Robyn Farley Clinical Psychologist

11/10/2024

Incredibly generous workshops for parents by parents and professionals of Autistic kids packed full of information at 50% off- highly recommend!

Almost two years ago, Eliza Fricker Missing The Mark and I were drinking coffee in a café in Hove, and talking about future plans. Whenever Eliza and I get together, we can’t stop thinking of new ideas. Sometimes I have to tell her to stop talking just because I don’t have the capacity to do all the fantastic new projects before finishing the last ones. We had the idea of doing some webinars together which would combine her art and lived experience with my psychology and professional experience – and the Art of Low Demand Parenting was born.

In the year since then, we have done a webinar every month, and a few bonus ones. Eliza has drawn well over two hundred illustrations which show the humorous side of living in low demand families. Thousands of people have come to our webinars and we have been touched by the feedback. Our book, When the Naughty Step Makes Things Worse, came out last week.

For this week, we’re making all of our recordings available half price. That’s ten webinars so far. We’ve covered the subjects you told us were important – communication, behaviour, emotions, and then hot topics like screens and dealing with other people. We’ve adapted as we went along according to what you told us was most useful.

You can get them half price for the next week only by entering the code LOWDEMAND50OFF. Go to my website to check them out. https://naomifisher.co.uk/courses/ -demand-parenting

Please share if you know parents who might benefit.

10/07/2023

Sharing lovely affirming book to discuss trauma

CW: Book discusses abuse - no mention of abuse explicitly, but it does discuss the trauma involved.

“This is not your stone” hopes to help anyone of any age know that they aren’t at fault for the burden they carry, and also what that burden may bring.

I wrote this trying to offer an honest, but also sensitive and sympathetic, discussion of what can be involved when having had to survive trauma. I didn’t want it to be a book that said that “everything would be okay” but rather a book that said… sometimes it really won’t be, and that’s not your fault, and there are others who understand.

I'm proud of all the books I've written, but especially proud of this one as it's something I needed to write for myself as much as others. I hope it brings the empathy and understanding I intended it to when I felt the need to write it.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Full Previews of all my children’s books will be REMOVED from Facebook on December 27th of 2024 due to their terms of service affecting the rights of all artists and writers. Updates on future books I have planned will also be shared on my less personal (as in professional) page facebook.com/teachtocarebooks which will also have Full Previews removed come this date.

Full Previews WILL, however, always REMAIN accessible on my website: www.brettjcole.com

If the book is to your liking, please do consider buying the book itself to help support me in creating future works.

~ Personal Sales ~
The book is available through Amazon, however, I do also accept personal sales within Australia and also Overseas, as this offers a greater profit margin that assists me in creating future books.

International Purchases and Postage can be paid in Australian dollars, which may possibly even make orders from me cheaper than those through Amazon in your region. For personal sales enquiries, you can message me via Facebook or use the contact form on my website.

~ My Children’s Books on Amazon ~

Australia
amazon.com.au/dp/B0BQFM77RM

USA
amazon.com/dp/B0BQFM77RM

UK
amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BQFM77RM

Canada
amazon.ca/dp/B0BQFM77RM

For all other regions and countries, please adjust the settings on the Amazon page.

~ Pay What You Want PDF Versions ~
I also offer PDF Versions through my shop at ko-fi.com/brettjcole with a Pay What You Want option with the minimum price set at $0 – I do this to make any of my books about well-being as accessible as possible to those they might help, and prefer cost not be a barrier to that… ESPECIALLY this book.

That said, I always welcome donations of support, as it helps me in creating future works. You can help support me through my Ko-Fi page or through paypal.me/brettjcole

Thank you and take care!
Brett J Cole ❤️

NOTE: Watermarks are NOT present in printed copies of this book, only within preview images and PDF versions sold through Ko-Fi.

04/05/2020

https://www.ahaparenting.com/blog/discipline-during-coronavirus

Thankyou Laura for such wisdom in the current time! 😄

22/03/2020

A time like this helps us to remember our common humanity (we are all in this together!)

Bcause we are human we are susceptible to illness😷 AND anxiety aka the human stress/fight or flight response ! 😳

The human stress response aka fight or flight response leads to people to REACT ie. act in a quick way with out thinking.ie. relying on signals from their primitive brain/ limbic system . 🧠

Many of us (because we are human!) are being "hijacked" by anxiety ATM and finding it difficult to pause and step back from our "first reaction/impulse" e.g. stress/ anxiety (think panic buying) and engage our prefrontal cortex (bit of the brain behind your forehead that's good at thinking calmly and problem solving). Yes -we ALL have this ability and do best when we THINK calmly first and then RESPOND.

We all benefit from noticing our human stress (fight/ flight) response being activated, STOP/PAUSE, practice some deep breathing (or other emotional regulation skill) so that our base level of anxiety can come DOWN a bit. This is NECESSARY for the frontal lobes/prefrontal cortex in our brains to become available for use!

THEN we can think/ problem solve and come up with more logical, compassionate, empathic and considered responses to COVID-19 .

We do well when we SWITCH from overthinking/worrying (thinking for no benefit) TO problem solving. (Let's all do ONLY problem solving going forward;)

This is easier said than done ( i know) as it requires interupting a bad habit (worrying- yes it's a bad habit-like biting our nails) and retraining our brains. It involves being a bit more self disciplined with our thoughts and actions.

What are the steps in problem solving? (The only helpful "worrying" btw!)

Problem Solving.
step 1: Define the problem.. e.g. infectious disease present in our community that none of us have immunity to and threatens to overwhelm our health system

step 2. Brainstorm -what can I do to fix the problem?
Me and mine can hand wash, social distance, helping to slow the spread, allow time for a vaccine/ treatments to be developed/ avoid hospitals being overwhelmed, eat healthy, exercise, decrease our stress (increase strength of immune system) rest, relax, dance, listen to music, give/get massages, stretch/relax tense muscles/yoga, drop shoulders, practice meditation/ mindfulness, have fun (at home!) laugh, socialise online/ text/ phone..

AND decrease anxiety/stress by breaking the habit of thinking about COVID in a repetitive unhelpful ruminative way i.e. thinking/worrying for no benefit!

Then.. wait for it..Let the rest of your worries go !! Trust in your immune systems, trust in doctors, scientists, and other experts!

Relax and care for yourselves and others;) You can and will deal with whatever comes if and when you have to.. in the meantime RELAX your body and mind😊

I know this is a big ask with the constant media barrage of information. Our brains are thinking machines!

Ruminating (aka unhelpful repetitive thinking for no benefit) is tricky to stop in the face of language being used like "crisis", "war" etc which are all suggestive of threat and challenge.. which triggers our human stress response!!

But the reality is that there IS some threat and challenge at the moment.. so heightened anxiety is natural, understandable and HUMAN!!.

We just need to keep it in perspective and try to be skillful and wise by practice stress and anxiety management skills! (See above)

Keep calm (and safe) and RELAX (At home)😉

13/02/2020

Seven ways mindfulness can strengthen your relationships, increase your joy and well-being, and bring the family back together.

14/01/2020

There's no way to cure worry, says Elisha Goldstein. But we can learn to get better at recognizing it, and gently guide ourselves back to what matters.

06/04/2019

As technology becomes better at distracting us, being more conscious of how we use our attention is essential. Here's how you can regain focus and control.

26/03/2019

Huge parenting misnomer: we need to protect our kids from our negative feelings. The truth: it’s easier to lose control when we’re focused on stopping our emotions. Carla Naumburg explores seven practices to help you build resilience during tense parenting moments.

24/02/2019

21/02/2019

Catalyst brings together 15 ordinary Australians to take part in a revealing scientific experiment - to see if practicing mindfulness can help treat conditions like chronic pain, anxiety and stress that affect millions of us.

21/02/2019

https://parade.com/717983/parade/meet-mr-mindfulness-how-jon-kabat-zinn-brought-mindfulness-to-the-masses/?fbclid=IwAR0oYZTIfPYdlkXqxF-n87Mq_ktULxDR5iVToH45rYf-w9hUbGIEWA22DYk

There are many reasons why mindfulness has become a buzzword in current mainstream culture. The tensions of life in the early 21st century have certainly created an urgent demand for it. But perhaps the single most important figure in the mainstreaming of mindfulness has been Jon Kabat-Zinn, creator...

19/02/2019

Interested in learning mindfulness over 8 weeks as seen on Catalyst? Message me for information.