Over and Out: a misspent retirement. Café Psychologique Leeds, 25 March
Are you with Maurice Chevalier: ‘I prefer getting old to the alternative’? Or with Patrick Moore: ‘There is absolutely nothing to be said in favour of growing old’? Is retirement the signal for endless decline and poverty, as predicted by newspapers and pension forecasts or the chance to do things you really want, and enjoy the lessons you have learned as famously embodied in the poem ‘Warning’ by Jenny Joseph.
Tim Gauntlett is a retired therapist and now devoting himself to travelling in his retirement. He will introduce a conversation about retirement and how to make it what you want on Tuesday 25 March from 8.00 pm in Seven Arts, Chapel Allerton, Leeds. The Café costs £3 on the door.
There is a poster to download here: Café Psychologique Leeds March 2014
You can join in the conversation online on our Facebook page: Café Psychologique
Music at Café Psychologique, 25th February
If music be the food of love, many of us would starve if we could only feed on someone else’s larder. The effect of music is deeply personal: which music we love, the way it makes us feel, the memories it evokes, the passion it prompts. It’s used to sell, to woo, to send nations to war, but understanding how it has its effect is much trickier.
This Café Psychologique will be introduced by Andrew Wilson, a regular contributor to Café Psychologique and passionate music lover. We shall be talking about Music and its impact on us on Tuesday 25 February, from 8.00 pm in Seven Arts, Chapel Allerton, Leeds. The Café costs £3 on the door.
There is a poster to download here: Café Psychologique February 2014
You can join in the conversation online on our Facebook page: Café Psychologique
Looking on the Bright Side, Café Psychologique, 28 January
Broken resolutions lie scattered all around as we move through January. Why do we persist in making them when we know they rarely work? Self-help books suggest that if only we could remain positive we could defeat the problems that beset us, and achieve our real potential. Hard experience though, teaches many to expect the worse and lower expectations. Is positivity just a way of denying the dark realities of life? Is there a way to remain cheerfully positive, whilst being resilient enough to weather storms and feel empathy for those in real difficulty? Can we look at the bright side, without ignoring the darkness?
This Café Psychologique will be introduced by Dr Carol Martin, a clinical psychologist, and we shall be talking about how to be positive in ways that really help, on Tuesday 28 January, from 8.00 pm in Seven Arts, Chapel Allerton, Leeds. The Café costs £3 on the door.
There is a poster to download here: Café Psychologique January 2014
You can join in the conversation online on our Facebook page: Café Psychologique
Shopping, Café Psychologique, 26 November
Is shopping a necessity, a pleasure or a curse for you? The adverts seem to imply that if we had more shops (and the money to spend in them) we would all be happier, and the psychotherapists and counsellors would be out of business. Social commentators often seem to imply that the sort of consumerism embodied by many shops is part of the capitalist consipiracy that will destroy society and the planet. Whether it’s online or on the high street, many of us spend a great deal of time shopping. It might even be worth wondering why it is that many of us spend more time in shops than in galleries, more time buying things than going to concerts or watching plays.
This Café Psychologique will be introduced by Richard Wilson, an advertising executive, and we shall be talking about shopping, how it works and its place in our lives on Tuesday 26 November, from 8.00 pm in Seven Arts, Chapel Allerton, Leeds. The Café costs £3 on the door.
There is a poster to download here: Café Psychologique Poster November 2013
You can join in the conversation online on our Facebook page: Café Psychologique
The Power of Stories at Café Psychologique, 22 October
‘Will you tell me a story?’ is one of the earliest questions many of us ask. They entertain, scare, guide and inspire. They can shape nations, change the course of a law case, gain a job, and even woo a partner.
What is it about stories that mean some persist through millenia, and still retain their resonance and power to thrill? What about their personal impact on our lives too; why are we so shaped by the stories told to us and about us; and what about the stories we tell ourselves?
This Café Psychologique is part of the Love Arts Festival and will be introduced by professional storyteller Matthew Bellwood. We shall be exploring, sharing and telling stories and understanding their psychological impact on Tuesday 22 October, from 8.00 pm in Seven Arts, Chapel Allerton, Leeds. The Café costs £3 on the door.
There is a poster to download here: Café Psychologique October 2013
You can join in the conversation online on our Facebook page: Café Psychologique
Education, School & Schooldays at Café Psychologique, 24 Sept.
The best of times, the worst of times… why do people say that schooldays are the happiest days of your life when so many are so unhappy there – and that’s not just the teachers? Successive governments make huge changes in education policy which result in massive change for teachers and pupils alike, but does this help or hinder education? The only three categories of people required by law to be in a particular place each day are convicted criminals, people detained under the mental health act and children. Is locking children up every day the best way to help them learn and develop? Have your feelings about your schooling changed as time has gone on?
Unusually for a discussion about school and education, the conversation will be started by two people who spend every week-day in a school: a head teacher and a school student. Lesley McKay and Evan Powell will launch the conversation on 24 September, at 8.00 pm in Seven Arts, Chapel Allerton, Leeds. The Café costs £3 on the door.
There is a poster to download here: Café Psychologique September 2013
You can join in the conversation online on our Facebook page: Café Psychologique
Holidays at Café Psychologique, Tuesday 30 July
Why do we bother with holidays? Are they a vital rest, a chance to celebrate, and a way of fulfilling our nature as creatures of pleasure? Or they just an expensive way to accumulate stress, sunburn, STDs and shattered expectations? Why is so much advertising needed to persuade us to take them if they are so essential? And is it true that workers who have more holidays are also more productive? We can’t promise to provide the answers, but Cafe Psychologique will extend your thinking from a psychological perspective.
Counsellor Wendy Callaghan will start the conversation on 30 July, 8.00 pm at Seven Arts, Chapel Allerton, Leeds. The Café costs £3 on the door. There is a poster to download here: Café Psychologique July Poster
You can join in the conversation online on our Facebook page: Café Psychologique
National Borders – Café Psychologique, 25 June
Why do we fear those who cross national borders? Migration seems such loaded subject. It’s doubtful anyone in a democracy would seriously argue in favour of forcing people to stay in a country where they don’t wish to stay, or even more importantly where they are being ill-treated. But the moment they cross their border into another nation the worry starts. Pete Richardson is Director of Leeds Asylum Seekers’ Support Network and will start the conversation on 25 June, 8.00 pm at Seven Arts, Chapel Allerton, Leeds. There is a poster to download here: Café Psychologique June Poster
You can join in the conversation online on our Facebook page: Café Psychologique
Self Help: Friend or Foe? Café Psychologique Leeds, 28 May
Self Help – you can’t open a paper, go in a bookshop or ask your GP about your depression without being confronted with the idea that the best help is the help you give yourself. Is that right? Can you really sort things out for yourself if you are pointed in the right direction, or are you better relying on an expert to do it all for you? Maria Spellacy is a regular contributor at Café Psychologique, with long experience of self-help and helping others to change. She will introduce the conversation on Tuesday 28 May, 8.00 pm at Seven Arts, Chapel Allerton, Leeds. There is a poster to download here: Café Psychologique May 2013
You can join in the conversation online on our Facebook page: Café Psychologique
Adulthood: myth and necessity. Café Psychologique, 30 April.
Adulthood. It seems to be necessary to have a state to grow into that will fulfill the needs of being a functioning, contributing member of families and society. But it also seems to be a myth, in that so many adults spend much time not feeling very adult, or feeling they are not treated as an adult. What does it mean to be an adult? Can you be an adult without being grown up? Can you be grown up without being an adult? How do you know when you’re grown up? These questions and many more will be explored at Café Psychologique, on Tuesday, 30 April, 8 pm at Seven Arts, Chapel Allerton, Leeds, £3 on the door. The conversation will be introduced by counsellor Jenny Sergeant. There is a poster to download here: here
You can join in the conversation online on our Facebook page: Café Psychologique
You can read the rules for how Café Psychologique works here: Café Psychologique Rules
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