An Evolving Man Podcast

An Evolving Man (AEM) #27   Rod Boothroyd   Magician Archetype   Trickster Safety Officer

Rod Boothroyd is a counsellor, psychotherapist, a certified “Healing The Shadow” practitioner and the author of the book Warrior, Magician, Lover, King – a guide to the male archetypes updated for the 21st century.

Today on the podcast I am welcoming back Rod Boothroyd to go deeper into the archetype of the Magician. 

The Magician is the part of us that is responsible for thinking, for analysing and for planning things out. The Magician is the part of us responsible for the mental side of our lives. 

Today Rod explores deeper into the subject of the Magician. What are the positive aspects and what are the shadows? How do we connect to this energy in a benevolent way? 

He works with men, women and mixed groups to heal the wounds of childhood with Marianne Hill and also trains people in the art of working with the shadow and healing emotional wounds.

Some of the questions that Rod answers are: 

1. What is the Magician archetype?
2. What makes a balanced and mature Magician?
3. What are the shadows of the archetypes?
4. What are the specific shadows of the Magician archetype?
5. I would love you to speak more about the Safety Officer. What is this aspect and how does it show up in our lives?
6. What would you say is the key emotion of the Magician and why does it help to face this emotion?
7. What about the trickster? In some cultures the Trickster is seen as a gift. Is the Trickster only negative or does it have positive qualities?
8. I see that people who are in the Magician shadow often disassociate. What have you found has really helped people to come back into their bodies?
9. How do we cultivate the Magician - what are the steps that we can take to embody the Magician?
10. How do we find Sacred Time for the Magician? How important is this?
11. How to heal the Magician shadow
12. How to connect to your work? 

#kingwarriormagicianlover #magicianarchetype #rodboothroyd 

Books:

Rod Boothroyd: Warrior Magician Lover King; A Guide to the Male Archetypes Updated for the 21st Century

Josh Waitzkin: The Art of Learning

Bill Kauth: A Circle Of Men; The Original Manual For Men's Groups

Pete Walker: Complex PTSD

Robert Moore: The Archetype of Initiation

Training as a shadow work practitioner:

https://www.htsorganisation.co.uk

Group healing and self development work:

Men:

https://www.strongfreemen.co.uk

https://www.menwithoutmasks.com

https://www.thecipproject.com

https://mankindprojectuki.org/

https://illuman.org

Men and women:

https://www.celebrationofbeing.co.uk/

https://healingtheshadow.co.uk/

---

Piers is an author and a men's transformational coach and therapist who works mainly with trauma, boarding school issues, addictions and relationship problems. 

He also runs online men's groups for ex-boarders, retreats and a podcast called An Evolving Man. 

He is also the author of How to Survive and Thrive in Challenging Times. To purchase Piers first book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Survive-Thrive-Challenging-Times/dp/B088T5L251/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=piers+cross&qid=1609869608&sr=8-1 

For more videos please visit: http://youtube.com/pierscross 

For FB: https://www.facebook.com/pierscrosspublic 

For Piers' website and a free training How To Find Peace In Everyday Life: https://www.piers-cross.com/community 

Many blessings, 

Piers Cross 

http://piers-cross.com/ 

Today I am speaking with Dick Moore on my podcast. We talk about with the current mental health crisis in schools and with young people. We talk about suicide, self-harming and the pressure that young people are under. What can we do?

Dick Moore has worked as an English teacher, rugby coach, boarding school housemaster and, for over twenty years, the headmaster of a co-educational day and boarding school.

He has a passionate interest in adolescent development and emotional wellbeing. He qualified as a Youth Mental Health First Aid Instructor in 2012 and joined the Charlie Waller Trust in 2012. He has also attended an ASIST Suicide Intervention course.

Dick now travels the country giving talks to teachers, young people and parents to help raise awareness of mental health issues.

I  would like for you to talk further about some of the following subjects:

1. Can you share a little about your own journey? What drew you into doing the work that you now do regarding mental health?
2. I would be really interested to hear you speak about suicide and suicide ideation. Why is this such a problem at the moment especially with young people? And especially young males?
3. The pressure young people are under. Do you feel that young people are under more pressure now than in our day, especially after the last 2 years? Why is this? What can we as adults support them? What can young people do to manage and handle this pressure better? 
4. I would love for you to speak a little about mental health in boarding schools. In your opinion, is there more pressure in a boarding school environment than a day school? One of my friends committed suicide while I was at boarding school. I saw the amount of pressure the boy was under and the lack of support. Has this changed since our day at boarding school?
5. Could you speak a little on male and female emotional honesty please? Do you feel that this has developed over the years or not?
6. I would love you to speak on the whole area of discrimination - in all walks of life…families, schools, friendships, businesses, race, creed, gender etc. etc.
7. How do we better support the young people? Especially in boarding schools where the houseparents are often under so much pressure. Is there something that we can set up in schools? In your experience what do you feel would work?
8. How do people learn more about what you do or reach out to you?

#mentalhealth #mentalhealthchildren #boardingschool

For more information about Dick's work and to invite him to speak at your school please visit:https://www.dickmoore.org/

To find out more about the Charlie Waller Trust: https://charliewaller.org/

A PDF spreadsheet about mental health: https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/b5791d_58764f25627b4275a3c925206b3e8a74.pdf

Mental Health Qualifications: https://mentalhealthlearning.co.uk/courses/asist/

or: https://mhfaengland.org/individuals/youth/

Papyrus Mental Health Charity: https://www.papyrus-uk.org/

---

Piers is an author and a men's transformational coach and therapist who works mainly with trauma, boarding school issues, addictions and relationship problems. 

He also runs online men's groups for ex-boarders, retreats and a podcast called An Evolving Man. 

He is also the author of How to Survive and Thrive in Challenging Times. To purchase Piers first book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Survive-Thrive-Challenging-Times/dp/B088T5L251/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=piers+cross&qid=1609869608&sr=8-1 

For more videos please visit: http://youtube.com/pierscross 

For FB: https://www.facebook.com/pierscrosspublic 

For Piers' website and a free training How To Find Peace In Everyday Life: https://www.piers-cross.com/community 

Many blessings, 

Piers Cross 

http://piers-cross.com/ 

AEM Podcast #25 - Theuns Opperman - Headteacher Talks About Duty of Care, 'Breaking Children Down To Build Them Up' and Abuse in Boarding Schools 

Today I am speaking with Theuns Opperman who is a headteacher based in South Africa. 

He has been in teaching for 20 years and has worked in several boarding schools. 

Today we explore his take on why elite schools and especially boarding schools seem to put the institutions first rather than the children. 

He goes on to explore what we can start to do to change the system and stop the abuse and sexual grooming which goes on in some of these schools. 

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Theuns Opperman is a headteacher in South Africa. He set up the Teach! Conferences which support teacher development in 2012. He has been a teacher for over 20 years and has worked in boarding schools both as a teacher and on a senior level. He now works as a principal in a secondary school in Johannesburg.

Here are some of the questions that he answers: 

1. I would love for you to begin by sharing some of your own journey. What inspired you to get into teaching? What was the inspiration behind speaking up about some of the high profile suicide and sexual abuse cases in South Africa, especially in boarding schools?
2. Could you explain a little bit about Thomas Kruger please? What happened? W
3. Why, in your opinion, do schools cover up any negative press, especially around sexual abuse? Why is it that it is school first, children second? Has it changed?
4. You mention in your article that in some boarding schools they want to break the child down in order to build them up. I know from my boarding experience that this approach didn't work for me. What is your feeling about this? What should schools be doing instead?
5. Having worked in a boarding school do you feel that the load placed on the teachers and houseparents is too much? For this reason is this why they miss the abuse? What can be done? 
6. Many schools in South Africa and across the UK have had military style discipline. And most of the discipline has been meted out by the children. Does this work? 
7. What is the importance of having teachers that have emotional intelligence? How do they cultivate this?
8. What in your opinion are the “layers of experience in a boarding environment?” 
9. In your opinion as a headteacher how do we start to change the system? How do we make it so that it is children first, schools second? What needs to happen?

Some of Theuns' quotes:

 “If schools cannot meet the needs of the students that they serve, they need to stop existing.”

 “My theory is that - because of our romanticization of the suffering - we look past the real harm. We justify the bullying and dehumanisation as part of a process of growing up and “becoming a man”.”

To read his article on Duty of Care: https://theunsjan.blogspot.com/2021/10/my-only-story-and-our-duty-of-care.html#comment-form

For his blog: https://theunsjan.blogspot.com/

On News 24 (trigger warning for the Podcast): https://www.news24.com/news24/columnists/guestcolumn/opinion-theuns-opperman-david-mackenzie-saga-the-importance-of-duty-of-care-to-our-pupils-20211014

 --- Piers is an author and a men's transformational coach and therapist who works mainly with trauma, boarding school issues, addictions and relationship problems. 

He also runs online men's groups, retreats and a podcast called An Evolving Man. 

For more videos please visit: http://youtube.com/pierscross For FB: https://www.facebook.com/pierscrosspublic 
For Piers' website and a free training How To Find Peace In Everyday Life: https://www.piers-cross.com/community 

Many blessings, Piers Cross http://piers-cross.com/ 

---

Piers is an author and a men's transformational coach and therapist who works mainly with trauma, boarding school issues, addictions and relationship problems. 

He also runs online men's groups for ex-boarders, retreats and a podcast called An Evolving Man. 

He is also the author of How to Survive and Thrive in Challenging Times. To purchase Piers first book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Survive-Thrive-Challenging-Times/dp/B088T5L251/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=piers+cross&qid=1609869608&sr=8-1 

For more videos please visit: http://youtube.com/pierscross 

For FB: https://www.facebook.com/pierscrosspublic 

For Piers' website and a free training How To Find Peace In Everyday Life: https://www.piers-cross.com/community 

Many blessings, 

Piers Cross 

http://piers-cross.com/ 

Today I am speaking with Laurence Johns from The ManKind Project, MKP. Laurence is the Development and Outreach Director at The ManKind Project UK and Ireland. The MKP is a men's charity that helps "to nurture a global community of men who have the strength of character to show love, support healthy relationships, and make the world a kinder place."

Some of the questions I ask him:

1. I'd love you to speak about some of your own fascinating journey. What drew you into men's work?
2. You work as the Development and Outreach Director at the MKP. Could you share more about the MKP's mission, what it does
3. I'd love you to speak about masculinity and both toxic masculinity and benevolent masculinity
4. I am fascinated by the power of community. You mention on your website that “the only real currency left, is community”. Can you speak more on this please?
5. In the work that you are doing with the Mankind project what is the current state of men's mental health? What have you found has really helped men with their mental health?
6. Could you speak about the power and importance of positive initiation please? Why is it so important and what happens to men when we don't have it in our lives?
7. I would love to honour Robert Bly who passed away 10 days ago. Are there any bits of wisdom from Robert that you could share? Any stories? Anything that you have learned?
8. How do people get in touch with you and learn more about the ManKind Project?

To learn more about the Mankind Project UK and Ireland please visit: https://mankindprojectuki.org/

To learn more about the Mankind Project globally: https://mankindproject.org/

For the female version, Women In Power please visit: https://womeninpoweruk.com/

Or Women Within: https://womanwithin.org.uk/

Or Celebration of Being which hosts gatherings for both men, women and mixed: https://www.celebrationofbeing.co.uk/

--- 

Piers is an author and a men's transformational coach and therapist who works mainly with trauma, boarding school issues, addictions and relationship problems. He also runs online men's groups, retreats and a podcast called An Evolving Man. 

He is also the author of How to Survive and Thrive in Challenging Times. To purchase Piers first book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Survive-Thrive-Challenging-Times/dp/B088T5L251/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=piers+cross&qid=1609869608&sr=8-1 

For more videos please visit: http://youtube.com/pierscross 
For FB: https://www.facebook.com/pierscrosspublic 
For Piers' website and a free training How To Find Peace In Everyday Life: https://www.piers-cross.com/community 

Many blessings, 

Piers Cross http://piers-cross.com/ 

---

Piers is an author and a men's transformational coach and therapist who works mainly with trauma, boarding school issues, addictions and relationship problems. 

He also runs online men's groups for ex-boarders, retreats and a podcast called An Evolving Man. 

He is also the author of How to Survive and Thrive in Challenging Times. To purchase Piers first book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Survive-Thrive-Challenging-Times/dp/B088T5L251/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=piers+cross&qid=1609869608&sr=8-1 

For more videos please visit: http://youtube.com/pierscross 

For FB: https://www.facebook.com/pierscrosspublic 

For Piers' website and a free training How To Find Peace In Everyday Life: https://www.piers-cross.com/community 

Many blessings, 

Piers Cross 

http://piers-cross.com/ 

Today I am delighted to be speaking with Rod Boothroyd again on An Evolving Man Podcast. 

Rod is speaking in more depth about the Warrior Archetype - what it is and some of the shadow aspects of it. He also talks about some of the ways to connect and cultivate the mature masculine archetype of the Warrior. 

For those who have been drawn to my work through boarding school syndrome then I recommend a listen to this series. 

Often at boarding school we were not taught what it was to be a man or woman. We were guided by other children so we became children in adult's bodies.

In the following podcast Rod outlines what it is to be in connection with the Warrior archetype. That part of us that acts, and has boundaries. What is it to be a mature adult? 

Some of the questions Rod answers are:

1. What is the Warrior archetype?
2. What makes a balanced and mature Warrior?
3. What are the shadows of Sadist and Masochist?
4. How do we cultivate the Warrior - what are the steps that we can take to embody the Warrior?
5. What happens when the warrior is (feels) defeated..
6.  How to keep the Warrior's abilities/'weapons' in the best shape for when they're needed; 
7.  How to effectively lead and support others to develop a stronger Warrior. 
8. Talk about the Immature forms of the Hero - what is the difference between the Hero and the Warrior. And what are the traits of the Grandstanding Bully and the Coward?
9. How to heal the Warrior shadow
10. Who are your Warrior heroes/ heroines?
11. Rod's interpretation of initiation and why ancient initiation was so brutal. 
12. How to connect to your work? 

Books:

Rod Boothroyd: Warrior Magician Lover King; A Guide to the Male Archetypes Updated for the 21st Century

Josh Waitzkin: The Art of Learning

Bill Kauth: A Circle Of Men; The Original Manual For Men's Groups

Pete Walker: Complex PTSD

Training as an emotional process work practitioner:

https://www.htsorganisation.co.uk

Group healing and self development work:

Men:

https://www.strongfreemen.co.uk

https://www.menwithoutmasks.com

https://mankindprojectuki.org/

https://illuman.org

Men and women:

https://www.celebrationofbeing.co.uk/

https://healingtheshadow.co.uk/

 #warriorarchetype #kingwarriormagicianlover #rodboothroyd --- 

Piers is an author and a men's transformational coach and therapist who works mainly with trauma, boarding school issues, addictions and relationship problems. He also runs online men's groups, retreats and a podcast called An Evolving Man. 

He is also the author of How to Survive and Thrive in Challenging Times. 

To purchase Piers first book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Survive-Thrive-Challenging-Times/dp/B088T5L251/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=piers+cross&qid=1609869608&sr=8-1 For more videos please visit: http://youtube.com/pierscross For FB: https://www.facebook.com/pierscrosspublic 

For Piers' website and a free training How To Find Peace In Everyday Life: https://www.piers-cross.com/community Many blessings, Piers Cross http://piers-cross.com/ 

---

Piers is an author and a men's transformational coach and therapist who works mainly with trauma, boarding school issues, addictions and relationship problems. 

He also runs online men's groups for ex-boarders, retreats and a podcast called An Evolving Man. 

He is also the author of How to Survive and Thrive in Challenging Times. To purchase Piers first book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Survive-Thrive-Challenging-Times/dp/B088T5L251/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=piers+cross&qid=1609869608&sr=8-1 

For more videos please visit: http://youtube.com/pierscross 

For FB: https://www.facebook.com/pierscrosspublic 

For Piers' website and a free training How To Find Peace In Everyday Life: https://www.piers-cross.com/community 

Many blessings, 

Piers Cross 

http://piers-cross.com/ 

Today on my podcast I am delighted to be speaking with Craig White about transformation, brotherhood, and initiation.

Craig is both an international men's coach and an international rugby coach. Recently he coached Uruguay in the Rugby World Cup 2019 and today he shares some of the stories about how he helped to transform their team and "shock the world".

A really fascinating conversation about human potential from a man who has coached at the highest levels of sport with Leicester Tigers, London Wasps, and Bolton Wanderers, and on two Lions tours.

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Craig White has been fascinated by Human Behaviour and Performance for over 25 years. During this time he has served as a High-Performance Mentor, and as an Elite Sports Coach, having coached at International Level in Professional Rugby Union with Ireland, Wales and the Lions and in the football Premier League. He has also worked as a Life Coach, a Yoga and Meditation Teacher, and a Business Owner. He now focuses his time on running men's retreats, consulting for professional sports teams and working privately as a men's coach.

Areas that we talk about:
1. I would love you to share some of your journey. What drew you into the work you now do?
2. I would love you to speak about transformation and especially your own mid-life transformation. What do you advise others who are wanting to transform?
3. Brotherhood. What is the importance of brotherhood in this transformation process? I would love you to explore a little how you brought this idea into Uruguay national team in the Rugby World Cup.
4. I would love you to speak about the void. What is the relation between the void and change?
5. In my work I see that those who have been through trauma and especially boarding school often didn't have role models. Many didn't learn what it means to be benevolent man or woman. I would love you to speak on what you feel is a man in his fullness?
6. I would love to hear you perspective about the importance of initiation.
7. Mission and purpose. Can you speak to how we as men find our purpose and fulfil our mission in life?
8. How do people find out more about you and the work you do or to get in touch?
For more information please visit: https://www.menwithoutmasks.com/
https://www.craigwhitementoring.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-white-737087a/
https://www.facebook.com/menwithoutmasks
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQgQITu-_iTdxtWaUimKX9g

---

Piers is an author and a men's transformational coach and therapist who works mainly with trauma, boarding school issues, addictions and relationship problems. 

He also runs online men's groups for ex-boarders, retreats and a podcast called An Evolving Man. 

He is also the author of How to Survive and Thrive in Challenging Times. To purchase Piers first book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Survive-Thrive-Challenging-Times/dp/B088T5L251/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=piers+cross&qid=1609869608&sr=8-1 

For more videos please visit: http://youtube.com/pierscross 

For FB: https://www.facebook.com/pierscrosspublic 

For Piers' website and a free training How To Find Peace In Everyday Life: https://www.piers-cross.com/community 

Many blessings, 

Piers Cross 

http://piers-cross.com/ 

Today I speak with Nick Duffell who is one of the leading experts in the field of boarding school trauma about intimate relationships, disassciation and homesickness.

Nick Duffell is a psychotherapist and trainer in private practice who pioneered therapeutic work with ex-boarders and specialist training for psychotherapists. He is the author of The Making of Them, Trauma Abandonment and Privilege and Wounded Leaders.

Here are some of the questions I asked him:

1. I would love you to share your own journey of boarding school and what drew you into the work that you now do?

2. “How hard is it to believe even that boarding school harmed you? Because usually the ex boarders don't realize or accept what harm and trauma they suffered during boarding.”

3. I would love you to speak more about the Strategic Survival Personality. Do you feel that we as ex-boarders who were compliers have to become rebels in order to heal?

4. “please kindly speak on homesickness in detail. Because for me this experience was so extreme and dreadful. My hair turned grey at the age of 13. I missed my familiar environment so intensely.”

5. I went to a rural boarding school from age 11 to 18. An extremely isolated and traumatic experience where survival strategy meant I couldn't develop socially or emotionally and which left me utterly unprepared for real life. I feel like the pause button in my life was pressed for 7 years just so I could survive the experience. In many ways I still feel like that 11 year old. Completely lost and adrift. The loss of family, childhood and self is so huge it has shaped everything about me. How can we ever fix ourselves when we have missed out on such key developmental foundations? When we have neglected and lost ourselves so completely? One thing I realise is that we really did miss out on key things we needed..and also that we don't realise what we should have or be because we never had it.. 

6. Many of the ex-boarders I know really struggle in intimate relationships. What do you advise ex-boarders to help them to start to cultivate open, loving and happy relationships?

7. A common trait as ex-boarders seems to be around disassociation. What can we start to do to stop the splitting and connecting again with our feelings – both happy and sad?

8. How do we change the system and bring healing to boarding schools?

9. How do people find out more about your work and your offerings?

For more information please visit:

https://www.boardingschoolsurvivors.co.uk/

And for one of Nick's upcoming events: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/opus-study-day-boarding-school-and-society-tickets-159661599141

--- 

Piers is an author and a men's transformational coach and therapist who works mainly with trauma, boarding school issues, addictions and relationship problems. He also runs online men's groups, retreats and a podcast called An Evolving Man. He is also the author of How to Survive and Thrive in Challenging Times. 

To purchase Piers first book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Survive-Thrive-Challenging-Times/dp/B088T5L251/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=piers+cross&qid=1609869608&sr=8-1 For more videos please visit: http://youtube.com/pierscross For FB: https://www.facebook.com/pierscrosspublic 

For Piers' website and a free training How To Find Peace In Everyday Life: https://www.piers-cross.com/community Many blessings, Piers Cross http://piers-cross.com/ 

---

Piers is an author and a men's transformational coach and therapist who works mainly with trauma, boarding school issues, addictions and relationship problems. 

He also runs online men's groups for ex-boarders, retreats and a podcast called An Evolving Man. 

He is also the author of How to Survive and Thrive in Challenging Times. To purchase Piers first book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Survive-Thrive-Challenging-Times/dp/B088T5L251/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=piers+cross&qid=1609869608&sr=8-1 

For more videos please visit: http://youtube.com/pierscross 

For FB: https://www.facebook.com/pierscrosspublic 

For Piers' website and a free training How To Find Peace In Everyday Life: https://www.piers-cross.com/community 

Many blessings, 

Piers Cross 

http://piers-cross.com/ 

AEM Podcast #20 Chukumeka "Chukes" Maxwell - Suicide Awareness & Prevention - What Can You Do For Yourself & Other To Help Prevent Suicide?

Today on my An Evolving Man Podcast I speak with Chukumeka "Chukes" Maxwell about suicide awareness and prevention.

We explore what you can do if you are feeling suicidal and we also go into some depth what you can do if someone you know or love is showing suicidal tendencies.

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Chukes is the founder of Action To Prevent Suicide CIC - a Devon based non-profit dedicated to raising funds for community-based programs focused on suicide prevention.

Born in London, to African and Caribbean parents, Chuke’s family emigrated back to Nigeria in 1965 but Chukumeka was then evacuated to the UK in 1967 as a refugee from the Biafran civil war. He has have also lived in Jamaica and Belize. Chukes has had a very eclectic working life, from training in the hotel industry after school to opening an award-winning delicatessen and later his own catering company, then re-training as a holistic deep tissue massage therapist and later as a registered Social worker.

A part-time lecturer at the University of Plymouth, Chukumeka is now also a suicide prevention trainer specializing in LivingWorks programs, Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Trainer (ASIST) and safeTALK.

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Some of the questions Chukes answers and subjects he speaks about are:

- What was your boarding school Christ's Hospital like in the 70

- We talk about how we were at the same school and the importance of speaking and bringing things to light

- Chukes speaks about what drew him into suicide awareness and prevention work.

- He talks about some of the toools that you can use if you are feeling suicidal

- What is the advise he can give you if your loved ones are feeling suicidal or showing signs of depression?

- Does he advise different approaches for children and adults regarding suicidal thoughts?

- He also speaks about the imporance of how to stay calm when in the company of a suicidal person.

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In order to learn more or support Chukes' work please visit: https://www.goodwillatps.org.uk/

He is currently looking at raising £1.5 million to set up a suicide prevention centre in Devon so please do support.

#suicide prevention #suicide awareness #christ's hospital

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Contact Details If You Are Feeling Suicidal:

The phone number to call in the UK if you are feeling suicidal is:

Samaritans: 116123

Website Hub of Hope: https://hubofhope.co.uk/

For more numbers of contact globally: https://www.supportline.org.uk/problems/suicide/

Hub of Hope App: Apple: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/hub-of-hope/id1337090866

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.chasingthestigma.hubofhope&hl=en&gl=gb

 --- 

Piers is an author and a men's transformational coach and therapist who works mainly with trauma, boarding school issues, addictions and relationship problems. He also runs online men's groups, retreats and a podcast called An Evolving Man. He is also the author of How to Survive and Thrive in Challenging Times. To purchase Piers first book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Survive-Thrive-Challenging-Times/dp/B088T5L251/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=piers+cross&qid=1609869608&sr=8-1 For more videos please visit: http://youtube.com/pierscross For FB: https://www.facebook.com/pierscrosspublic For Piers' website and a free training How To Find Peace In Everyday Life: https://www.piers-cross.com/community Many blessings, Piers Cross http://piers-cross.com/ 

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Piers is an author and a men's transformational coach and therapist who works mainly with trauma, boarding school issues, addictions and relationship problems. 

He also runs online men's groups for ex-boarders, retreats and a podcast called An Evolving Man. 

He is also the author of How to Survive and Thrive in Challenging Times. To purchase Piers first book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Survive-Thrive-Challenging-Times/dp/B088T5L251/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=piers+cross&qid=1609869608&sr=8-1 

For more videos please visit: http://youtube.com/pierscross 

For FB: https://www.facebook.com/pierscrosspublic 

For Piers' website and a free training How To Find Peace In Everyday Life: https://www.piers-cross.com/community 

Many blessings, 

Piers Cross 

http://piers-cross.com/ 

On today's podcast I am speaking with the award winning author, James Harpur about his new collection of poetry called The Examined Life.

In this episode James reads from his poetry book some of the poems which detail what life was like for him at boarding school in the 1970s.

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James Harpur is an award winning poet who has had six poetry collections published by Carcanet and Anvil Press. He is also a member of Aosdana, the Irish academy of arts.

The awards he has won include: the Vincent Buckley Prize, a Patrick and Katherine Kavanagh Fellowship, and the UK National Poetry Competition.

His work has appeared in the national press, including The Irish Times, The Spectator, The Guardian, The Financial Times, and The Independent.

His books include The White Silhouette (2018), an Irish Times Book of the Year, Angels and Harvesters (2012), which was a PBS Recommendation and shortlisted for the 2013 Irish Times Award; and The Dark Age (2007) which won the Michael Hartnett Poetry Prize.

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Here are some of the topics and poems that James talks about:

1 Introduction. 00.0

How James came to write his book as an account of his ‘tribe’. 

2Why boarding school? 7.45

Why did James’s parents send him to one? 

Poem: ‘Separation’

3. Homesickness. 15.30

First few weeks at school and the change from family life. 

Poem: ‘The Payphone Trap’

4 Family Situation. 24.25

James’s parents splitting up at the start of his school career.

Poem: ‘Telemachus’

5 Boarding School challenges. 35.00

James as an introvert in relentless public space; dormitories; prefects, etc.

Poems: ‘Middle Dormitory: Passover’ & ‘Senior Dormitory: Faust’

6. Positive aspects of school. 47.30

Camaraderie, influence of good masters …

Poem: ‘Senior Dormitory: Monday Morning’

7 Under Pressure. 57.15

Different types of pressure, e.g exams. James’s ‘breakdown’ … 

Poem: ‘The Active Voice’

8. Boarding School in the 1970s. 1.07.30

Early 1970s still in the hippie era, but also industrial strife and the Troubles – what was that like?

PP: ‘Uniform’

9. The Feminine Principle. 1.16.01 

School was almost entirely an all-boys’ school with an absence of the feminine.

PP: ‘Sex Education: ‘Terra Incognita’

 In order to purchase James' book: :

https://tworiverspress.com/shop/the-examined-life/

Reviews for book:

The Examined Life

‘Insanely courageous.’ The Spectator

'Beautifully crafted and searingly honest.’ Dublin Review of Books

‘Haunted and haunting …’ The Irish Times

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Piers is an author and a men's transformational coach and therapist who works mainly with trauma, boarding school issues, addictions and relationship problems. 

He also runs online men's groups for ex-boarders, retreats and a podcast called An Evolving Man. 

He is also the author of How to Survive and Thrive in Challenging Times. To purchase Piers first book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Survive-Thrive-Challenging-Times/dp/B088T5L251/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=piers+cross&qid=1609869608&sr=8-1 

For more videos please visit: http://youtube.com/pierscross 

For FB: https://www.facebook.com/pierscrosspublic 

For Piers' website and a free training How To Find Peace In Everyday Life: https://www.piers-cross.com/community 

Many blessings, 

Piers Cross 

http://piers-cross.com/ 

 AEM - An Evolving Man Podcast #18 - Joanna Brittan- The Female Perspective of Boarding School - Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) 

On today's podcast I am interviewing Joanna Brittan who is one of the leading voices against the boarding school system and a leading campaigner for the rights of people who have been sexually abused at boarding school. 

Today we talk about her own journey at boarding school and what it was like for her. 

Often we hear about what boarding was like for boys but often there is no corresponding response for girls. 

Joanna talks about what it was like for her and some of the struggles she went through. 

Some of the topics that we talk about are: 

• How the punishment for girls at boarding school was through shame rather than physical abuse
• How boarding schools has affected her as a mother - literally not knowing how to bring her children up. 
• How she has warned the Royal family not to send their children to boarding school and why 
• What she thinks of the IICSA enquiry and why she feels that it has not lived up to its purpose 
• About her brothers' sexual abuse at Sherborne Prep School and how she has campaigned against the school. 
• The neglect of boarding school 
• How peer on peer sexual abuse is the biggest taboo in boarding school child abuse and why no one speaks up. 
• Detached mothering - why mothers allow their children to be sent to boarding school. 
• The link between the Qatar Royal Family and Sherborne schools and how her father introduced the Qatar Royal family to the school and how she feels the school have betrayed them.

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Joanna Brittan is a leading critic of the boarding school system and has spent many years exposing child sexual abuse especially at Sherborne Prep School and Robin Lindsay, as listed at the IICSA inquiry. She also attended boarding school from the age of 8 until 18. 

For more information please visit Joanna on Twitter https://twitter.com/jebrittan2 or @jebrittan2 For the Boarding School Facebook Campaigning Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/boardingschoolaction/ 

And for the Boarding School Survivors FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/143749179546597 (it is private for ex-boarders only so you will need to ask to join). 

“Returning SHAME of CSA to abusive institutions where it rightfully belongs and always did.”

#NeverOurShame

#SherborneShame

#CSA #boardingschoolabuse #childsexualabuse 

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Piers Cross is an author and a men's transformational coach and therapist who works mainly with trauma, boarding school issues, addictions and relationship problems. He also runs online men's groups, retreats and a podcast called An Evolving Man. He is also the author of How to Survive and Thrive in Challenging Times. To purchase Piers first book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Survive-Thrive-Challenging-Times/dp/B088T5L251/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=piers+cross&qid=1609869608&sr=8-1 For more videos please visit: http://youtube.com/pierscross For FB: https://www.facebook.com/pierscrosspublic For Piers' website and a free training How To Find Peace In Everyday Life: https://www.piers-cross.com/community Many blessings, Piers Cross http://piers-cross.com/ 

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Piers is an author and a men's transformational coach and therapist who works mainly with trauma, boarding school issues, addictions and relationship problems. 

He also runs online men's groups for ex-boarders, retreats and a podcast called An Evolving Man. 

He is also the author of How to Survive and Thrive in Challenging Times. To purchase Piers first book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Survive-Thrive-Challenging-Times/dp/B088T5L251/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=piers+cross&qid=1609869608&sr=8-1 

For more videos please visit: http://youtube.com/pierscross 

For FB: https://www.facebook.com/pierscrosspublic 

For Piers' website and a free training How To Find Peace In Everyday Life: https://www.piers-cross.com/community 

Many blessings, 

Piers Cross 

http://piers-cross.com/