(Click on the title to be taken to the review, or reviewer's name for biodata, or simply scroll down the page)
Nobody Home: From Belief to Clarity by Jan Kersschot - Reviewer Stephen Bray
Golden Hours - Games for Groups by Thomas Moloney - Reviewer Julie Hay
Coaching Made Easy by Mike Leibling and Robin Prior - Reviewer Julie Hay
Language Evolution, Edited by Morten H. Christiansen and Simon Kirby - Reviewer Joe Sinclair
British Politics by Tony Wright - Reviewer Melissa Biro
Brief Gestalt Therapy by Gaie Houston - Reviewer Mike Baynes
Whispering
in the Wind
Nobody
Home: From Belief to Clarity by Jan Kersschot. Watkins
Publishing, London, 2003,
177 pages including notes and references. ISBN 1-84293-062-1.
Price US$16.95 (Amazon price in sterling is 9.55)
This
work is a well-written primer for those approaching the philosophy of
Non-duality, (Avaida). The author studied medicine at Antwerp University and has
practised natural medicine in Belgium since 1986. His interest in spirituality
led him to the Eastern tradition including Zen Buddhism, Tantra and Avaida
Vedanta.
And
this is exactly my criticism of the work, for throughout the writing is an
implied presumption that like the author, we the readers are concerned solely
with Spiritual Enlightenment.
The
book then proceeds to demolish the myth that there is anything necessary for us
to do in order to be enlightened, since we are already the presence upon
which life projects itself, regardless of whether we identify ourselves with our
individual egos, or not.
But
the people that I come across tend to be concerned rather with the more concrete
issues of life than a spiritual search. They stress themselves with how to
acquire wealth, how to maintain their marriages, or how to enable their children
to become healthy and successful. The book fails to address all of these issues
explicitly.
To
my mind the book would benefit enormously from the deletion of the words
Spiritual, Spirituality, or Spiritually from the text. Nothing
would be lost as a result of the deletions and immediately the book would
develop a more focussed pattern. After all for a book that espouses the opinion
that we have nothing Spiritual to seek, it spends a great deal of time
discussing spirituality.
It
is rather like the physicist who in lecturing on post Cartesian science begins
by explicating in detail just what Cartesian science is all about. The result is
that the listeners have a good idea about Cartesian science, and only scant
impressions of the post Cartesian model.
Those
who have read the authors earlier work; Coming Home should be cautioned
that Nobody Home is virtually the same book with the omission of some
interviews. Notable among these is the interview with Douglas Harding the author
of On Having No Head. Fortunately many of Hardings experiments in
locating awareness have been retained and are illustrated in simple but
effective line drawings.
The
book is enjoyable, and for those who believe in a path to enlightenment through
so called spiritual practices it is to be recommended for its remedial
properties.
It
has been excellently produced by Watkins Publishing, which is the publishing arm
of Watkins Bookstore in London who provide a superbly personal service by phone
or Internet.
Stephen
J.M. Bray
Golden Hours Games for Groups, Thomas Moloney, Russell House Publishing, 2003,
ISBN 1-903855-25-X 12.50
As
the subtitle explains, this is a book of games intended to be played by groups.
There are 140 games in all, each with: an indication of the purpose;
details of the level of activity, age and venue suitability; materials needed;
group size; the procedure clearly set out in steps; and some notes as a way of
sharing the authors experiences with that game.
There are also illustrations drawn by the author.
The
Foreword explains the layout and contains sensible reminders about preparing
thoroughly, being an enthusiastic and confident master-of-ceremonies but also
taking part, and not playing the same game for too long.
The
specific game descriptions include tips for safety in physically active games,
and suggestions for keeping players in the game when they might otherwise be
eliminated.
The
objectives given cover a wide range, including warm-ups, awareness building,
group interaction, teamwork, mental aerobics, physical action and fun!
The games themselves range from quiet to highly active; some will run in
classrooms while others need to be outside; many suit all age groups and any
group size; and most need little in the way of materials or special equipment.
Although
at first glance this book appears aimed at school teachers, many of the games
can also be used by organisational trainers.
For instance, one game in the book called Elephant, Tree, Cow has
been used by me with groups of quite senior managers (albeit that I knew it as Elephants
& Giraffes maybe children can cope with one more option than
managers!). This game involves
pointing at someone and calling out one of the options, at which point three people
must take on previously specified physical characteristics such as being the
trunk and two branches slowest to move gets eliminated or takes a turn
in the middle as caller.
There
are several games with materials provided for copying, such as word games (B
JACK OX), category lists (rivers, fruit and players must name items within
category), tongue twisters (she said she should sit), mission examples (find out
who have bicycles), and observation tests (what colour were your partners
eyes?).
So, a plethora of games that can be used by teachers, youth leaders and the like on an ongoing basis and by organisational trainers as a source of activities on occasions when they need to liven up a group of grown-ups.
Julie Hay
Coaching Made Easy, Mike Leibling & Robin Prior, Kogan Page, 2003, Price 15.05
ISBN:
0-7494-3953-X)
This
is one of those books that I wish Id written myself!
The authors say they developed the material with their clients,
colleagues and coaches and it shows by being eminently readable,
practical and full of nuggets. There
are so many books available nowadays on coaching; this one is a must-have.
It
is set out in three sections: Part 1 introduces coaching; Part 2 covers the authors ABC
Technique; Part 3 is about you as a coach.
Parts 1 and 3 are fairly short so that Part 2 is the major component and
is then divided into an introduction to the technique, some real-life examples,
a section on how to use Steps A, B and C, a long section on the thinking behind
the technique and an analysis of the structure and steps.
The
book begins with a short introduction that provides a very brief history of
coaching and sets the context. Although I couldnt find a definition of coaching as such,
the authors comment that . more people find themselves responsible for
developing the skills and competencies of those working for and around them
and that Retaining and developing staff will be impossible without relevant
facilitated learning taking place. They
go on to refer to the latter sentence as being coaching at its best as a
cost-effective, efficient way of supporting peoples development and
growth.
The
ABC Technique consists of three steps:
Step A - Understanding the situation
Step B - Understanding what could be better
Step
C -
Understanding how it could be better
The
technique can be completed in 30 minutes, although clients may be advised to
sleep on it between steps. It
uses a defined set of questions, which are listed (with explanations) in the
book; the authors recommend that the coach answers these themselves before using
them with clients.
Many
of the best nuggets for me appear in the section on the thinking behind the
technique.
Examples
include:
the Saggy Shoulders Syndrome
the Salami effect you keep taking little bits and suddenly realise its nearly all gone
values are hard-wired, below the neck - while beliefs are soft-wired, above the neck, and changeable
Tommy Cooper telling the doctor that his arm hurts whenever he lifts it and the doctor simply telling him to stop lifting it
whats the point of running if youre on the wrong track?
too many hows spoil the what
This
book also contains some excellent, jargon-free descriptions of how to apply NLP
concepts in coaching, including: strategies, neurological levels, using the past
tense, several meta programs (away from or towards, small or large chunk size,
convincer strategies, internally or externally referenced), sensory preferences,
matching and pacing, and using metaphors. There
are also some aspects that I recognise from transactional analysis, such as a
story that Eric Berne told in the 1960s about two brothers being
scripted to end up in a psychiatric hospital one did as a patient but
the other did as a doctor.
Finally,
the book ends with what the authors call the Ten Great Coaching Questions,
such as Help me to understand .?; What would be a good question for
me to ask right now?; Because ?; and What have you achieved, that
you might not have been aware of at the time?.
The
only complaint I had is that the authors reproduce the steps and questions 5
times in: the overview, the case studies, the using it section, the how it
works section (twice!) and partly also in the coaching at work section.
Although this may have helped with recall, I did wonder if it might have
been more effectively structured if some of these had been combined.
That said, the content is so useful and the writing style so accessible that I strongly recommend this book whether or not you are already familiar with the concepts Ive quoted. If they are new to you, find out how helpful they can be. If you already know the concepts, you will still find it useful in terms of how to apply them within the overall ABC structure.
Julie Hay
Language Evolution, Morten H. Christiansen and Simon Kirby (Editors), Published by Oxford University Press, 2003, ISBN 0199244847, 395 pages, paperback, Price 17.99.
This is not a book to be read at a single sitting. Nor, indeed, at several sittings. It is a book to be savoured like a good wine. To carry the analogy further, the reader can enjoy the nose, the bouquet, the first glorious sip, the swirl, the swill, the swallow. And finally the aftertaste. But, unlike the wine, there is no need to buy another bottle - or another copy in this case. The reader can return to it again and again, to ever fresher delights.
Which is as well, I suppose, for a book intended for "researchers and students working in the area covered" as the back cover blurb has it. Except that that makes it sound somewhat dull . . . a bit like hard work; when, if the truth be known, it is light and airy, yet contradictorily comprehensive and solid, and can be opened at any page whereupon you may be as lost as Keats on first discovering Chapman's Homer.
Or at least, this will be the experience of readers such as myself, who find the whole field of language and linguistics absolutely fascinating anyway. And, if you don't, perhaps you have no right or reason to open its pages in the first place!
And yet . . . even if this were not the type of book you habitually read, have you never asked yourself the questions: How did language start? Where did it come from? Why do we not all speak the same language? Did it evolve along the same lines as Darwin's Origin of the Species? If so, why are there no animal languages that resemble human language? These questions are actually far too simplistic and, although they are dealt with between the book's covers, they do scant justice to the wealth of didactic talent to be found in the ranks of its contributing authors.
Let us spare a glance at the contributors. There are more than 20 of them. Far too many to be dealt with at length in a short review, so I will content myself with saying that each is an expert in his or her specific field, and the fields include: archaeology, anthropology, biochemistry, biology, mathematics, physics, psychology, cognitive and evolutionary neuroscience, philosophy, and several branches of linguistics. And each approaches the subject of the evolution of language from their particular discipline.
The fact is that there is no one theory of language evolution . . . there are divergent theories, although there are common grounds of belief amongst all the theorists. But, to expand on the simplistic questions asked above: Is transmission of language cultural rather than genetic? Should the transition from animal to human communication systems be viewed as gradual rather than principal? Is it universally agreed that the emergence of human language is one of the major transitions in evolution? How do evolutionary and learning processes interact? Under what circumstances would one expect an innate universal grammar to arise?
A few different type questions: Does thought depend on language? How does language contribute to intelligence? Does language serve us, or do we serve language? What part does spatio-temporal organisation play in the evolution of communication?
These are only a miniscule part of the questions that are addressed in the book, and merely those that I have collected by "dipping". The questions are beguiling; the answers are bewitching. I must think about writing another review when I have thoroughly absorbed the book. Contact me again in a year's time! Although I may still be too busy reading (re-reading?) it to want to write about it.
In the beginning there was no language. Now there is. Language Evolution describes the passage as a wonderful voyage of discovery.
Joe Sinclair
British
Politics, in the Oxford University Press Very Short Introduction series. By Tony
Wright MP
ISBN: 0-19-285459-3. 125 pages. Numerous halftones and line drawings.
Price: 6.99 (Paperback)
You
might think that A Very Short Introduction
to anything would be pretty superficial - yet another symptom of our
dumbed-down culture, our sound-bite society, our inability to spend more
than a nano-second on anything more taxing than the latest edition of Big
Brother. It would seem to
belong in the company of television history the kind that not only has music
constantly playing at a volume clearly intended to drown out the presenters
words but also has people dressed up in costume pretending to be Saxon
villagers or medieval knights because the British public is now deemed to be too
stupid to understand anything that is not visually interpreted.
On
the other hand, you might also think that if the subject was British Politics,
superficial would be a jolly good thing, too.
So it was with somewhat mixed feeling that I approached Tony Wrights
contribution which is number 92 in the growing list of Very Short Introductions
from OUP my first taste of the series. What
I quickly discovered, however, is that short and superficial are not
necessarily synonymous. It is a
wonderfully small book some one hundred pages of a readable-sized print and
it fits perfectly into an average-sized handbag. But it doesnt read like a
small book in fact quite the opposite.
The pace seems leisurely, the text erudite. Wrights
method is dialectical. He raises question after question: What is British? Is our
system really as simple as it looks from outside?
Have we got a constitution? What
is strong government? Are there balances to the power of the executive? and so
on. But the text is far from
dry. Wrights personal anecdotes
such as the one about his concocting a question on milk-floats to test out
the system of written questions to ministers are extremely entertaining.
There are also interesting, amusing and sometimes thought-provoking
reproductions of photographs (theres a wonderful pair of photos captioned
Atlee and Thatcher: making and unmaking the post-war settlement) and
political cartoons to enliven the text and a wide use of quotations gives it
weight. All
in all an extremely intelligent, useful and entertaining little book and Im
glad Ive read it.
Melissa Biro
Brief Gestalt Therapy, by Gaie Houston, Sage Publications 2003, 154 pp, 16.99 (paperback) 60.00 (cloth) ISBN 0-7619-7348-6.
This
book is one of a series on different approaches to Brief Counselling:
Solution-Focused, Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Transactional Analysis and
Cognitive Behavioural, often available as one-to-one therapy or in groups; and
gives a good account of itself in describing Gestalt approaches.
But there are really two books here.
The
first, in the very readable middle chapters, describes how the therapist can
plan and initiate brief treatment for clients, giving examples of the paperwork
which the author has found to be helpful [brief counselling involves much more
work by the therapist than does traditional psycho-dynamic approach].
Different techniques are described for involving the client in learning-ful
experiments, for dealing with the approaching end of the brief counselling
sessions, even for the kind of issues which the therapist can usefully raise in
subsequent supervision. Illustrative extracts are given of actual sessions
[culled from a number of cases, in order to preserve anonymity] of both
individual and group therapy.
Practical
advice is given to therapists about dilemmas when clients are referred, and
whose treatment is paid for, by third parties such as employers or primary care
trusts. Indeed, the author argues
for these that brief therapy in groups is both more
economic and more effective than
individual sessions.
The
beginning and last chapters will interest those curious about the credentials of
brief therapy and of Gestalt therapy vis--vis
more traditional approaches, and is slower reading she speaks of jargon
(professional insider language). References
are made to a wide range of sources, from early Gestaltist Fritz Perls [himself
a trained and practising psychoanalyst] to Martin Buber, Carl Rogers, even Zen.
And the author significantly recounts the old civil servants joke I can
see that it works in practice, but will it hold up in theory?"
Urging that there should be more research, she points out that absence
of evidence does not necessarily mean lack of effectiveness.
It does mean lack of academic and economic power.
Mike Baynes
Whispering
in the Wind
This
book retails at over 30.00. and in paperback it will only appeal to NLP
aficionados. Its printed throughout in a bold sans serif font, so it does no
favours to the readers eyes. Alternating between the narrative of Grinders
personal history and the subtle intricacies of transformational and cognitive
grammar it seems idiosyncratic to the point of egocentricity. It challenges many
hitherto accepted leaders in the field of NLP: Dilts, DeLozier, Hall, Robbie and
others. Its style is contentious.
It culminates in the publishing of the settlement between Bandler and
others, against Grinder and Bostic concerning the ownership of NLP.
The
book starts by outlining the epistemology of NLP. The familiar universal
modelling processes, (generalization, distortion and deletion), are shown to all
be deletions brought about either through neurology, or as a result of the
effects of conditioning upon linguistic filters.
Mind
and body are revealed as one and the same as the authors propose scientific
activity to be: an acceptance of the responsibility of public
presentation; the reporting of conclusions and experimental procedures, allowing
other researchers the ability to test these, through systematic observation, and
reporting in publicly available standard formats. All this is set in
juxtaposition to religion and the final internment of the nominalization
truth.
NLP
Modeling and Application or Design are discussed. The difference may be
understood as similar to that of medical research and clinical practice, or
physics and engineering design.
Three
categorisations of NLP are proposed NLP modelling; NLP application;
and NLP training . NLP modeling is defined as the
study of excellence.
The
authors propose a way of conducting NLP modeling research, which
rejects the probablistic categories and quantitative statistics beloved by
psychological researchers. Whilst statisticians will hate these ideas, they make
perfect sense as a means of bootstrapping knowledge to greater levels of
usefulness. The key is in finding counterexamples and examining how each differs
specifically at a process level from the general findings. For example in the
case of those taught the NLP spelling strategy, the application of the strategy
of those who remain poor spellers needs review; whilst those in a control group
who spell well, must be examined to determine if they are natural spellers using
the NLP strategy, even without being taught.
Grinder
also gives his account of the beginnings of NLP. This starts by describing the
characteristics of Bandler and Grinder as: arrogant, curious, unimpressed
by authority or tradition, a well-defined sense of personal responsibility, an
aversion to boredom, self-confident, playful, able to act As If, and
appreciative of the difference between content and form.
A
humorous account of how Grinder was elected to telephone the
hypnotist/psychiatrist Milton Erickson and hypnotically induce Erickson to see
him and Bandler ahead of Ericksons schedule is revealing. Bandler was
apparently confined to the bathroom during Grinders phone call, and had to
chew on the bathroom towel in order to avoid cracking up and spoiling
Grinders performance.
The
authors differentiate NLP to other types of change work in four ways. Firstly,
NLP explicitly operates on the individuals mental maps, rather than any
real experiences. Secondly, and following from this, memory is seen as
reconstruction, and so archaeology of the individuals mind is not
taken to be part of NLP. Thirdly, consciousness is accorded a limited role in
any change process. It can only be justified if one of the goals of change is to
enable a client to be able to talk about their problems and challenges. In other
words if the goal of the intervention is change other than the ability to
articulate problems then the work may best be left to the wisdom of the
unconscious. Fourthly, neither the agent of change nor the client is required to
believe any set of assumptions to utilise NLP patterning.
Having
laid out these differentiators the authors then proceed to argue that the
familiar Presumptions of NLP are either unnecessary, or in need of
revision.
Grinder
describes how in order to make a presentation during which he was suffering from
walking pneumonia he made a deal with his unconscious that was to become
the basis of Six-step Reframing. The authors call this the breakthrough pattern
since it is the unconscious that is called upon to decide what, (if any),
patterns need will be changed and also in what ways. The client is not required
to be aware of these.
As
Grinder writes: the unconscious is capable of
enormously complex and creative acts when the proper framing and context have
been established and the lead is released to the unconscious.
The
authors contrast the responsibilities apportioned to the clients unconscious
in the Classic Code NLP, by reference to anchoring; and New Code NLP by
reference to Six Step Reframing. This analysis is detailed and once assimilated
enables readers to achieve greater personal rapport with unconscious processes,
and thus be better placed to enjoy life and operate creatively.
The
New Code is a simplified pattern, which helps those with little or no training
in NLP to generate change. Central to the New Code is the assumption that
performance in the world is a function of physiological state. Changing ones
breathing pattern constitutes simplest means of altering state. Since mind and
body are conceptualised, as one phenomenon changing ones physiology is the
equivalent of changing ones mind.
The
New Code differs from the Classic Code because the unconscious is explicitly
assigned the responsibility for the selection of the desired state, the
resource, or new behaviours. It is explicitly involved in all critical steps.
The new behaviour(s) must satisfy the original positive intention(s) of the
behaviour(s) to be changed. The manipulation (of the clients mental map)
occurs at the level of state as opposed at the level of behaviour.
Central
to the New Code is an open mindedness aptly termed the Know Nothing State.
In this state conscious filters are suspended either whilst assimilating a new
pattern as in NLP modeling or when engaged in a high performance
state as in NLP application.
In
order to create new high performance states the subject is invited to play
various New Code Games, which have no apparent connection to the behaviour
or pattern to be changed. Ways in which such procedures may be used with
children are explained.
Multiple
Perceptual Positions play a major part of The New Code. The most privileged of
these is the so-called Triple Description. The equivalents of first, second and
third person in English grammar are called positions. Once again the
application of how these positions are useful is illustrated.
The
final part of the book concerns the future of NLP. It is composed of three
chapters. The first of these concerns itself with the tension between the
economies of NLP modeling and requirements of NLP training.
It elucidates the differences between linear and hierarchical ordering and
critiques Robert Dilts Neuro-Logical Levels before explaining the differences
between Logical Levels and Logical Types within New Code NLP. This usage differs
from that originally postulated by Whitehead and Russell in Principia
Mathematica (1913).
Within
the New Code the term Logical Level may be understood as: Where two or more
elements in a hierarchy, (such as an organization) the element which includes
the others will be considered as a higher logical level. For example an employer
is at a higher logical level than those employed. Logical Type is now redefined
as nominalizations whose characteristics are essential from the viewpoint of a
classifying agent. For example apples and pears may be considered the same
logical type from the perspective of a government bureaucrat, but of different
logical types from the viewpoint of a chef. A logical type then cannot be
differentiated from the context in which it has been classified.
This
leads to the criticism of Robert Dilts concept of Neuro-logical Levels, since
this hierarchical arrangement falls neither into the category of logical
inclusion, as in the example of a business organization above; nor does it
accord with that of part/whole relationships. For example can the environment be
considered a part of behaviour? Bostic and Grinder argue that it is absurd to
think so, yet in its widest sense, and in the light of the increasing effects of
pollution, I wonder if their argument is sensible?
A
chapter is devoted to three key issues in NLP: Sorting functions; chunking and
logical levels, form and substance process and content. Sorting functions
returns to the theme of 1st and 2nd Order Change, as
defined within NLP application. 1st Order Changes are said
to be unbounded whilst 2nd Order Changes are bounded. These are
determined in the following way. 2nd Order changes consist of:
addictions, (drugs, alcohol, tobacco, co-dependencies); physical symptoms; and
behaviours that have associated secondary gains or payoffs. Anything remaining
is considered as 1st Order Change. The authors acknowledge these
descriptors to be unfortunate as they do not accord to the common usage of 1st
and 2nd Order Change in other disciplines such as mathematics, (or
indeed family therapy).
But
why, do the authors persist in using the terms 1st and 2nd
order change in ways so different from how they are commonly understood in the
fields of mathematics, philosophy and family therapy? Surely with a New
Code this was the opportunity to differentiate the phenomena that they refer
to with new NLP terms that will not add more confusion to the world through
duplication?
Bostic
and Grinder hold firmly the ideal: Interventions in change work will be
selected to effect change at precisely the level of representation at which the
representation of the experience to be changed is coded: the most fundamental
distinctions being primary experience or secondary experience, (the
mental maps resulting from cultural/linguistic coding).
So,
in order for someone to change it is only necessary that they understand how
they have been assisted if the original coding of their problem exists at the
cultural/linguistic level.
Their argument is compelling, however NLP practitioners must also be cautioned that such a model comes close, if not within, the accepted definition of Strategic Therapy. Such Therapy is not currently fashionable and many outside of NLP consider it to be questionable.
There
is a useful section on "Form and Substance: Process and
Content". Substance is the stuff out of which physical objects are
composed. It informs what may be possible. Form refers to the shape
or organisation that informs or makes the substance involved what it is.
In linguistics this distinction reduces to nouns and verbs.
So
nouns are the substance of language, and verbs its processes. In the Meta Model
when encountering unspecified nouns we ask: Which --- specifically; and
when encountering unspecified verbs we ask: How --- specifically.
Recognizing
and applying this distinction constitutes the essential difference between NLP
and most other change technologies. NLPs power rests on the practitioners
ability to make the process/content distinction and leave the content entirely
to the client whilst manipulating the process.
The
final chapter of the book are the authors recommendations to the NLP
community. The intention, they claim, is to provoke a professional high
quality public dialogue among the practitioners of NLP. The aim is to
improve the practice in NLP. In order to achieve this the authors propose a
reorientation toward the core activity of NLP the modelling of excellence.
Central to this focus is the definition of NLP as the study of the differences
that make a difference between consistent high performance of genius in a field
of human endeavour and the average performer in the same field.
Having
attended workshops conducted by John Grinder I hold his training in the highest
regard. I probably have spent more time with Whispering in the Wind than
any other book this year. There is a lot of wisdom and knowledge within its
covers, and for any seriously committed NLP Practitioner it is essential
reading. But be warned; from time to time the authors refer to native
speakers of American English. This American English I think must be the
language in which the book is written, and at times this required translation,
which was for me a matter of some regret.
Stephen
J.M. Bray
Stephen Bray's career spans thirty years, beginning in social work and encompassing Adult Education, Business Consulting, Counselling, Journalism, Photography and Psychotherapy. He is a consultant editor for Nurturing Potential.
Julie Hay is an internationally-accredited trainer in both NLP and transactional analysis, specialising in developmental applications rather than psychotherapy.
John Ewing is a Systems Engineer who has worked in various domains ranging from implantable cardiac devices to the measurement of low-intensity radioactive emissions. He currently runs his own company in Alsace, France.
Joe Sinclair is a writer, editor, publisher, and non-executive director of a shipping line - amongst other activities - one of which is the publishing of Nurturing Potential.
Mark Edwards was a head teacher, who still teaches part-time but combines this with writing articles, educational consultancy and entertaining people who like to hear badly performed rock, pop and music hall classics.
Melissa Biro is a sometime lecturer in English and a career counsellor who does occasional tutoring. She is also an ex-networker, a would-be scriptwriter, and a part-time training consultant.
Mike Baynes discovered groups in the early '70s when he joined Group Relations Training Association. He has been exploring most of the byways of this movement ever since: from OD to Gestalt, studying counselling on the way.