offshore green hydrogen including transportation networks and grid connectivity Learn from recent findings from current Research & Development projects concerning the differences between onshore and offshore hydrogen production. Target Audience This VILT course is intended: Renewable energy developers and operators Offshore oil & gas operators Energy transport and marine operators Energy policy makers and regulators IPPs and power utilities Training Methods The VILT course will be delivered online in 2 half-day sessions comprising 4 hours per day, including time for lectures, discussion, quizzes and short classroom exercises. Course Duration: 2 half-day sessions, 4 hours per session (8 hours in total). Trainer Trainer 1: Your expert course leader is Director of Energy Process Technology Division at the Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Economics and Energy System Technology, IEE. The research activities of the division link the areas of energy conversion processes and control engineering. The application fields covered are renewable energy technologies, energy storage systems and power to gas with a strong focus on green hydrogen. From 2006 - 2007, he worked as a research analyst of the German Advisory Council on Global Change, WBGU, Berlin. He has extensive training experience from Bachelor and Master courses at different universities as well as in the context of international training activities - recently on hydrogen and PtX for partners in the MENA region and South America. He holds a University degree (Diploma) in Physics, University of Karlsruhe (KIT). Trainer 2: Your expert course leader is Deputy Head of Energy Storage Department at Fraunhofer IEE. Prior to this, he was the director of the Grid Integration Department at SMA Solar Technology AG, one of the world's largest manufacturers of PV power converters. Before joining SMA, he was manager of the Front Office System Planning at Amprion GmbH (formerly RWE TSO), one of the four German transmission system operators. He holds a Degree of Electrical Engineering from the University of Kassel, Germany. In 2003, he finished his Ph.D. (Dr.-Ing.) on the topic of wind power forecasting at the Institute of Solar Energy Supply Technology (now known as Fraunhofer IEE) in Kassel. In 2004, he started his career at RWE TSO with a main focus on wind power integration and congestion management. He is Chairman of the IEC SC 8A 'Grid Integration of Large-capacity Renewable Energy (RE) Generation' and has published several papers about grid integration of renewable energy source and forecasting systems on books, magazines, international conferences and workshops. Trainer 3: Your expert course leader is Deputy Director of the Energy Process Technology division and Head of the Renewable Gases and Bio Energy Department at Fraunhofer IEE. His work is mainly focused on the integration of renewable gases and bioenergy systems into the energy supply structures. He has been working in this field since more than 20 years. He is a university lecturer in national and international master courses. He is member of the scientific advisory council of the European Biogas Association, member of the steering committee of the Association for Technology and Structures in Agriculture, member of the International Advisory Committee (ISAC) of the European Biomass Conference and member of the scientific committees of national bioenergy conferences. He studied mechanical engineering at the University of Darmstadt, Germany. He received his Doctoral degree on the topic of aerothermodynamics of gas turbine combustion chambers. He started his career in renewable energies in 2001, with the topic of biogas fired micro gas turbines. Trainer 4: Your expert course leader has an M. Sc. and she joined Fraunhofer IEE in 2018. In the Division of Energy Process Technology, she is currently working as a Research Associate on various projects related to techno-economic analysis of international PtX projects and advises KfW Development Bank on PtX projects in North Africa. Her focus is on the calculation of electricity, hydrogen and derivative production costs (LCOE, LCOH, LCOA, etc) based on various methods of dynamic investment costing. She also supervises the development of models that simulate different PtX plant configurations to analyze the influence of different parameters on the cost of the final product, and to find the configuration that gives the lowest production cost. She received her Bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering at the HAWK in Göttingen and her Master's degree in renewable energy and energy efficiency at the University of Kassel. POST TRAINING COACHING SUPPORT (OPTIONAL) To further optimise your learning experience from our courses, we also offer individualized 'One to One' coaching support for 2 hours post training. We can help improve your competence in your chosen area of interest, based on your learning needs and available hours. This is a great opportunity to improve your capability and confidence in a particular area of expertise. It will be delivered over a secure video conference call by one of our senior trainers. They will work with you to create a tailor-made coaching program that will help you achieve your goals faster. Request for further information about post training coaching support and fees applicable for this. Accreditions And Affliations

I want to discuss the existential-phenomenological challenges of viewing the human condition and explore alternatives for openness. We aim to explore the lived experiences on irregular perceptions of reality with an open mind. Each Saturday includes: a live dialogue between Prof. Ernesto Spinelli and an International Existential Therapist; a moment to share your thoughts and feelings with the teachers; and a final integration facilitated by Bárbara Godoy. This series of ten dialogues set out to explore the multifaceted dimentions and complexities associated with Existential Therapies. It attempts to engage with various interpretations of insanity through the lens of patients often painful, confounding, and deeply unsettling life experiences. Opening- between Prof. Ernesto Spinelli and Dr. Yaqui Martinez “From my early days studying psychology, I never felt comfortable with psychopathological nosologies. They seemed exaggerated to me and demonstrated the intense human desire to classify all possible expressions of our existence. Likewise, I have not been comfortable with the tendency to promote dualistic perspectives that compartmentalize our reality into separate aspects where one is not only different from the other but even in opposition, such as the sane/insane dichotomy. During this dialogue, I want to talk with Ernesto about the difficulties involved, from an existential-phenomenological perspective, in viewing the human condition from this position. Perhaps we can ask ourselves together what advantages they offer and what alternatives for openness we can propose.” Dr. Yaqui Martinez. Dr. Yaqui A. Martínez-Robles is a psychologist with Masters, PhD and PsyD in Psychotherapy. He has training in Gestalt Therapy; Music Therapy; Transpersonal Psychology and Holotropic Breathwork (with the Grof Transpersonal Training Association); Narrative and postmodern therapies and Social Constructionism; and in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy (with the Integrative Psychiatry Institute and MAPS-Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies). He is the author of four books, and co-author of another two, focused on the existential perspective. He has participated with chapters in several books and with articles in several journals. Yaqui is the founder of the Circle of Studies in Existential Therapy, in Mexico City and in Medellin, Colombia,. He teaches existential-phenomenological psychology and therapy in Mexico and different countries of South America. He is the current president of the Latin American Association of Existential Psychotherapy (ALPE). He works in private practice as an existential-phenomenological therapist and coach, in modalities one-on-one, couples and groups. Prof. Ernesto Spinelli was Chair of the Society for Existential Analysis between 1993 and 1999 and is a Life Member of the Society. His writings, lectures and seminars focus on the application of existential phenomenology to the arenas of therapy, supervision, psychology, and executive coaching. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society (BPS) as well as an APECS accredited executive coach and coaching supervisor. In 2000, he was the Recipient of BPS Division of Counselling Psychology Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Profession. And in 2019, Ernesto received the BPS Award for Distinguished Contribution to Practice. His most recent book, Practising Existential Therapy: The Relational World 2nd edition (Sage, 2015) has been widely praised as a major contribution to the advancement of existential theory and practice. Living up to the existential dictum that life is absurd, Ernesto is also the author of an on-going series of Private Eye novels. Date and Time: Saturday 19 June from 2 pm to 3 pm – (UK time) Individual Dialogue Fee: £70 Venue: Online Zoom FULL PROGRAMME 2025: 25 January “Knots” with Prof. Ernesto Spinelli and Bárbara Godoy 22 February “Healing” with Dr. Michael Guy Thompson and Prof. Ernesto Spinelli 22 March “Difference” with Prof. Tod DuBose and Prof. Ernesto Spinelli 12 April “Polarisation” with Prof. Kirk Schneider and Prof. Ernesto Spinelli 3 May “Character” with Prof. Robert Romanyshyn and Prof. Ernesto Spinelli 21 June “Opening” with Dr. Yaqui Martinez and Prof. Ernesto Spinelli 19 July “Meaning” with Dr. Jan Resnick and Prof. Ernesto Spinelli 25 October “Invention” with Dr. Betty Cannon and Prof. Ernesto Spinelli 15 November “Hallucination” with Prof. Simon du Plock and Prof. Ernesto Spinelli 13 December “Hysteria” with Bárbara Godoy and Prof. Ernesto Spinelli Read the full programme here > Course Organised by:

“Meaning-Fullness” critiques traditional psychiatric diagnosis, advocating for an existential/phenomenological approach to mental health. We aim to explore the lived experiences on irregular perceptions of reality with an open mind. Each Saturday includes: a live dialogue between Prof. Ernesto Spinelli and an International Existential Therapist; a moment to share your thoughts and feelings with the teachers; and a final integration facilitated by Bárbara Godoy. This series of ten dialogues set out to explore the multifaceted dimentions and complexities associated with Existential Therapies. It attempts to engage with various interpretations of insanity through the lens of patients often painful, confounding, and deeply unsettling life experiences. Meaning- between Prof. Ernesto Spinelli and Dr. Jan Resnick “Meaning-Fullness aims to develop an alternative approach to traditional psychiatric diagnosis of psychopathology through an understanding of the existential vacuum and a phenomenology of language and the body. There is a growing epidemic of mental un-wellness even though there has never been so many psychiatrists and psychologists available. This contradiction demonstrates how a bio-medical approach is far too limited at best and a radical mistake, at worst. Through the use of theory, philosophical discussion and case studies, Meaning-Fullness seeks to elaborate how mental disturbance and emotional suffering, traumatic and dissociative experience, emptiness and meaninglessness, can be understood differently and then worked with in psychotherapy. When an existential/phenomenological perspective informs the therapeutic relationship, terms like treatment, healing, cure, recovery, growth and development, can be seen in a different light from the standard narratives and take on a wholly different meaning.” Dr. Jan Resnick. Dr. Jan Resnick is a senior psychotherapist, supervisor, and author. He has a PhD in Psychology (Psychoanalysis). As founder and Director of Training, he ran a Nationally Recognized and Accredited Registered Training Organisation called The Churchill Clinic for 18 years which became the largest such organisation in Australia for conferring post-graduate qualifications for training Psychoanalytic Psychotherapists. He was the Founding President of the Psychotherapists & Counsellors Association of Western Australia where he later received an Outstanding Achievement Award after serving 10 years on the Management Committee. He was an Editorial Advisory Board Member of the national journal Psychotherapy in Australia for 20 years and currently, an Advisory Board member of Blue Knot Foundation (formerly ASCA – Adult Survivors of Child Abuse). He is accredited by the Royal Australian New Zealand College of Psychiatrists to supervise psychiatry registrars in psychotherapy and has taught in the Advanced Psychotherapy Training Program. He has presented at many conferences including last year in Valencia, Spain for the International Association for Relational Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis, also for the Mental Health Practitioners Network of Australia, and 3 times for the RANZCP Psychotherapy Section bi-national conference. He runs a supervision group for Psychiatrists practicing psychotherapy for the past 15 years and supervises Developmental Paediatricians at the State Child Development Centre in West Perth. He has presided over 4 mental health charities and has over 100 publications including two books. His book based on his clinical work as a couples’ therapist is How Two Love, Making your Relationship Work and Last. His latest book published by Karnac Books (Oxford) is called Meaning-Fullness, Developmental Psychotherapy and the Pursuit of Mental Health, an existential/phenomenological and relational approach based on his clinical work over more than 47 years. Prof. Ernesto Spinelli was Chair of the Society for Existential Analysis between 1993 and 1999 and is a Life Member of the Society. His writings, lectures and seminars focus on the application of existential phenomenology to the arenas of therapy, supervision, psychology, and executive coaching. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society (BPS) as well as an APECS accredited executive coach and coaching supervisor. In 2000, he was the Recipient of BPS Division of Counselling Psychology Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Profession. And in 2019, Ernesto received the BPS Award for Distinguished Contribution to Practice. His most recent book, Practising Existential Therapy: The Relational World 2nd edition (Sage, 2015) has been widely praised as a major contribution to the advancement of existential theory and practice. Living up to the existential dictum that life is absurd, Ernesto is also the author of an on-going series of Private Eye novels. Date and Time: Saturday 19 July from 2 pm to 3 pm – (UK time) Individual Dialogue Fee: £70 Venue: Online Zoom FULL PROGRAMME 2025: 25 January “Knots” with Prof. Ernesto Spinelli and Bárbara Godoy 22 February “Healing” with Dr. Michael Guy Thompson and Prof. Ernesto Spinelli 22 March “Difference” with Prof. Tod DuBose and Prof. Ernesto Spinelli 12 April “Polarisation” with Prof. Kirk Schneider and Prof. Ernesto Spinelli 3 May “Character” with Prof. Robert Romanyshyn and Prof. Ernesto Spinelli 21 June “Opening” with Dr. Yaqui Martinez and Prof. Ernesto Spinelli 19 July “Meaning” with Dr. Jan Resnick and Prof. Ernesto Spinelli 25 October “Invention” with Dr. Betty Cannon and Prof. Ernesto Spinelli 15 November “Hallucination” with Prof. Simon du Plock and Prof. Ernesto Spinelli 13 December “Hysteria” with Bárbara Godoy and Prof. Ernesto Spinelli Read the full programme here > Course Organised by:

Women in Banking Leadership Workshop Workshop Overview: Unleash your potential - The Banking and Financial Services industry is a constantly changing sphere that calls for emerging leaders to adapt and grow in order to thrive and succeed. Often those wanting to take the next step in the field find it hard to see their full value and potential, slowing their progress in a world full of opportunities. Emerging leaders will need to understand their professional values and know how to cultivate a growth mindset to stand out and fulfil their career desires.  This interactive virtual workshop will provide emerging leaders within the field the skills to understand the strengths that they are able to bring to the corporate table to confidently unleash their potential. It will particularly benefit those who aspire to move beyond early management to broader leadership roles. Kat will guide attendees to unlock their potential through releasing self-doubt, connecting to their unique contribution and forming a confident, strategic leader that will drive an organisation to success. Our Aims for the Workshop: Navigate key challenges and change in fast-paced work-places Understand the value of embracing complexity, uncertainty and diversity Negotiate diversity and inclusion biases, enablers and blocker Topic 1 Define your leadership style What are the capabilities, attributes and skills of an influential leader? What is your unique contribution? Is this congruent with your personal brand? Align your leadership strengths and values with the expectations and culture of your organisation. Topic 2 Leading with Emotional Intelligence (EQ) Understand your EQ and its impact on the way you are perceived as a leader Leverage your EQ in the workplace both in person and online Embrace qualities of empathy and authenticity to become a better leader Topic 3 Interactive Panel Q&A Discussion: Open Q&A with Senior Female leaders within the banking sector. Please see below the panel and biographies of each panellist. Topic 4 How to be known as a strategic leader Understand the uplevel from management to leadership and how to articulate your strategy How to translate broad leadership tools and tactics into practical, personalised results Move from transactional to transformational leadership Topic 5 Strengthen your resilience and resolve What is stress and how do you “show-up” on a bad day? Bounce back from challenging situations and predicaments Effectively manage conflict and turn negativity into an opportunity Who will attend? Emerging Leaders looking to step into management roles Current Leaders looking to progress into senior management roles This workshop is open to any woman who works in the banking sector that wants to take her next step in their career; women include trans women and non-binary people who are comfortable in a female-centred group. Group Rate Discounts 2-3 people, 7% discount 4+ people, 20% discount We have two group rates which you can take advantage of depending on the size of the group you wish to book: Option 1️⃣ Groups between 2 & 3 are eligible for the 7% Discount. Please use this code at checkout: GROUP 2+  Option 2️⃣ For groups of over 4+ attendees, the eligible discount is 20%. Please use this code at checkout: GROUP 4+  Where do I add the discount code?  Your Facilitator Kat Hutchings Kat coaches Executives and senior leaders in scale businesses to develop their leadership capability, build high-performing teams and create a culture that motivates and delivers. She works with them to identify their unique contribution and lead in a way that's aligned with who they are. Clients that work with Kat connect to their sense of purpose and how they contribute to the organisation. This creates a ripple effect through their team as they step into more powerful and impactful leadership. Kat coaches for insight - because a single insight can inspire action that changes everything.  Client outcomes include improved sales performance, successful delivery of change & transformation programmes and greater employee engagement & wellbeing.  Kat is an accredited Professional Executive Coach with the Association for Coaching and a Master NLP Practitioner. She has studied neuroscience, mindfulness and resilience, often bringing these insights to her coaching and training.  Combined with her experience as a leader in Financial Services, Kat’s clients find her to be commercially minded, knowledgeable and positively challenging. Her background as a corporate banker means Kat is quickly able to understand the context, including a firm’s strategy, vision and drivers. As a former Head of Coaching for the London & South East region of a FTSE 100 organisation, Kat is also well versed in leadership development programmes – their design, delivery and embedding through coaching. Outside of her coaching work, Kat spends lots of time with her husband and 2 young children. She enjoys trying different wines, talking to interesting people, having new experiences and buying flowers. THE PANEL The final panel is coming soon ⏳

Introducing the the modality of Non-Violent Communication (NVC), also known as Mindful, or Compassionate Communication, this 2-day modular workshop will explore how we express ourselves and how we hear others - how we can increase our ability to create meaningful connections, both with others and with ourselves, even in disagreement, and how we can empower our clients to do the same within their own relationships.

This coaching programme is for aspiring women leaders in higher education, delivered in real time, fully online. Five workshops have been designed to support you in a group environment to work actively towards realising your professional goals, whatever they may look like, focused on leadership at all levels in higher education. HE needs leaders like you - workshops with Coach Academic will help to propel you to becoming one. For all academics who are female/identify as female. During this coaching experience you will explore and learn from: - your values and beliefs, and how they impact on your professional identity and actions - your beliefs about higher education, leadership, and yourself - your strengths and how to harness them for impact - your areas for development, and embracing the actions you choose to address these - your internal and external blockers, and how to manage these - your motivation - why do you want to lead in HE? From these you will be able to build your confidence and your leadership identity, and take concrete steps towards becoming the leader you aspire to be.

This coaching programme is for aspiring women leaders in higher education, delivered in real time, fully online. Five workshops have been designed to support you in a group environment to work actively towards realising your professional goals, whatever they may look like, focused on leadership at all levels in higher education. HE needs leaders like you - workshops with Coach Academic will help to propel you to becoming one. For all academics who are female/identify as female. During this coaching experience you will explore and learn from: - your values and beliefs, and how they impact on your professional identity and actions - your beliefs about higher education, leadership, and yourself - your strengths and how to harness them for impact - your areas for development, and embracing the actions you choose to address these - your internal and external blockers, and how to manage these - your motivation - why do you want to lead in HE? From these you will be able to build your confidence and your leadership identity, and take concrete steps towards becoming the leader you aspire to be.

I’ll share a case of visual hallucinations, showing how an existential-phenomenological approach helps understand their meaning and purpose. We aim to explore the lived experiences on irregular perceptions of reality with an open mind. Each Saturday includes: a live dialogue between Prof. Ernesto Spinelli and an International Existential Therapist; a moment to share your thoughts and feelings with the teachers; and a final integration facilitated by Bárbara Godoy. This series of ten dialogues set out to explore the multifaceted dimentions and complexities associated with Existential Therapies. It attempts to engage with various interpretations of insanity through the lens of patients often painful, confounding, and deeply unsettling life experiences. Hallucination- between Prof. Ernesto Spinelli and Prof. Simon du Ploc “The phenomenon of hallucination has been a subject of debate for centuries. It has been suggested that its function was one of revelation or prophesy, and those who hallucinated were often considered to have a ‘sacred’ affliction. In recent times, their function, at least in the West since the Age of Reason, has been often been reduced to primary indicators of schizophrenia and other forms of psychosis. Lumped into the ‘core phenomena’ of schizophrenia, the concern is not so much what they are, or what they mean to the client, or even their content, but their treatment and control. I will present an excerpt from my own clinical practice with a client who presented with distressing visual hallucinations. This piece of work illustrates how approaching such irregular perceptions of reality from an existential-phenomenological perspective can provide a way of understanding their meaning and purpose within a client’s lived experience. I will suggest that such an approach also enables us to take a creative position regarding wider notions of sanity and madness, a position which enables us to navigate a path between, on the one hand, the medical model which typically focusses on reduction and management of hallucinations, and on the other hand, a Laingian view of hallucination as a route to ‘hyper-sanity’. Adopting such a path may enable us to work more confidently with clients when they present with unusual or disturbing perceptions.” Prof. Simon du Ploc. Prof. Simon du Plock is Senior Research Fellow at the Metanoia Institute, London. He was Head of the Faculty of Post-Qualification and Professional Doctorates at the Institute from 2007 to 2020, in which role he directed counselling psychology and psychotherapy research doctorates jointly with Middlesex University. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society for Medicine, a Foundation Member with Senior Practitioner Status of the BPS Register of Psychologists Specialising in Psychotherapy, and a Member of the BPS Register of Applied Psychology Practice Supervisors. He has been a BPS Chartered Counselling Psychologist and UKCP Registered Psychotherapist since 1994. He has authored nearly one hundred journal papers and book chapters on existential therapy, and he has co-edited Existential Analysis, the Journal of the British Society for Existential Analysis, since 1993. He was an editor of the 2019 Wiley World Handbook of Existential Therapy. He has lectured and trained internationally, and in 2006 he was made an Honorary Member of the East European Association for Existential Therapy in recognition of his contribution to cooperation between West and East Europe in the development of existential psychotherapy. His clinical and research interests include phenomenological research methodology, clinical and research supervision, existential pedagogy, and working with issues of addiction and dependency. Prof. Ernesto Spinelli was Chair of the Society for Existential Analysis between 1993 and 1999 and is a Life Member of the Society. His writings, lectures and seminars focus on the application of existential phenomenology to the arenas of therapy, supervision, psychology, and executive coaching. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society (BPS) as well as an APECS accredited executive coach and coaching supervisor. In 2000, he was the Recipient of BPS Division of Counselling Psychology Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Profession. And in 2019, Ernesto received the BPS Award for Distinguished Contribution to Practice. His most recent book, Practising Existential Therapy: The Relational World 2nd edition (Sage, 2015) has been widely praised as a major contribution to the advancement of existential theory and practice. Living up to the existential dictum that life is absurd, Ernesto is also the author of an on-going series of Private Eye novels. Date and Time: Saturday 15 November from 2 pm to 3 pm – (UK time) Individual Dialogue Fee: £70 Venue: Online Zoom FULL PROGRAMME 2025: 25 January “Knots” with Prof. Ernesto Spinelli and Bárbara Godoy 22 February “Healing” with Dr. Michael Guy Thompson and Prof. Ernesto Spinelli 22 March “Difference” with Prof. Tod DuBose and Prof. Ernesto Spinelli 12 April “Polarisation” with Prof. Kirk Schneider and Prof. Ernesto Spinelli 3 May “Character” with Prof. Robert Romanyshyn and Prof. Ernesto Spinelli 21 June “Opening” with Dr. Yaqui Martinez and Prof. Ernesto Spinelli 19 July “Meaning” with Dr. Jan Resnick and Prof. Ernesto Spinelli 25 October “Invention” with Dr. Betty Cannon and Prof. Ernesto Spinelli 15 November “Hallucination” with Prof. Simon du Plock and Prof. Ernesto Spinelli 13 December “Hysteria” with Bárbara Godoy and Prof. Ernesto Spinelli Read the full programme here > Course Organised by: