Ian Williamson, Child and Adolescent Analyst and co-director of the Queen Anne Street Practice and the Young People’s Counselling and Therapy Centre, kick-started our programme of teenage wellbeing and parenting talks last Thursday. Ian recently published a highly acclaimed book entitled, ‘We Need to Talk: A Straight Talking Guide to Raising Resilient Teens’, reviewed in The Times as ‘What every parent should know… If anyone is qualified to give advice on how to manage this tricky time for parents, it’s Ian.’
With a large crowd of Brampton parents, Ian explored modern adolescent life, some of the challenges adolescents face and ways to deal with them. He argued that parenting adolescents has never been more difficult with the pressure of exams, the demands of social media, the pull of computer games and the temptation of drugs making a parent’s’ job increasingly demanding. The talk opened up to lively debate, with many parents sharing their concerns about social media, the speed of which the technology moves on and how alienating this can feel when trying to relate to their child.
Ian focused on how to deal with these challenges and the need to have a strategy, whilst readily admitting that implementing any strategy can be fraught with difficulty. The talk received fantastic feedback from parents who commented about the great advice and the sense of comradery they felt.
This was the first in a series of four parenting talks which will be held at the College over the coming months. Each talk will be given by an expert speaker, covering a specific angle related to the raising and understanding of adolescents, and followed by a Q and A session. Please see the below for information on the remaining talks and how to book a place.
‘Motivation—the secret to success’ from Dr Raj Persaud on Tuesday 29th October, 6.30 – 8.00pm
Raj is a consultant psychiatrist and broadcaster, well-known for raising public awareness of psychiatric and mental health issues in the media. Raj is also the author of several books, including ‘The Motivated Mind’, which explores the needs we all have and how ‘success’ and ‘achievement’ fit in with our overall fulfilment. It is this topic of ‘Motivation’ that Raj will explore and discuss.
‘Understanding Adolescence and Surviving Adolescents’ from Emil Jackson on Wednesday 27th November, 6.30 – 8pm
Emil Jackson is a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist and Head of Child & Adolescent Psychotherapy at the Tavistock Clinic. This talk explores why the period of adolescence is a challenging and volatile one – not only for young people but for all those around them. Often parents are not sure how to differentiate between an ordinarily challenging phase of adolescent development and behaviour that might indicate a deeper problem. The premise for this talk is that we need to start with having a good understanding of what is ‘normal’ in order to know when to be more concerned.
‘Mindfulness’ from Lenora Fitzpatrick on Thursday 6th February 2020, 6.30 – 8pm
Lenora trained at Sussex Mindfulness Centre in 2015 and has been working as a Mindfulness Practitioner since 2016, running numerous mindfulness courses. In this talk, she’ll discuss the importance of looking after our wellbeing, exploring what is mindfulness, its key benefits and how to incorporate it into our daily routine. The session will include meditation practise.
BOOK NOW!
Places are limited so please book now by emailing jmulkerrin@bramptoncollege.com
- You will need to book a place for each individual talk.
- Please state the talk(s) you’d like to attend, how many seats are required and the names of each attendee.
- Please inform us in advance if you or one of the party are not able to attend so we can reallocate the seat.
