Cyber Synapse Podcast

This episode was absolutely awesome and one I have been waiting to do for some time. The reason being as a gamer this platform takes gaming to the next level and has been my favourite thing to happen (so far) in gaming tech, this passion is also shared by James and Nathan from Chaos Theory VR Arcade (I had to edit this part in the recording as I kept saying therapy not theory- guess theres a clue about what we talk about!)

James and Nathan are those kind of people that are uber cool dudes and this tech has brought together a partnership which they are hoping to bring to the masses. Because its incredibly fun, immersive and really does allow even the most basic of players to have a go. You really should have a go as soon as possible!

We talk the games, the tech, the advances and the fun. This is such a fab conversation so dive in and have a listen- it wont be long before you'll be putting on a headset and joining me in the podcast environment in VR... I can feel it!

You can find James and Nathan at their new shiny website: https://www.chaostheoryvr.com

and on Instagram at : chaostheoryvrarcade

For now, enjoy the last of season 2 whilst I get my head back into my PhD and take a small break before starting season 3 with two amazing episodes.

Today's episode is all about Dr Jessica Stones phenomenal thinking about what clients and people might need in terms of a tool or intervention to help them manage an issue through a format that has never existed- until now.. a digital virtual version of depth psychology and psychotherapy. 

Not only is this way ahead of the game in terms of platform and practical functionality for people who may be housebound, hospitalised and even incarcerated this is the technology that is making a difference  to those with somatic (body) and sensory issues.

This episode goes into so much depth that we had to call time on how engrossed we were and how we hardly gave enough time to the book she edited on tech in therapy; and how this is already needing so many more practitioners expertise as technology exponentially advances! Dr Stone will be back for more on this!

One of my favourite conversations on the podcast because this is tech AND therapy - the best intervention for accessing the Psyche in my personal opinion- you'll have to listen to judge for yourself!!

You can find out more about the Virtual Sandtray here: https://www.sandtrayplay.com/

Twitter: @VirtualSandtray

This weeks episode features Dr Megan Connell, the co-founder of https://www.g33kslikeus.com/ whereby the motto here is:

"Be unapologetically enthusiastic" (I just LOVE this)

Dr Connell, is a board certified licensed psychologist, which by the way is a big deal (if you don't know how these things work)

She was another fab person to talk to and we covered (in a shorter than normal episode) getting your geek on and finding your tribe; using this to find a career, the therapeutic connections that can be made with people when you find your commonalities through science, tech, games or otherwise. Celebrations of people having passions. You  might be able to tell that I love this approach to human connection and Megan (and Ryan Kelly) have done a wonderful job of building this community.

We talk Table top games such as DND (Dungeons and Dragons) and how Megan has an all female game that runs as well as her many projects/videos which you can find out about on the website above- I would recommend checking it out as Ryan Kelly a previous guest is also the co-founder and contributor to this site. Go check it out!

This weeks guest is Dr Holly Powell Jones. We have a blast discussing her research that was completed for her Doctoral thesis, which looked at how young people make sense of the online world in terms of legalities, criminal aspects, reporting and support. Holly explains how the young people she worked with on this research and those she teaches can often get mixed up in terms of knowing what is and isn't legal online, what constitutes as criminal behaviour and why some young people are less likely to report when they see or are a victim of a crime online.This is a great addition to the previous two episodes, so go ahead and listen to them if you haven't already!

Holly highlights how the victim blaming language and biases are still aimed towards behaviours that people could have done differently to change the outcome of an event and we look at young peoples views around pornography use, sexting and the age of consent and why this is such a difficult are a for young people to navigate online when the law seems to be confusing for them; isn't it just though?

Holly mentions a play that relates to this and unfortunately i cannot see that it is running elsewhere and was a 2018 production.

The play is called Why is the Sky Blue and was run by Tackroom Theatre directed by Abbey Wright. 

Holly can be found on LinkedIn

As always than you for watching/listening and spreading the word, I am extremely grateful for the feedback I am receiving. If you would spread the word to your friends over the summer we can begin to help people learn about online activities and how to help ourselves as adults and children and young people too!

I'm joined today by Rory from the Cyber helpline THE goto website for the "when" moment(s) that were discussed last episode!

Rory and I discuss how he set up the helpline to be a 24/7 site that you can goto when you find yourself a victim of a cyber related attack or mistake that you might have made

When you reach the site, type in your cyber issue that you need help with such as being hacked, malware, phishing attacks and hey presto the ingenuity and magical elfs (aka Machine learning bots/AI) that run the site at the front end help you take the next steps in protecting yourself, your data, your money or your life. (apologies to those who now have an earworm)

And if you want to parlez with a real human you can do that too.

Why does this site offer something that is amazing? Well this is THE reason I interviewed Rory, you see some humans visit sites that perhaps they don't want others to know about, perhaps they were caught out by a brilliantly designed email or clicked a pop up thinking they had won a new iPad! etc...and now in the hands of the shame monster they don't want to report to the police for fear of being laughed at, or are too embarrassed to tell. Next episode you'll find out another reason people don't report issues (its another great in depth analysis of people and cyber!), anyway back to the helpline

well immediacy is often the biggest key in resolving cyber related issues and attacks. Those pesky criminals are impatient and your money can make them so. Herein lies the quick solution by heading to the helpline and tapping in what has happened the bot can work out what kind of attack you have been a victim of. The site is fast, very clever and can gives you step by step information as to how you can now resolve the issue, in easily to understand language too!

The site is... yep you've guessed it!   www.thecyberhelpline.com 

Listen in to find out how great this is and please do rate, subscribe, like, share and let people know about this episode and podcast so that we can all learn how to protect ourselves, get help when we need it and share the knowledge. 

Thanks for listening/watching I really appreciate this. My inner warm fuzzie is feeling the love!

You can head over to patreon to sponsor this podcast on www.patreon.com/cybersynapse as theres hidden content for subscribers and I am well aware that us podcaster folk are doing this for free and many of us need your help. 

Consumers can only consume if producers produce and I am seeing this request more and more on social media. Free is only as good as it costs...

Today Im joined by Jeri a cybercrime analyst at the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, so a person who really knows whats happening to the general public in terms of Cybercrimes, so not a case of Cath telling you and perhaps you thinking yeah right Cath... this is Action Fraud reports about the scale of the issue, from the people themselves and as you'll hear not all cases are reported...This applies to singular users of cyberspace or a business.

Why do you need to know about cybercrime? Why should you care? What can happen? and is it true that you're more likely to be a victim of cybercrime  than burglary? 

Technology is now, well it always has but more-so now providing a larger arena to exploit, harass and menace users and in some cases destroy lives.

There are some real highlights in terms of explaining what kinds of 'attacks' are happening and how this will impact a persons business or life.

Theres a really important section in here about why our email systems are the 'hub' of our cybersecurity focus and why I suggest in particular that my profession and those who deal with sensitive categories of data (ie very personal information about their customers) really needs to do more to protect themselves, their devices and their clients because the current level of knowledge around these issues is akin to ostrich/bury your head in the sand syndrome (which is not a real diagnosis by the way) and this is putting people at risk. Of what? Listen to this episode and the next one to get a glimpse into the worlds of what can happen.

Sensationalist? Not at all; We're only scratching the surface here in this episode and both Jeri and I know just how deep this rabbit hole goes and we would like for the public to prick up their ears to the information contained herein.

For more information please listen to episodes from Season 1 and for the Action fraud Website goto: https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/

Next episode is all about what to do when these things happen.... and how you can help yourself so stay tuned!

This weeks episode is epic. The content is so, so full to the brim and will also be followed by a video that I will be putting on my YouTube channel to help explain the Polyvagal theory (PVT) discussed in this episode. Using both examples that we give. (everyone likes free resources right?)

You see Justin and I are #geeks about this PVT and I brought Justin on because he has his own podcast dedicated to this topic and is the only person I know that I could totally #nerd out with over it, as its the foundational premise of my cybertrauma theory. What does happen though is we get into all forms of applying this theory which I am predicting will hit the big time trends in 2019. There is a new star on the block and he is called Stephen Porges. (Only he has been around since the 90's and I have had the privilege of attending a number of his 2-3 day workshops a few years ago and now I am beginning to see this ripple hitting the media as we speak!)

Justin and I talk about how the PVT can assist in giving people a language to narrate what they already know and understand to be true within themselves, a language to converse with others, a language for teachers, staff and professionals to use with each other and young people.

Throughout the episode we refer to the Vagal #states and what these mean and how you can begin to understand children, young people and adults in terms of what they have learned to do based on the information that is fed to their brain to make sense of. (Point to note is the Vagal nerves are not responsible for the behaviours- this will be in my video to follow)

We talk about devices, computer games, mirror neurons and arousal states, energy levels, social media and how this has an effect on young peoples mental health and wellbeing.

Through the lens of Psychotherapy, PVT and Trauma we discuss what is happening for young people today, how this affects their mental health and how we can work with them, understand their digital world and education systems.

Around 2/3 of the way into the episode there is a shift into a deep discussion around self aware parenting with raw examples from Justin and I about what this is like and why our profession and PVT has helped inform us  as parents and what this is actually like. This is IMO the best part of todays episode in terms of giving you a real insight into the theory and how it is applied IRL!!

Thanks for listening/watching and see you next time.

Rate, Subscribe and share on iTunes, YouTube and beyond- lets get this theory out there to the masses and  help build a new lexicon, we deserve to be shame free human beings.

This episode I turn the table on John and Sandra Wilson of Onlinevents. You see I have been interviewed by John many times going all the way back to 2013 (or earlier I cant quite remember as I wrote this), with Sandra (Saz) at the helm of the technical wizardry in the background helping things run smoothly for each interview they conduct.

John and Sandra explain who they are and how Onlinevents runs; and yes just one E in the middle.  The platform of Onlinevents has grown considerably to what is now likely to be the number one CPD hub for therapists in the world. Each week John and Sandra run a day in the week for interviews, which is filled with some of the most knowledgeable specialists in their fields.

Topics range from conversations about ethics, interventions to theory and beyond.  Each interview is broadcast free of charge and has more than one chat room which both John and Saz simultaneously monitor and feedback to the guest, it really is a phenomenal skill to watch and I know the struggle of trying to keep on track in the interview and yet John accomplishes this with grace and ease each time.

Each interview is handled by he skills of this team, containing the complexities of the topics and lasts approximately an hour, which never quite feels enough and counts towards CPD (continuing professional development, similar to CE points in the US) for anyone who takes the time to watch either live or in the hub, which is a members area that allows access to all of the previous interviews. 

Rather like a podcast this is a platform that enable therapists to learn outside of their training schedule and pique their interests in areas and disciplines they may not have encountered otherwise.

And a special thanks to Rory for the audio edits who does a marvellous job, where my internet providers are not always as robust!

You can find out more about onlinevents here: www.onlinevents.co.uk

Today im joined by Dr Ryan Kelly, a Clinical Psychologist and co-founder of G33KS like us, which we talk about in this episode and how the idea of using self confessed "geekery' can help us as practitioners to connect with our clients and how many of us use computer games and science in order to do this.

Ryan speaks with great eloquence about the video game debate, bias in research and how this can be tweaked using certain statistical measures and then how this can be reported.

Why research questions can be 'loaded' and how this can be used to reported to the general public.

We look at how to disseminate research effectively and with a human touch and how there is a move to do this by a number of professionals.

Then we move over to the work of Geek therapy, and around therapeutic live gaming such as Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) and how this helps parents understand the world of their child, also with Aspie young people allows the young people to socialise and build skills with and around each other. How this is not a 'new fact' to table top players of these games.

I have to mention Goat Simulator as one of the funniest games that I have ever played and to have Ryan talk about this was a fantastic moment, you really do need ton play it to get it

Geeks like us can be found here: https://www.g33kslikeus.com/

Ryan can be found on twitter @DrRKelly 

Enjoy