Book Club

MHPN are excited to announce a new streamlined way to access MHPN podcasts. From March 2022, all episodes on the current Book Club show will be re-released fortnightly on the MHPN Presents show, making it easier for you to find more of our podcasts in one place. Once available on MHPN Presents, each episode will no longer be available on the Book Club show. To continue listening to existing Book Club episodes and be notified when new episodes are released, subscribe to MHPN Presents.

"I've always been fascinated with the question - 'do we choose the work, or does the work choose us?' How do our experiences of loss and love influence our world?" - Christopher Hall, episode host.

All of us will experience loss at some point in our lives. As professionals who work alongside others' experiences of grief and bereavement; how do therapists' personal experiences of loss impact the work that they do? For the first time on Book Club, listeners will hear directly from the author of this episode's text, as New York based social worker Phyllis Kosminsky unpacks the inspiration behind her article, 'From practice to theory and back again: A personal perspective on grief and bereavement in a changing world', with her colleague and our host Christopher Hall, a psychologist.

Listen in as Christopher and Phyllis recount their experiences of personal loss, and how these experiences have shaped their respective work in psychology and social work, respectively.

Visit us at www.mhpn.org.au/podcast to access this episode's host and guest bios, the host's testimonial of their selected text, links to the text and other recommended materials, and a self-directed CPD form.

Share your comments, questions, and feedback on Book Club with us here https://bit.ly/39TEFnz

Why is it in all our best interests to understand the long-term effects of childhood adversity?

To help answer this question, our host Dr Johanna Lynch; a GP, enlists her trusted friend and colleague, Dr Cathy Kezelman AM; a medical practitioner and mental health consumer advocate, to the joint task of unpacking the popular book - 'The Deepest Well: Healing the Long Term Effects of Childhood Adversity' (2019) - by renowned pediatrician, Nadine Burke Harris.

Hear from Johanna and Cathy as they dive into 'The Deepest Well' revealing crucial insights into the 'unseen epidemic' of childhood adversity. Listeners will gain an understanding of the urgency and scale of this issue for clinicians; the role of awareness in medical funding and policy; and most importantly, the wealth of evidence backing Burke Harris' key message that, in both the immediate aftermath of childhood adversity and in the years that pass, the question is not 'whether' but rather 'to what degree' trauma takes its toll on us, our bodies, our health, and our lives.

Visit us at https://mhpn.org.au/ to access this episode's host and guest bios, the host's testimonial of why they selected the text and their guest with whom to discuss it, links to the text and other recommended materials, and a self-directed CPD form.

Share your comments, questions, and feedback on Book Club with us here https://bit.ly/39TEFnz

What are the connections between different psychotherapeutic approaches? And has psychotherapy become more, or less, 'chaotic' since its inception as a field?

In this episode, host Dr John Cooper, psychiatrist, and his guest, Professor Mark Creamer, clinical psychologist, share their views on the value of an orthodox versus an eclectic approach to psychotherapy by discussing Jerome Frank's article 'Common Features of Psychotherapy' (1972).

Join John and Mark as they reprise a conversation John initiated with Mark many years ago, as colleagues in the field, about Jerome Frank's views on psychotherapy, different psychotherapeutic approaches, and the risks and efficacies of psychotherapy in its various modalities. Tune in now to hear how, if at all, John and Mark's respective positions on these issues have changed over time.

If you enjoyed this episode, check out our earlier episode 'Reflections on Psychotherapy' where Dr Rick Yeatman and Dr Paul Cammell share their views on Jerome Frank's seminal and introductory book to psychotherapy titled 'Persuasion and Healing' (1961).

Visit us at www.mhpn.org.au/podcasts to access this episode's host and guest bios, the host's testimonial of their selected text, links to the text and other recommended materials, and a self-directed CPD form.

Share your comments, questions, and feedback on Book Club with us here https://bit.ly/39TEFnz

What does an international bestselling parenting book have to offer mental health practitioners and health professionals? More than you might think!

Join host Dr Monica Moore, general practitioner and psychotherapist, and Dr Paul Grinzi, general practitioner and medical educator, as they reveal their responses to and reflections on the renowned 'No.1 practical guide' to parenting and family life - 'How To Talk So Kids Will Listen, and Listen So Kids Will Talk' (1980) - by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish. Listen in to hear Monica and Paul's reactions to the book and their thoughts on how reading it has helped them in more ways than they anticipated.

Visit us at www.mhpn.org.au/podcasts to access this episode's host and guest bios, the host's testimonial of their selected text, links to the text and other recommended materials, and a self-directed CPD form.

Share your comments, questions, and feedback on Book Club with us here https://bit.ly/39TEFnz

What role does formulation play in suicide risk assessment, and what is the relationship between formulation and suicide prevention?

In this episode, host Dr Mary Emeleus; general practitioner and psychiatry trainee, and her invited guest, Associate Professor Christopher Ryan; psychiatrist, discuss the complex, charged and challenging topic of managing risk - in particular managing risk of suicide - using Mary's chosen text, 'Reformulating Suicide Risk Formulation: From Prediction to Prevention' (2015, Pisani, A.R, Murrie, D.C, Morton, M.S) as the foundation to their conversation.

The text promotes a framework which encourages a focus on prevention rather than on prediction - listen in as Mary and Chris explore the merits, challenges, and limitations of this position. In so doing, Mary and Chris share their mutual regard of the 'art of' formulation in psychiatry; their views on the utility of suicide risk assessments; and the key distinction, as they see it, between suicide prediction and suicide prevention.

In drawing on their combined professional experiences in mental health across both clinical and academic contexts; Mary and Chris offer a rich, accessible, and thought-provoking pathway for listeners to ponder more deeply about the challenges of responding to and managing risk in clinical work.

Stay tuned for the next episode of Book Club as Dr Monica Moore and Dr Paul Grinzi reflect on the international bestseller, 'How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk' (1980), by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish.

Visit us at www.mhpn.org.au/podcasts to access this episode's host and guest bios, book summary, recommended materials, and a self-directed CPD form.

Share your comments, questions and feedback on Book Club with us here: https://bit.ly/39TEFnz

In this inaugural episode of Book Club, join our host Dr Rick Yeatman and his invited guest, Dr Paul Cammel - both psychiatrists, as they discuss Rick's selected book, 'Persuasion and Healing' (1961) by Jerome D. Frank. This seminal and highly acclaimed book is currently in its third edition - Rick and Paul share their initial responses to the book as new graduates; and their responses now, as colleagues who work together in emergency and post-emergency mental health.

Listeners will hear Rick and Paul as they unpack the meaning and rhetoric behind the key ideas, imagery, and approaches described in 'Persuasion and Healing' and how these have shaped broader understandings about the role of religious and secular systems of thought, the placebo effect, the importance of the qualities of the therapist, and the efficacy of different approaches to practicing psychotherapy.

Rick and Paul also share their opinions, reactions, and responses to Frank's central arguments on the evolving place and value of psychotherapy on mental wellbeing and human behaviour in the 21st century. They identify the book's resonating key messages and why they continue to find it a compelling introductory text to psychotherapy which has resonance and relevance to their current clinical work.

Stay tuned for the next episode of Book Club to hear Dr Mary Emeleus and Dr Chris Ryan as they explore the often-divisive topics of suicide prevention and suicide risk formulation through reflecting on Mary's selected text - a journal article published in 2015.

Liked this episode? Join us again in episode 4 of Book Club, where our host, Dr John Cooper and his guest, Professor Mark Creamer revisit the conversation on psychotherapy and Jerome Frank by engaging with another work by Frank.

Visit www.mhpn.org.au/podcasts to access this episode's host and guest bios, book summary, recommended materials, and a self-directed CPD form.

Share your comments, questions and feedback on Book Club with us here: https://bit.ly/39TEFnz

Book Club is a podcast brought to you by Mental Health Professionals' Network (MHPN); each episode features conversations between mental health experts on the books and journals that have inspired, challenged, moved, and shaped them. Join our hosts and their invited guests as they unpack the ideas and concepts that drive them to do what they do. New episodes will be released weekly from Wednesday 28 July. Subscribe now to stay up-to-date.