This counselling blog focuses on two related areas of concern for men: mental health and mental fitness. Mental health aims to resolve past issues that stop us from moving ahead. Mental fitness, on the other hand, like going to the gym, helps us stay mentally healthy.
Central to my thoughts are some thinkers I came across as part of my PhD research. In no particular order, they are the psychoanalysts Erich Fromm and Ignacio Martín-Baró, the sociologists Niklas Luhmann and Barney Glaser, the philosophers Enrique Dussel and René Girard and the theologian/philosopher Thomas Aquinas and Bernard Lonergan.
What interests me about all these people is that they explore, in their different ways, how we become more fully human through a willingness to open ourselves up to a genuine encounter with other people and ideas.
I am also grateful to my original PhD supervisor, Ruth Deakin Crick, who introduced me to systems thinking and learning emergence, which provided a launchpad for my exploration, nudging me towards the research method Classical Grounded Theory, which is central to all my work.
Please note: This blog does not replace the need to seek medical/psychological support. See my main page for help if you need it.
