June 17, 2018 - Why are we in Derby, England?
Mark here. I thought I would just say a little bit about what I am doing in England and why we are here. To be honest, because I loved what I was doing there, I wish we could have stayed in Italy. That was our original plan. We were going to spend three months in Rome and then three months in Sicily, working with refugees, with MEDU in both places. However, because I was unable to obtain visas for Heather and Hannah to stay any longer than three months, we changed plans. I still wanted to take advantage of the full six months the University approved me to take for a professional development (sabbatical) leave, so I looked for another option for the last three months.
Italy is part of the Schengen Agreement, which allows U.S. Citizens to be in any of the 26 European countries that participate in that agreement, on a tourist visa for 90 days in any 180 days. That means that once you have spent 90 days in any of those countries, you have to leave for 90 days before you may come back, unless you obtain another type of visa. Our time in France and in Italy counted toward the 90 days, so we had to leave all Schengen countries on May 20th.
The United Kingdom is not part of the Schengen Agreement, and it allows U.S. Citizens to enter for 180 days on a tourist visa. So, I looked for things I could do in the U.K. for my professional development. Recently, several of my colleagues have become quite interested in Compassionate-Focused Therapy (CFT) and have sought training for it in the U.K., since it was originally developed here in Derby. One of my colleagues, with whom I have worked on research for years, also recently took a professional development leave to England to learn more about CFT and to set up research collaborations. Since I am quite interested in what this therapy has to offer, I decided to try to set up three months in the Derbyshire area to learn about CFT as well.
I brought more than 10 large books with me to read (Yes, it has been really fun to lug them around in our suitcases!), and I also obtained electronic or audio versions of many other books. Nearly all of them are about CFT or related subjects; however, I also brought several books on other topics that I have been wanting to read for some time. I plan to use CFT in my clinical work and in the research I will do when I return home (Nico and Roberto, for whom we presented in Italy, are both highly involved in CFT and have suggested that we collaborate with them on research.). I have led a group for BYU students with eating disorders for several years, and I hope to apply CFT to that group. I will also work on integrating CFT concepts into a Student Development class I will be teaching on positive psychology in the Fall. The majority of my time has been reading and studying. I have also continued to meet with Derek Griner, via Skype, each week for a couple of hours to work on research and writing projects together.
In addition to my independent study, I attended a multi-day conference/training last week in Birmingham (about an hour south of where we are living) on using CFT to work with people who have experienced trauma. It was excellent and was taught by Deborah Lee, who wrote one of the books I brought with me. At the end of June I will attend another multi-day conference/training on advanced CFT skills that will be taught by the originator of CFT, Paul Gilbert, right here in Derby. I have several of Paul's books with me. I also have a day-long meeting set up with Ken Goss, a man who has done a lot of work using CFT with people with eating disorders in Coventry (also about an hour south of where we are living). He also wrote one of the books I brought with me.
Though I would certainly rather be working with people, like I was in Rome, I am so grateful to be able to have the opportunity to really study and develop my skills and knowledge in this way. It feels like a dream every day to be able to do what I am doing!
Here are just a couple of shots of the training I attended at the University of Birmingham:
Italy is part of the Schengen Agreement, which allows U.S. Citizens to be in any of the 26 European countries that participate in that agreement, on a tourist visa for 90 days in any 180 days. That means that once you have spent 90 days in any of those countries, you have to leave for 90 days before you may come back, unless you obtain another type of visa. Our time in France and in Italy counted toward the 90 days, so we had to leave all Schengen countries on May 20th.
The United Kingdom is not part of the Schengen Agreement, and it allows U.S. Citizens to enter for 180 days on a tourist visa. So, I looked for things I could do in the U.K. for my professional development. Recently, several of my colleagues have become quite interested in Compassionate-Focused Therapy (CFT) and have sought training for it in the U.K., since it was originally developed here in Derby. One of my colleagues, with whom I have worked on research for years, also recently took a professional development leave to England to learn more about CFT and to set up research collaborations. Since I am quite interested in what this therapy has to offer, I decided to try to set up three months in the Derbyshire area to learn about CFT as well.
I brought more than 10 large books with me to read (Yes, it has been really fun to lug them around in our suitcases!), and I also obtained electronic or audio versions of many other books. Nearly all of them are about CFT or related subjects; however, I also brought several books on other topics that I have been wanting to read for some time. I plan to use CFT in my clinical work and in the research I will do when I return home (Nico and Roberto, for whom we presented in Italy, are both highly involved in CFT and have suggested that we collaborate with them on research.). I have led a group for BYU students with eating disorders for several years, and I hope to apply CFT to that group. I will also work on integrating CFT concepts into a Student Development class I will be teaching on positive psychology in the Fall. The majority of my time has been reading and studying. I have also continued to meet with Derek Griner, via Skype, each week for a couple of hours to work on research and writing projects together.
In addition to my independent study, I attended a multi-day conference/training last week in Birmingham (about an hour south of where we are living) on using CFT to work with people who have experienced trauma. It was excellent and was taught by Deborah Lee, who wrote one of the books I brought with me. At the end of June I will attend another multi-day conference/training on advanced CFT skills that will be taught by the originator of CFT, Paul Gilbert, right here in Derby. I have several of Paul's books with me. I also have a day-long meeting set up with Ken Goss, a man who has done a lot of work using CFT with people with eating disorders in Coventry (also about an hour south of where we are living). He also wrote one of the books I brought with me.
Though I would certainly rather be working with people, like I was in Rome, I am so grateful to be able to have the opportunity to really study and develop my skills and knowledge in this way. It feels like a dream every day to be able to do what I am doing!
Here are just a couple of shots of the training I attended at the University of Birmingham:
On a break, during the training:
Some of the books I get to read. I sent one or two home with the Griners, since I had finished reading them (Thanks, Derek!).
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