In this ‘Meeting of the Minds’ session, we explore the transformative potential of “The Overview Effect” and Self Transcendent experiences - both for individuals and society at large. You’ll learn about the effects these experiences have on those who undergo them, including astronauts who view the earth from space for the first time, and people experimenting with psychedelics. Specifically, we discuss the therapeutic potential of self-transcendent experiences, what might be happening in the brai...
Sep 26, 2021•1 hr 1 min
What is compassion? How is it beneficial for people? And how can it be harnessed directly as part of therapy? In this talk, we’ll take a look at some of the key theories underneath and practices of CFT, and see how this can be a powerful way of working with distress and suffering. This presentation will help you learn some of the key basics of CFT, and have an opportunity to try out a few CFT interventions and see how these may be useful. At the end of the workshop, you’ll have a better sense of...
Sep 12, 2021•1 hr 58 min
For many, facing the existential threat of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic has been a shared traumatic experience – a kind of collective trauma. What exactly is collective trauma, what are the different kinds, and what effects do they have on us? How can they impact our beliefs and narratives, and how do posttraumatic narratives and beliefs perpetuate collective trauma going forward? How might we instead be able to utilize this period as a time of emotional and social enrichment, even while we may...
Aug 29, 2021•1 hr 33 min
Dr. Rupert Sheldrake is a biologist and author of more than 85 scientific papers and 14 books. He is a leading researcher into anomalous phenomena and was named among the top 100 Global Thought Leaders for 2013. He studied biology and biochemistry at Cambridge University where he earned his Ph.D., followed by a fellowship at Harvard where he spent a year studying philosophy and history. In this session, we discuss Rupert’s latest work on scientific approaches to spirituality, why they work, how ...
Aug 22, 2021•1 hr 1 min
Human beings have evolved to be highly adaptable creatures, psychologically and physiologically. From moment to moment we continually monitor the social and physical environment in order to assess opportunities or threats that lie ahead; and we change the face we present to the world accordingly. In this talk I’ll explain how these adjustments to personality, mental and physical health can occur without our knowing it, as we respond instinctively to environmental cues. But of course we may somet...
Jul 18, 2021•1 hr 28 min
Your personality is the set of basic traits that makes you you, influencing your habits of thought and behaviour. But how fixed are they? The great American psychologist William James said that our personality is set like plaster by age 30. But new findings show that while there is a degree of stability in our traits, we also continue to change in meaningful ways through our lives – our personalities are more like plastic than plaster. In this talk, psychologist and author Dr Christian Jarrett w...
May 23, 2021•1 hr 55 min
The Science of Diversity is a method of teaching universal, scientific reasoning as a tool to overcome dialog barriers and move forward in polarizing conversations. This method addresses fundamental weaknesses in the way we communicate and provide learners with the necessary skills to approach conversations about diversity issues scientifically. People do not always think of scientific reasoning as a path to understanding in emotionally charged conflicts. However, the nature of scientific reason...
May 16, 2021•1 hr 26 min
Professor Marc Lewis is a neuroscientist, professor, bestselling author, and one of the world’s leading experts on the neuroscience of addiction. In his academic work, he has authored or coauthored more than fifty journal articles, and for many years was a professor of developmental psychology at the University of Toronto before retiring. In recent years, he has focused on making his work more accessible to a wider audience through public talks and interviews. He is the author of two bestselling...
May 09, 2021•57 min
David Sloan Wilson is one of the world’s foremost evolutionary thinkers and a gifted communicator about evolution to the general public. He is a SUNY Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Biology and Anthropology at Binghamton University in New York. In addition to his teaching and research work, David is President of Prosocial World – an organisation which aims to catalyze positive cultural change to consciously evolve who we are, how we connect with each other, and how we interact with the plane...
Apr 25, 2021•1 hr 16 min
Roman Krznaric is a bestselling author and one of the UK’s leading philosophers, who is passionate about the power of ideas to transform society. He is a TED speaker, a founding faculty member of the School of Life, the Creator of the World’s First Empathy Museum, and a Research Fellow at the Long Now Foundation. Roman's books include: 'How to Find Fulfilling Work', 'Empathy', 'The Wonderbox' and 'Carpe Diem Regained', and have been published in more than 20 languages. In this conversation, we d...
Apr 18, 2021•1 hr 2 min
Have you ever wondered what exactly DBT is? What are its essential components? What exactly are dialectics and why are they relevant to a psychological therapy? In this presentation, Professor Michaela Swales, an international expert in DBT, introduces you to the essential elements of DBT: underlying theories, treatment structure and treating clinical cases. This presentation is aimed at those who know very little about DBT and who may be considering whether or not it is an appropriate intervent...
Apr 11, 2021•1 hr 55 min
We live in a challenging age. With the death of George Floyd, the subsequent marches across the world against racism, the struggles of the #Metoo movement, campaigns for equal rights for the LGBTQ community, and the rise of Disability theorists. Yet, all these efforts towards equality in the face of varying types of oppression speak loudly of the voices of the others and their need to be heard and acknowledged. Within psychotherapy and psychology though, difference and diversity trainings have b...
Mar 21, 2021•1 hr 20 min
Ever wondered why identical twins become less alike as they age, even developing different diseases? Why are the cells of your skin so different from the cells of your kidneys, even though they contain exactly the same DNA? The answer lies in epigenetics, an extra layer of information on top of genes, that controls how the genetic script gets used. It’s the link between nature and nurture and it’s important in a huge range of biological processes. It explains why tortoiseshell cats are almost al...
Mar 14, 2021•1 hr 42 min
Professor Jean-Louis Monestès is a professor of clinical psychology at the University of Grenoble in France, and a leading thinker into the application of evolutionary principles in psychology. He has published several chapters on evolutionary processes in clinical psychology with Steven Hayes and David Sloan Wilson, as well as articles and books on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Relational Frame Theory. In this conversation, we explore: - Why evolutionary theory can be a powerful model f...
Mar 07, 2021•48 min
This will be the first in a series of ‘meeting of the minds’ discussions, where we bring together leading thinkers to share perspectives on a topic of mutual interest. In this discussion, we explore the relationship between evolutionary science and clinical psychology and psychotherapy, why there needs to be greater integration between the fields, the crossover between ACT and CFT, and the role psychology can play in informing our approach to wider scale societal issues such as COVID-19 and clim...
Feb 28, 2021•1 hr 19 min
Dr Paul Atkins, PhD is an organisational psychologist, author and the co-developer of The Prosocial Process along with Steven Hayes and David Sloan Wilson. This unique approach draws from the Nobel prize winning economic theory of Lin Ostrom, evolutionary science, and the psychology of behaviour change to offer a practical framework for creating highly effective, inclusive and cooperative teams - in all walks of life. In this interview, we cover: - The evolutionary science behind why human being...
Feb 14, 2021•1 hr 1 min
Dr John Vervaeke Assistant Professor in Psychology at the University of Toronto, and the author and presenter of the YouTube series: Awakening from the Meaning Crisis. The depth and breadth of John’s knowledge are extensive which is reflected in the wide range of subjects he teaches. His courses include cognitive science, Buddhism, psychology and mental health, cognitive development, the psychology of wisdom, and many others. Over the past few years he has focused on taking his knowledge outside...
Feb 06, 2021•1 hr 6 min
Online social networks like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter can be seen as a virtual extension of our psychological and emotional selves. They also happen to be an essential technology that mediates our relationships in contemporary society. The architecture of different online social networking sites enable certain aspects of self-expression while inhibiting others. The consequence is that self-expression and online relationships are necessarily altered by what different online social networki...
Jan 17, 2021•1 hr 51 min
Why is the incidence of mental illness in the UK twice that in Germany? Why are Americans three times more likely than the Dutch to develop gambling problems? Why is child well-being so much worse in New Zealand than Japan? The answer to all of these questions, hinges on inequality. This talk will explore how inequality affects us individually, how it alters how we think, feel and behave. You’ll learn about the overwhelming evidence showing that material inequalities have powerful psychological ...
Oct 26, 2020•1 hr 26 min
The most basic aspects of our psychology were shaped by the “social leap” our distant ancestors made from the rainforest to the savannah. In their struggle to survive on the open grassland, our ancestors prioritized cooperation and teamwork over physical prowess, creating a new form of social intelligence that set the stage for our rise to the top of the food chain. In this talk I trace our evolutionary history over the last six million years to show how events in our distant past guide our live...
Oct 18, 2020•1 hr 53 min
Martin Wilks is a Chartered Counselling Psychologist, Associate fellow of the British Psychological Society, and is a registered applied psychology practice supervisor. Martin specialises as an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) Practitioner, and in this interview, we discuss some of the core ideas of the approach, psychological flexibility, the benefits of living a values based life, and the link between ACT and ‘The Ecological Self’. You can learn more about Martin’s work on his website: ...
Oct 11, 2020•1 hr 9 min
The traditional use of psychoactive plants and fungi for spiritual and shamanic purposes has occurred for thousands of years, whereas the Western scientific research of these substances has only been explored in the last 100 years or so, and prohibition stalled 50 years of this. Now that scientific research is resuming, what do psychedelics tell us about the stranger and more exotic side of human consciousness and its connection with the natural world, and what can be learned from the traditiona...
Sep 20, 2020•1 hr 24 min
This lecture will explore the evidence for our changing environment, and suggest that there are significant cognitive biases in how we think about, and act on climate change. It will examine how organisations have attempted to mobilise the public in the fight against climate change, but these initiatives have often failed due to the public’s unwillingness to adapt their behaviour. The talk will also explore why some people deny climate change altogether, and the influence that these climate chan...
Sep 13, 2020•1 hr 57 min
Friedrich Nietzsche was a fascinating, eccentric, and sometimes controversial philosopher in the Existential and Nihilist tradition. In this lecture, we will look at his literary works and his personal life, as well as the impact of his legacy on the world. You’ll learn: – How can Nietzsche help us live more authentically? – Who was he and how did this inform his philosophy? – What is his legacy – in philosophy, to individuals, and in media? Together we will translate philosophical theory into l...
Aug 15, 2020•1 hr 53 min
The sciences are pointing toward a new sense of a living world. The cosmos is like a developing organism, and so is our planet, Gaia. The laws of Nature may be more like habits. Partly as a result of the ‘hard problem’ of finding space for human consciousness in the materialist worldview, there is a renewed interest in panpsychist philosophies, according to which some form of mind, experience or consciousness is associated with all self-organizing systems, including atoms, molecules and plants. ...
Aug 09, 2020•1 hr 23 min
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is perhaps the most evidence-based therapy for emotional problems. It was directly inspired by Stoicism, an ancient Greek and Roman philosophy which teaches people how to take care of their minds and souls. In this talk, Philosopher Jules Evans will look at practical methods from Stoicism and CBT to help cope with adversity and find resilience even in emergencies. Jules Evans is Policy Director at the Centre for the History of Emotions at Queen Mary, Universit...
Jul 19, 2020•1 hr 23 min
It has become customary to talk about consciousness as the great unsolved problem of our age. I argue that consciousness itself is not the problem; the problem is our customary mode of thinking. I will outline the thesis of a new book, The Matter with Things, in which I suggest that, because of our allegiance to a certain model of the world, demonstrably associated with the left hemisphere of the brain, we misunderstand the fundamental nature of the world, and as a result run into predictable pr...
Jun 28, 2020•1 hr 52 min
Dr Benjamin Hardy is an organisational psychologist, entrepreneur, TED speaker and bestselling author, with an interesting story to tell. He went from being broke and sleeping on his cousin’s sofa at the age of 20, to completing a PhD, building a 7 figure business, and becoming the #1 writer in the world on Medium.com. Ben and his wife Lauren adopted three children from the foster system in February 2018, and one month later, Lauren got pregnant with twins who were born in December 2018 - so alm...
Jun 20, 2020•55 min
Have you ever come up with amazing New Year’s resolutions such as losing extra weight, starting saving up money, starting your own business, exercising regularly, changing your career, eating much healthier or quitting smoking? You pumped yourself up with great enthusiasm and thought things are going to be very different this year. Fast forward – what happened a month down the line? If you are like the majority of us, you’ve probably gone back to where you started. We form habits subconsciously ...
Jun 15, 2020•1 hr 38 min
If you are living your life right, then a time will come when you sense the need to grow and fulfil your potential. Yet we can find ourselves poorly equipped to move ourselves forward, and seek insight in our stuckness through running inventories of our skills and experiences. Even less helpful, we ask ourselves “What do I want?”, and stare into a chasm of uncertainty and confusion, led by scripts of what we “should” be and do. But the quality of our answers and our lives lie in the questions we...
Jun 08, 2020•1 hr 24 min
