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Keith E Rice's Integrated SocioPsychology Blog & Pages

Aligning, integrating and applying the behavioural sciences

Rossett School’

Fare Thee Well, Don Beck!

Don Beck – or ‘Dr Don E Beck’ or ‘Dr Don Edward Beck’ as he frequently preferred to style himself – passed on Tuesday 24 May. He had been relatively inactive for at least a year or so prior to his death. After my father, he was almost certainly the man who has influenced me most in my life.  Yet I wasn’t close to him nor a confidante to any significant degree. I wouldn’t have called him a friend, more a professional acquaintance. However, his influence on my life has been truly profound. In my tribute to his one-time business partner Chris Cowan – see Fare Thee Well, Christopher Cowan – who died in 2015, I recalled my first meetings with Don & Chris and how their Spiral Dynamics model transformed my life. It not only lead to resolutions of major issues in my own life but reignited and refuelled (with accelerant!) my interest in Psychology and the behavioural sciences. From there I took a deep dive into Psychology and Sociology, becoming an A-Level teacher in both disciplines. However, my explorations of the behavioural sciences were always underpinned by the first thing Don said that caught my attention at the first… Read More

2021-2023

From the Pandemic to Normality…? 1988-1996    1997   1998     1999     2000     2001    2002      2003     2004     2005     2006     2007     2008     2009     2010     2011     2012     2013     2014      2015     2016     2017     2018      2019     2020      2021-2023 21st Century Group     HemsMESH     Humber MeshWORKS     Humberside MESH Network Jan 21: The Psychology Topics #3: Crime, Depression evening classes at both Shipley College and Rossett were cancelled due to low take-up. Commentary: the courses were to be run online. As with the previous September, it seemed online was not how people wanted to undertake this kind of training. Also, of course, the Coronavirus pandemic was at the peak of its second wave around the time the courses were due to start, Mar 21: Spent half a day at Sci-Tech Daresbury being interviewed on video for the Potentialisation project with Jon Twigge, Christopher Cooke, his wife Sheila and others. Commentary: It was uplifting and fun to catch up with Cookie. I hadn’t seen him since the Regent’s College Summit in 2009. Although Jon and I had engaged in occasional contact over the years, I hadn’t actually been in the same room as him since Regent’s College. (All conversations socially-distanced, of course.) Mar 21: Conducted the… Read More

2020

The Year of Disruption 1988-1996    1997   1998     1999     2000     2001    2002      2003     2004     2005     2006     2007     2008     2009     2010     2011     2012     2013     2014      2015     2016     2017     2018      2019     2020    2021-2022 21st Century Group     HemsMESH     Humber MeshWORKS     Humberside MESH Network January-March: Ran Psychology Topics #1: Romantic Relationships, Mental Health evening classes at both Shipley College and Rossett. However, the courses were terminated prematurely at week 9 due to schools and colleges being closed in measures to limit the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic sweeping through the UK (and much of the rest of the world). Commentary: Both programmes had been hugely successful, with classes large in size and gelling very well. There was a real sense of disappointment amongst participants – though everybody recognised the necessity of the closures. In January I was observed for one of the sessions and again rated ‘Outstanding’ (or the equivalent of it under the updated policy). (Excerpts from the observer’s report are included in the Learner Perspectives pages.) Gallery: Shipley College participants, March (All photos: Joan Russell/Shipley College ) – click on photo to enlarge. March: Lost almost all of my Year 13 tuition students as the Government scrapped A-Levels this year and most… Read More

2019

Training and the End of ‘Personal Therapy’ 1988-1996    1997   1998     1999     2000     2001    2002      2003     2004     2005     2006     2007     2008     2009     2010     2011     2012     2013     2014      2015     2016     2017     2018      2019     2020    2021-2023 21st Century Group     HemsMESH     Humber MeshWORKS     Humberside MESH Network January-March: Ran Psychology Topics #7: Grandparents, Parents & Children evening classes at both Shipley College and Rossett. Commentary: Both programmes were hugely successful, though, for various reasons, the Rossett class ended up smaller than it had started. Feedback was very positive and encouraging, with a couple of participants saying it had been a life-changing experience. Gallery: Rossett participants, March – click on photo to enlarge. Gallery: Shipley College participants, March (All photos: Joan Russell/Shipley College )– click on photo to enlarge. May-July: Ran Psychology Topics #8: Politics, Conflict Management at Rossett. Commentary: Back in Spring 2018, developing a course using Integrated SocioPsychology to examine the rapid changes Western politics were going through with Brexit and the rise of Donald Trump had seemed a good idea. While it was already clear that the Brexit process was turning into a dysfunctional mess, I don’t think anyone could have anticipated just how disastrous it would become through the first… Read More

Influences, Acknowledgements & Gratitude

Update: 25 October 2019 Along the way, certain people have been particularly influential in terms of career progression and/or personal development; so it’s appropriate to acknowledge as many as I can remember. So here goes… Close friends and relatives My parents Ted & Betty Rice, of course. My uncle George Chandler who, playing guitar in a nightclub jazz trio and building a yacht to sail around the world, epitomised ‘cool’ to an impressionable 10-year-old. Rita Smith, always the aunty I was closest to and her daughters Norma (now Norma Klunder) and Maureen (now Maureen Williams) who embodied the mysteries of ‘teenage girl’ to their younger, only child male cousin. Ex-wives Linda Rice and Jane Rice inevitably have left their marks on me – as have ex-fiancees Jennie Beasty and Val Horsfall. Liz Olson was an American and a fellow Jefferson Starship fan who flew across the Atlantic to challenge some of my precepts! My 2 oldest friends, Chris Scurrah and David Burnby have been hugely influential in very different ways – Chris for inspiring me and supporting me to become a musician and Dave for supporting me in applying the Gravesian approach to real life. My stepdaughter Viki Harris has sometimes forced me to think about things differently… Read More

2018

International Speaker and Author 1988-1996    1997   1998     1999     2000     2001    2002      2003     2004     2005     2006     2007     2008     2009     2010     2011     2012     2013     2014      2015     2016     2017     2018      2019     2020    2021-2023 21st Century Group     HemsMESH     Humber MeshWORKS     Humberside MESH Network January: Invited by Said E Dawlabani to be a keynote speaker at the Spiral Dynamics Summit on the Future conference in Dallas, Texas 20-22 April. Commentary: In format at least, this was to be modelled in part on Don Beck’s Annual Confab. (I had been to the first in 2000.) Said intended it to be both a tribute to Don’s legacy and a major gathering of Gravesians to consider the current state of the world and what the Graves approach could offer it. The excerpt left is from Shipley College Star #41 which ran a short piece on the invitation. January-March: Ran Psychology Topics #5: Memory, Prejudice & Discrimination evening classes at both Shipley College and Rossett. Commentary: Both were great classes that really gelled – though I managed to get the Rosset class into 2 quite hostile and competitive groups to demonstrate Social Identity Theory! That didn’t work quite as well at Shipley… Read More

2014

All Change again! 1988-1996    1997   1998     1999     2000     2001    2002      2003     2004     2005     2006     2007     2008     2009     2010     2011     2012     2013     2014      2015     2016     2017     2018      2019     2020    2021-2023 21st Century Group     HemsMESH     Humber MeshWORKS     Humberside MESH Network January-March: Ran a 9-week version of Understanding Yourself & Others: an Introduction to Psychology for Rossett. Commentary: For various reasons, this was the first ‘Intro’ course we had run since 2012. It was one of the best attended courses I had run for Rossett; and, while it wasn’t without its challenges, they proved a delightful class to work with. 4 were returners from the last Psychology Topics course and almost all of them expressed a strong desire to take part in the next Psychology Topics. April: Left Woodhouse Grove to concentrate on my private tuition and therapy businesses. Commentary: More than any other school I had been involved with since the days of HemsMESH – perhaps because of the GREEN in their Methodist tradition – Woodhouse Grove saw education as being about developing the whole person. This was something I had been banging on about since I had written Formation more than Education… Read More

2013

Endings and Beginnings 1988-1996    1997   1998     1999     2000     2001    2002      2003     2004     2005     2006     2007     2008     2009     2010     2011     2012     2013     2014      2015     2016     2017     2018      2019     2020    2021-2023 21st Century Group     HemsMESH     Humber MeshWORKS     Humberside MESH Network January-April: Supported 2 individual therapy clients for what turned out to be a prolonged series of sessions for both of them, requiring an almost Psychoanalytic approach to explore deep historical issues. Commentary: One of the clients was based in another country, requiring us to use Skype. Also, English was not the first language of this client. What we were able to accomplish in those sessions far exceeded my expectations – though the client’s willingness to try techniques and her determination to progress her issues were critical factors in the success of the sessions. March: The Woodhouse Grove results from the Psychology A-Level exams in January showed a solid improvement over the previous January, with almost no Us and a couple of pretty good As. This time around it was the Rossett Psychology results which were mixed. Amongst the small handful of Sociology students at Rossett, one got an A and 2 Bs.… Read More

2012

Adult Education Teacher 1988-1996    1997   1998     1999     2000     2001    2002      2003     2004     2005     2006     2007     2008     2009     2010     2011     2012     2013     2014      2015     2016     2017     2018      2019     2020    2021-2023 21st Century Group     HemsMESH     Humber MeshWORKS     Humberside MESH Network January-March: Delivered Psychology Topics – Prejudice & Obedience, Romantic Relationships and  Mental Health for Rossett’s Extended Schools Adult Education Programme. Commentary: For several months Extended Schools coordinator Malcolm Howe and I had been kicking around the idea of an ‘intermediate’ course for ‘graduates’ of the ‘Understanding Yourself & Others – an Introduction to Psychology’ course to further their leaning. When ‘Psychology Topics’ was finally staged, we were amazed at the number of participants who enrolled – having to cap enrolment at 16 for logistical reasons. About half came from the previous ‘Introduction…’ courses but just as many were totally new to my training. Malcolm had asked me to design the course so it wasn’t completely essential to have been on the ‘Introduction…’ course (though, clearly, it would help!) and I paired ‘newbies’ with ‘oldies’ when drawing upon concepts from the earlier programme. While there was a little drop out and not everyone could make… Read More

2011

Change…and New Experiences! 1988-1996    1997   1998     1999     2000     2001    2002      2003     2004     2005     2006     2007     2008     2009     2010     2011     2012     2013     2014      2015     2016     2017     2018      2019     2020    2021-2023 21st Century Group     HemsMESH     Humber MeshWORKS     Humberside MESH Network January-March: Delivered Understanding Yourself & Others – an Introduction to Psychology  for Rossett’s Extended Schools Adult Education Programme. Commentary: While, obviously, I had a long track record of delivering successful workshop programmes for adults, this was my first ‘night school’ course. The initial momentum for such a course and the design of the course had come from one-time Guiseley Psychology teacher Marc Smith. However, Marc had moved on and Rossett’s Extended Schools coordinator Malcolm Howe asked me to take it over. To some extent, I was lucky. Firstly, Malcolm gave me pretty much a free hand to alter Marc’s course to suit my own preferences…so I was able to include sessions on the Gravesian approach and Hans J Eysenck’s Dimensions of Temperament which enabled me to be truly passionate about the material. Secondly, by using an NLP-based approach to getting the workshop participants engaged both with the material and with each other, those… Read More