This is such a loss to our field and


feels very personal to me. We were not ‘friends’ in the usual sense but knew of each other with tenderness, I think. He was always kind to me, probably to everyone, but each time we met it felt like a positive reconnection. And it meant something to me. How can we mourn him? What a tremendous mover and shaker. He was a rebel for sure. He was a major influence on my development and that of so many others. I have such memories of this feisty, challenging, progressive, funny, innovative, wonderful, generous and challenging therapeutic person. The last time I saw him was when we invited him to give the Robin Skynner memorial lecture at IFT. His paper “Working with Couples – Revisiting One Flesh Separate Persons” was well received but alas he did not provide it for us afterwards, as he wanted to work on it some more. It was his usual mixture of humour and challenge. He was not in the best of health then. He had spoken at the AFT conference, I think in Brighton. It was impressive and reawakened his connection to systemic thinking, although he elegantly straddled two modalities. At IFT he did the most amazing talk linking Shakespeare and couple therapy. As an audience we laughed. We drew breath, we reflected in the unique way that Lennox invited reflection. At the time I thought I would never forget it. Right now I just remember his presence, his inspiration. One of my clearest memories was


when he was a regular external speaker to our second-year students. Of course it was the ‘race and culture’ lecture even though he might have covered anything. However, that was the niche, that was what he brought. In it he brought therapy to life in the most fundamentally and deeply human way. One of my enduring memories was of him presenting a case in which physical touch between a mother and daughter was the key therapeutic issue: the mother brushing and braiding the daughter’s hair. Lennox taught me to value the mundane, the ordinary, the basic and to understand those processes as the most profound, important and significant moments in human connection. We were lucky that he reached many students. The world is bereft without him. A giant


is gone. What a loss. Chip Chimera, Institute of Family Therapy


42


Annie thinks about way online continued profes training


Who is Annie from Aspens? Annie is a virtual systemic-


psychotherapist of no specifi c gender or cultural heritage working somewhere in the UK, and she or he is working in independent practice and discovering new challenges. Aspens has, over many years, been developing a support network for systemic psychotherapists working in independent practice, initially using a Google group as a way of connecting practitioners with each other. T e concept of Annie developed during an online Aspens discussion and, through Annie, we have an opportunity to explore issues and dilemmas of working independently. Any similarity to anyone you might know is purely accidental, apart from the fact that Annie shares experiences that many of us have faced. T rough conversations with Annie, we hope you might fi nd some new and useful ideas. Reporter: Hi Annie…. what have you been thinking in this unusual circumstance? Annie: Well, we talked last time about how therapists might access clinical, emotional, or practical support to ensure they maintain confidence in their practice. In recent weeks, the Covid-19 restrictions have affected us all and the UKCP and AFT guidelines on online therapy have led me to consider what is available more widely. There are often good ideas and links to online training on the Aspens Google group and the AFT website itself. In fact, there has been lots of positive conversations on the Google group that many therapists have already benefitted from training in competences for working online-therapy skills run by the Association for Counselling and Therapy, online at https://acto-org.uk. As time has gone on, I have also become interested in the increasing


my use of online resources as a means for keeping skills up-to-date in both business, therapy and supervision, which is still so vital for continuing professional development and I felt I needed to refresh some areas of my business. Reporter: So, what is available online for therapists who perhaps were just starting out or wanting to develop their business skills? Annie: I was recommended a largely free website called the Practice Hub, https://privatepracticehub.co.uk/ doc-download. It has a lot of good quality downloadable resources for the independent practitioner such as business templates and webinars on issues such as marketing, finance, how to manage paperwork, insurance, self- care, continuing professional development, data protection risk and quality of care. Reporter: Well, that sounds a good option, but what about keeping therapy and supervision skills up-to-date when so many workshops have had to be postponed, or cancelled: isn’t that what is expected for registration? Annie: Yes, I have been considering several areas that I need to think about keeping up in terms of maintaining my continuing professional development in independent practice. It’s so important, for instance, to stay up-to-date in areas that have an evidence base and, as I work increasingly with couples, I have considered taking a starter course such as emotion focused therapy. There is a website in which Sue Johnson advertises her online courses called https://psychwire.com/sue-johnson/ eft-attachment-science. I am also considering improving my skills when I work with trauma by taking a short course which I heard about at an AFT workshop run by Ros Draper in 2019


Context 169, June 2020


Annie thinks about ways of using online continued professional training


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