'It takes a village ...

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... to raise a child.'

"The artist returned to this subject almost  twenty years after he had drawn his red chalk  studies of children walking and standing,  shown nearby. As was typical in Rembrandt's  later works, facial expressions and gestures  are indicated with sparse and abbreviated  lines. It is remarkable that with such economy  the artist conveys an encouraging atmosphere  from the figures who surround the child, as it  takes its first steps. The British artist David  Hockney described this as 'a perfect drawing' in an interview in 2016." 1912,0416.2'

Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) A child being taught to walk, around 1656  Pen and brown ink on grey-brown paper.

The British Museum, Room 90. 28th September 2024.
https://www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/new-life-rembrandt-and-children

They keep saying - 'duty of care' . . .

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duty of care	duty of care
duty of care	'fiduciary duty'

Fritjof Capra, Pier Luigi Luisi (2014) The Systems View of Life - A Unifying Vision. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (I will add the page number soon.)
https://www.cambridge.org/gb/universitypress/subjects/life-sciences/genomics-bioinformatics-and-systems-biology/systems-view-life-unifying-vision?format=HB&isbn=9781107011366 

Previously on W2tQ - 'duty'

Book: [iii] 'The Systems View of Life - A Unifying Vision'

The Systems View of Life -
A Unifying Vision

Part 2 addresses the title - the rise of systems thinking.

The part - whole distinction is not only the root of the reductionism - holism and analysis - synthesis debates, but you feel clever knowing what mereology means ;-). This book is jargon free, even while being detailed and technical when necessary. Terms are defined when needed.

You see (possibly?) the power of advertising given the prominence of vitality in marketing. Meanwhile, vitalism a key to life seems to be an unknown, ever present but in the shadows, until our attention is drawn to it (health: life-death). Capra and Luisi explore mechanism and vitalism, and in turn organismic biology. Whether dealing with science, economics, biology..., I like the way the authors draw in the initial thinkers, the pioneers: whose lives, work and influence often spanned the 19th and 20th centuries. 

The proof of my opening statement in post (i) can be found on page 66:

'Systems thinking is "contextual," which is the opposite of analytical thinking. Analysis means taking something apart in order to understand it; systems thinking means putting it into the context of a larger whole.' p.66.

Ever user(s)-determined (context-based), Hodges' model can readily identify, relate, incorporate the - linear, non-linear, serial, parallel, simple, complex, poor, rich, narrow, broad, static, dynamic, person, service and so on. Also on page 66, Ehrenfrels (1859-1932) is an example, the first to use the term gestalt to denote an 'irreducible perceptual pattern'. There are many potentials within Hodges' model, one of which is that of gestalt. Yes, in healthcare we need to see the whole. We need to see the person, but also see the person in their social, political and spiritual contexts ('determinants)'. Now the global context is critical.

Chapter 4 charts the new physics atomic phenomena, mysticism, uncertainty, probability, causality, space, time, energy, and E=mc². As per the book's subtitle, the search for a unifying theory in physics is noted, and ongoing. Box 4.1 briefly outlines the characteristics of systems thinking; including parts-whole, from objects to relationships and measuring to mapping. Within box 4.1, figure 4.1 reminds me of a Voronoi tessellation.^ From chapter 5 can I claim that Hodges' model is tektological - contributing to the science of structures? One day perhaps this Russian contribution to systems thinking can be looked at anew? Chapter 5 continues to reveal classical systems theories, general systems, cybernetics, feedback - in social systems too, and homeostasis - self-regulation. It's less than a page spanning 92-93,  but 'information theory' is duly noted, closing with cybernetics in the brain, and the emergence of self-organization. Shannon showed that even when there is noise in a communication channel, signals can be transmitted (coding). Is this why training and competence in interpersonal skills and self-awareness are so important, to help health professionals to attend, actively listen, and observe?*

An old T-shirt 'Art Matrix'

Chapter 6 on complexity theory, inevitably describes mathematical ideas providing equations. Unsurprisingly chapter 6 has figures galore. When I unpack the boxes and crates, I must sit down with The Beauty of Fractals ... (p.124!) and check the graphic capabilities of the latest software and hardware. The 'The Systems View of Life' definitely stimulates further enquiry. The baker transformation anyone (Box 6.2, p.107)? Exploration of non-linear dynamics, and abstract spaces also helpful in studies of relations and maths. This completes part II.

Many thanks again to CUP for the pb copy, much easier on the eyes. While this copy is new, I do make extensive use of secondhand books.

Fritjof Capra and Pier Luigi Luisi (2014) The Systems View of Life - A Unifying Vision. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

https://www.cambridge.org/gb/universitypress/subjects/life-sciences/genomics-bioinformatics-and-systems-biology/systems-view-life-unifying-vision?format=HB&isbn=9781107011366

^See: https://blogs.helsinki.fi/fcai-sig-lsc/files/2022/04/Peter-Gardenfors.pdf and 'conceptual spaces'

*Jones, P. (1996) Humans, Information, and Science, Journal of Advanced Nursing, 24(3),591-598.

Jones, P. (1996) An overarching theory of health communication? Health Informatics Journal,2,1,28-34.

Hybrid: Seminar & Tetralogic Model

Free Hybrid Seminar Oct 2nd - Personal Welfare Decisions:
Year in Review & Future Developments

individual

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my corner 'I' The person - self The person's - mental state, mental capacity orientation (time, place, person) continuity -  mental illness identity (advanced?) choice ... my decisions? PSYCHO-	physical environment place, time embodiment - sense of self deprivation of liberty anticipated future developments probability silk my body?!
next of kin family friends carers Social Housing Community Care Residential care sector personal welfare decisions	-POLITICAL UK - EU Politics European Convention on Human Rights Law - Case Law Solicitors Barristers Silk Judge Court of Protection Decisions of the Court Mental Capacity Mental Health Law 🌍

My source: https://x.com/hfp91/status/1837526633235833079

Book: [ii] 'The Systems View of Life - A Unifying Vision'

The introduction highlights the oscillation through history between reductivism, holistic and integrative perspectives; the relationship between theology and the claims for and crystallisation of knowledge and the sciences. The development of cybernetics and systems theory in the 1950s and 1960s does not have it all its own way: 

'The eclipse of systems thinking from pure science had become so complete that it was not considered a viable alternative. In fact, systems theory began to be seen as an intellectual failure in several critical essays. One reason for this harsh assessment was that Ludwig von Bertalanffy (1968) had announced in a rather grandiose manner that his goal was to develop general systems theory into "'a mathematical discipline, in itself purely formal but applicable to the various empirical sciences.'' He could never achieve this ambitious goal because in his time no mathematical techniques were available to deal with the enormous complexity of living systems.' p.11.

(With Zeeman's book on Catastrophe Theory on-loan at present the above is helpful.)

I've picked up a book of Arne Naess's, put it down again: or did I buy 'The Ecology of Wisdom'? I can't check at present (the books I've left are all boxed / created), but Naess sets the scene for the mechanistic worldview.

'Care flows naturally if the 'self" is widened and deepened so that protection of free Nature is felt and conceived as protection of ourselves. .. Just as we need no morals to make us breathe... [so] if your "self" in the wide sense embraces another being, you need no moral exhortation to show care.. . You care for yourself without feeling any moral pressure to do it. (quoted by Fox, 1990, p. 217)

'What this implies, according to the eco-philosopher Warwick Fox (1990), is that the connection between an ecological perception of the world and corresponding behavior is not a logical but a psychological connection. Logic does not lead us from the fact that we are an integral part of the web of life to certain norms of how we should live.' p.14.

Science fiction gives you an appreciate of 'deep', even if not initially the philosophical connotations. Deep space, A.C. Clarke's Deep Range, and more recently deep time brought me to consider deep care on the old website and here on W2tQ with Hodges' model a means of navigation. Naess refers to shallow and deep ecology. Now we also have deepfakes, although the climate change deniers may struggle to believe their deepfake - that is: reality.  Although the book was published pre-sustainable development goals, sustainable development is discussed in detail. For me, the climate change and the SDGs demand we consider ecology, ecosystems, life, and the Earth across the domains of Hodges' model and the spiritual explored in chapter 13.

 

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	shallow | DEEP

A table on page 13 contrasts several opposites across thinking and values:

As usual, I can't shift beyond the book's introduction, but these points for me underscore the value of the book and Hodges' model. Throughout the blog and papers various dichotomies, polarities, oppositions arise. The structure of Hodges' model lends itself to this, and consequently finding the middle. All the above can be reflected upon in relation to Hodges' model, and also searched.

Chapter 1 explains how the discoveries of Galileo, Descartes, Bacon, Newton and Darwin contributed to the world and life - in biology being viewed mechanistically. The focus of the book is 'Western' and the developed nations; as the main contributor to the current state of the planet. The Cartesian divide - mind & matter/body distinction (p.24) is implicit within Hodges' model:

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res cogitans	res extensa

Newton's work is described and the limitations of Newtonian physics - the social sciences presented a challenge(!). Thermodynamics is introduced helpful for subsequent chapters.

For general science students the book provides a historical primer, and even an introduction to the philosophy of science. Chapter 2 is short but conjoins cells, molecules, genes (Mendel, Watson & Crick; Franklin & Wilkins, and others), and mechanistic medicine. 

'This will not change until medical science relates its study of the biological aspects of illness to the general physical and psychological condition of the human organism and its environment, The conceptual problem at the center of contemporary healthcare is the confusion between disease processes and disease origins. Instead of asking why an illness occurs and trying to remove the conditions that led to it, medical researchers try to understand the mechanisms through which the disease operates, so that they can then interfere with them. These mechanisms, rather than the true origins, are seen as the causes of disease in current medical thinking. In the process of reducing illness to disease, the attention of Physicians has moved away from the patient as a whole person.' p.43.

Thinking about this in basic instrumentalist terms the reliance on optics, the craft of telescopes and microscopes to discover the very large (our Milky Way as 'a' galaxy) and the invisible - germs, bacteria must have been a profound factor.

If you are selecting subjects for age 16 exams, do not underestimate the value of SOCIO-ECONOMIC history. It has helped me as a community mental health nurse. Especially in light of austerity (UK), the cost of living and energy crisis and the 'housing disaster' (book 2024 with) posts to follow. Chapter 3 uses b&w illustrations of key figures, such as, Locke, Adams, and Marx. I remember in the media, economics education being questioned. That is part 1: concise (p.59!) and yet still relevant today.

Many thanks again to CUP for the pb copy.

Fritjof Capra and Pier Luigi Luisi (2014) The Systems View of Life - A Unifying Vision. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

https://www.cambridge.org/gb/universitypress/subjects/life-sciences/genomics-bioinformatics-and-systems-biology/systems-view-life-unifying-vision?format=HB&isbn=9781107011366

Book: 'The Systems View of Life - A Unifying Vision' [i]

The Systems View of Life -
A Unifying Vision

Published in 2014; I needed this book in the early 1990s, as did we all.

As a review request I'm grateful to CUP for forwarding a copy - that is much easier on the eyes than a screen. This book deserves a much longer-tail.

Reading Resurgence for many years, joining The Ecology Party before they turned Green, and aware of systems, cybernetics this book has brought a great deal together. It has helped me in further thought and formulation about Hodges' model: A system of systems? 

Since 2014 clearly much has changed, I will highlight points where a new edition would be welcome. Although CUP and the authors could find themselves frenetic, such we hope is the pace of change now - or from now on, especially pre-COP29?

Come on petro-states it's time to really deliver.

Even in paperback this book is a reassuring handful, running to 452 pages, excluding the bibliography and index. Part 1 reinforced the encouraging signs in the introduction:

'The basic tension is one between the parts and the whole. The emphasis on the parts has been called mechanistic, reductionist, or atomistic; the emphasis on the whole, holistic, organismic, or ecological. In twentieth-century science, the holistic perspective has become known as "systemic" and the way of thinking it implies as "systems thinking,'' as we have mentioned.

In biology, the tension between mechanism and holism has been a recurring theme throughout its history. At the dawn of Western philosophy and science, the Pythagoreans distinguished "number," or pattern, from substance, or matter, viewing it as something which limits matter and gives it shape. The argument was: do you ask what it is made of - earth, fire, water, etc. - or do you ask what its pattern is?' p.4.

• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction: paradigms in science and society
• Part I. The Mechanistic World View:
• 1. The Newtonian world-machine
• 2. The mechanistic view of life
• 3. Mechanistic social thought
• Part II. The Rise of Systems Thinking:
• 4. From the parts to the whole
• 5. Classical systems theories
• 6. Complexity theory
• Part III. A New Conception of Life:
• 7. What is life?
• 8. Order and complexity in the living world
• 9. Darwin and biological evolution
• 10. The quest for the origin of life on Earth
• 11. The human adventure
• 12. Mind and consciousness
• 13. Science and spirituality
• 14. Life, mind, and society
• 15. The systems view of health
• Part IV. Sustaining the Web of Life:
• 16. The ecological dimension of life
• 17. Connecting the dots: systems thinking and the state of the world
• 18. Systemic solutions
• Bibliography
• Index
  

This is an excellent primer for students of biology - human biology, including eager learners in secondary school - there is technical discussion that can serve as initial exposure to new terminology, extending vocabulary. The scope of the book however covers all academic subjects, chemistry, physics, anthropology, sociology, general studies, economics and of course ecology, environmental studies.

The book is clearly well-designed and presented. Readable generally and when dealing with technical concepts. Each chapter benefits from illustrations and use of boxes, with short guest essays introduced throughout. There is less reliance on tables. Each chapter is well referenced, and towards the end chapters 17-18 urls are provided. Obviously, the references and urls are dated now; a matter we will return to. Despite the passing decade, the quality of the book still shines through.

I just noticed the cover is attributed to Andy Goldsworthy 1988, Derwent Water, Cumbria and remember out with the family, coming across Goldsworthy's work in Grizedale forest.

I will share news of my reading over several posts and many other connections.

Many thanks to CUP for the hard copy - which has been an informative companion - over the past 4-6 weeks.

Fritjof Capra and Pier Luigi Luisi (2014) The Systems View of Life - A Unifying Vision. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

https://www.cambridge.org/gb/universitypress/subjects/life-sciences/genomics-bioinformatics-and-systems-biology/systems-view-life-unifying-vision?format=HB&isbn=9781107011366

Book: Care Poverty - When Older People’s Needs Remain Unmet

CARE POVERTY

'This open access book turns the research attention of social policy scholars and long-term care researchers from comparative descriptions of care systems, focusing mostly on expenditures and volumes of long-term care services, to outcomes, and in particular to the question whether older people really receive the support that they need. Without knowledge about which needs and which social groups are currently inadequately covered, it is impossible to guide policy development.

The book puts forward a novel theoretical framework to guide future research work and public discussion on the issue of unmet long-term care needs, by broadening the current discussion so that inadequate care is seen in its societal and policy contexts, taking structural issues and policy designs into account. Kröger outlines three different domains of care poverty (personal care poverty, practical care poverty and socio-emotional care poverty) and differentiates between main methods how unmet needs are measured.' [my emphasis]

In psychiatry and psychiatric nursing, a person may be assessed to display poverty of thought, ideas or speech. As an exercise it may be useful to invert the rendering below in Hodges' model, and  consider Kröger's forms of poverty and possibly others that arise from your critique, reflections and life experience to date. Clearly, another book to add to the list!
 

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CARE	CARE
CARE	POVERTY

Previously on W2tQ - (unmet) 'needs'

Kröger, T. (2022) Care Poverty - When Older People’s Needs Remain Unmet. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-97243-1#about-this-book

Will check on a related title too.

Interview study: Exploring psychological safety in inpatient mental health settings

Are you a healthcare professional, with experience of working on adult #inpatient #psychiatricwards in the UK? We’re interested in hearing about your experience of providing psychologically safe care. See details below! @LeedsMedHealth @UoL_MHN @yqsrdotorg @YHPSRC

— Beth Griffin 🌸 (@BethLGriffin) September 9, 2024  

[And my source: plus c/o @LainidiO]

 

Hardy (1940) A Mathematician's Apology

A Mathematician's Apology

In Liverpool I came across G.H. Hardy's short book A Mathematician's Apology. At £2.00 - a pristine bargain and a  marvellous read, especially the latter sections.

From being taught and applying Hodges' model in a case study in 1987 through to online work since 1998; I have to ask myself. Do I need to write:

'A Nurse's Apology'?

Aware of Hardy in the history of mathematics, and having read his apology, I'm no Hardy. My antics are a lesson in addition, but this is more 'Laurel and Hardy' - with apologies to comic genius of course. 

By their nature professions seek to maintain, and assure their continuity. A professional body can point to a definable body of theory, practice (curricula), that carries social and political status, if not patronage. There is national agreement that the NHS needs reform; radical reform no-less. The new Labour government is drawing lines to negotiate with the BMA, other professional bodies and unions. Specificity, specialisation is key. In healthcare people have suggested to me that Hodges' model invites genericism. Any suggestion of genericism is to be shunned. There seems an almost allergic reaction such is the threat to professional identity; unless, of course, you are a 'General Nurse', or General Practitioner - GP family doctor). Even Hardy warns:

"'GENERALITY' is an ambiguous and rather dangerous word, and we must be careful not to allow it to dominate our discussion too much." p.105.

This also applies to the quality and solidity of professional agencies and bodies whose role is to provide governance and set standards. The NMC has stumbled? Life and death is made up of details AND big pictures. How do you provide for - balance both? Curricula are another concern. Is the future of mental health nursing guaranteed as a profession? 

https://hodges-model.blogspot.com/2016/08/future-of-mental-health-nurse-training.html

The instrumental potential of Hodges' model is obvious. It invites a checkbox approach. One-to-one clinical encounters and interactions reduced to a tick-box exercise. This reduces any sense of specialist knowledge, training and education needed to assess, plan, deliver and evaluate high quality, effective, sustainable healthcare.

'THE second quality which I demanded in a significant idea was depth, and this is still more difficult to define. It has something to do with difficulty; the deeper? ideas are usually the harder to grasp: but it is not at all the same.' p.109.

Hardy's thoughts (and no doubt similarly expressed by other mathematicians and logicians) can be 'found' in Hodges' model; with an addition. Depth and difficulty rests on the uniqueness of  the 'one'. 

Here, Hardy is comparing between 'real mathematics' and chess:

'A chess problem also has unexpectedness, and a certain economy ; it is essential that the moves should be surprising, and that every piece on the board should play its part. But the aesthetic effect is cumulative. It is essential also (unless the problem is too simple to be really amusing) that the key-move should be followed by a good many variations, each requiring its own individual answer. 'If P-B5 then Kt-R6; if .... then if .... then ...., ....' - the effect would be spoilt if there were not a good many different replies. All this is quite genuine mathematics, and has its merits; but it is just that 'proof by enumeration of cases'  (and of cases which do not, at bottom, differ at all profoundly*) which a real mathematician tends to despise.' p.114.

*I believe it is now regarded as a merit in a problem that there should be many variations of the same type. (footnote)

While Kings, and Queens et al. undoubtedly have their own unique personalities, in healthcare effective clinicians make a concerted effort not to merely enumerate cases. The professional emphasis is (idealistically, professionally, purely and in application to) person-centredness; with the compassion, complexity, cussedness, and (sometimes literal) complications this brings. From 1-1 interaction, the clinical encounter, the therapeutic relationship, and alliance are the reason for practitioners achieving and sustaining intra- and interpersonal communication skills. Our attitudes towards knowledge, what is thoughts affects what we feel individually and collectively. Science should be neutral. It might be concluded that this question is for the philosophers and ethicists to wrestle with. In healthcare ethics are central: 'Do no harm'. Whether the practitioner, theorist, manager, policy maker is a nurse, scientist or mathematician such questions impact upon the person. As they are social, cultural and political. Revisiting Bronowski's Ascent of Man, this question arose in Archive on 4.

'It seems that mathematical ideas are arranged somehow in strata, the ideas in each stratum being linked by a complex of relations both among themselves and with those above and below. The lower the stratum, the deeper (and in general the more difficult) the idea.' p.110.

(my emphasis)

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logical & mathematical reasoning depth of reasoning (memory) mathematical aptitude intelligence(s) pure maths identity	vector relations mathematics logic depth of analysis, complexity Cricket! pure - applied maths "1" problem per visit
patient - health practitioner  relationship Watching cricket - conversation	reports - outcomes enumeration of cases

Back-tracking to page 104, Hardy:

'The relations revealed by the proof should be such as connect many different mathematical ideas.'

Our proof is person-centredness, placing the person at the center (in this case - of Hodges' model). The proof can be quantitative and qualitive. There are a great many ideas at work. Critically, the ideas that might be called upon (even improvised) are not all health-related, but can extend beyond to encompass the four care (knowledge) domains of Hodges' model. In healthcare as in Hardy's life the spiritual is encountered. So, the determinants of health are ALL available to us - as required. Well not available as a resource might be, they are available in the hope they will be seen as factors. Hardy would approve I think of the direction of travel, not just as a vector, but a model of multidimensional vectors - reaching for relations.

Hardy, G.H. (1940) A Mathematician's Apology, Cambridge: Canto.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/mathematicians-apology/B90D81A8E28674119781863988A3E11B

ROBOTPOLITICS

26 – 27 September, 2024 
UNIVERSIDADE ABERTA LISBON, PORTUGAL

The program includes:

• The house is on fire, but this is fine: the incoming tsunami of disinformation 
• Encrypted subjectivity in digital space 
• You are (not) your avatar: personhood, personal identity and legal issues in mind uploading 
• On Techno Dharma: Neurofeedback-assisted meditation as an enhanced technology of the self 
• Mapped in real time: Affective technologies and the post-human subjectivity 
• Does social bots rely on beliefs to communicate the science: An implication for misinformation. 
• The Paradox of Information Abundance: Homogenization of Political Thought in the World of Social Media 
• The main problems of Robotpolitics. Hints for their resolutions 
• « Smart city » / Intelligent Citizen 
• Smart Cities and Sustainability: Malthusian Sexual Robots 
• Sex-Bots: Friend or Foe to Human Relationships? 
• Towards Digital Platonism 
• Autonomous weapons systems in armed conflicts: ethical and legal implications 

See also - The Jena Declaration: https://thejenadeclaration.org 

Previously on W2tQ robots

THE GRID by Eli Payne Mandel

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[125] 'Therefore, a mathematician babbles when he refers to cutting a given line in two. The actual line that he shows to us on the abacus has length and width. But the line he has in mind is a stroke with length and no width. What is drawn on the abacus cannot be such a stroke, and he who goes about cutting it cuts not the line that is but the line that is not.' (Sextus Empiricus, Against the Mathematicians 9.282) (n.b. The above is printed upside-down on the page.) Scatter the trace of the vessel from the ash. Pythagoras here is riddling about confusion and mental cloudiness, for if one wants to do philosophy one must pass over physical and sensible demonstration in favor of abstract argumentation. The ash is analogous to the dust on the abacus in which diagrams are delimited and proofs brought to an end.  (Iamblichus, Exhortation to Philosophy 34)' p.55

'[1] In ancient Greek, an abacus is a sand table. 'The abacist draws lines and maybe moves pebbles around the lines. When done, she wipes the sand blank.  [2] A board or slab for drawing, computation, games; a cutting board. Technical term, likely to be a loanword, but conjectured origin in Hebrew abãq "dust" remains unproven. --  Pierre Chantraine, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue greque.' p.10.

'[122] The abacus computes and it erases. It tells a life. Then gambles it away. Achilles and Ajax sit down to play a game of dice. They have hung up their shields. They lean on their spears. They are tired. The Anatolian air is cold off the water. Attendants wrap them each in wool cloaks thick with eight-pointed stars. The stars wander along eddies and meanders. The only straight lines are servants of error. Their fingers are on the abacus, but Achilles and Ajax do not play, do not speak, lost in the maze of their cloaks. [124] The first reference in Western literature to written language is in the Iliad. An unsuspecting  man in a story is carrying semata lygra / grapsas en pinaki ptukto thymophthora polla: baleful signs written on a folded tablet, utterly soul-  destroying. The words, which some scholars conjecture to be Linear B, spell out the man's death, and the reader murders  the unreading man. After the murder, Death Wipes the tablet  blank and folds it back again.' p.54.

'[3] Because dust blows away and only the slab remains, an abacus is also the part of a column in immediate contact with what it supports. If that structure no longer survives, the abacus upholds the edifice of the sky.' p.10.

THE GRID by Eli Payne Mandel, Carcanet Press. 2023.

https://www.elipmandel.com/

Previously on W2tQ (with overlap):

arts :: drama :: poetry :: literature :: narrative

Suicide Postvention in the Workplace - new SOM resource

https://www.som.org.uk/suicide-postvention-workplace-new-som-resource

Posted by Ann Caluori | Mon, 09/09/2024 - 08:52

The term 'suicide postvention' refers to the actions taken by an organisation to provide effective support in a sensitive manner after a death by suicide. It aims to promote recovery and prevent further adverse outcomes.

This new SOM resource, authored by Professor Gail Kinman and Professor Neil Greenberg, provides evidence-informed guidance and recommendations for organisations to respond to the death by suicide of a colleague, or the unexpected death of a colleague from other causes. The guidance draws on high-quality sources from research and practice and was developed through consultation with experts from various fields. It aims to help organisations navigate the complexities and sensitivities involved in such tragic events, ensuring they provide the support required to maintain a healthy and compassionate workplace.

The resource should be useful for occupational health practitioners, wellbeing leads, HR professionals, managers, and policy makers. It addresses several important issues in the aftermath of a workplace death by suicide, such as immediate response approaches, communication protocols, support mechanisms for affected individuals, and long-term considerations for fostering a supportive work environment.

Download the guidance here.

This resource has been launched ahead of World Suicide Prevention Day 2024.

My source: TwiX @somceo

See also: World Suicide Prevention Day 2024 #WorldSuicidePreventionDay

Gold gold gold gold ...

Gold: Alchemist-hp (talk) www.pse-mendelejew.de, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE
<https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en>
via Wikimedia Commons

Element Properties

melting point 1,063 °C (1,945 °F)

boiling point 2,966 °C (5,371 °F)

specific gravity 19.3 at 20 °C (68 °F)

oxidation states +1, +3

[ Text & image: https://www.britannica.com/science/gold-chemical-element ]

 
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. . . gold! gold!!	'There is already plenty of gold: the vaults of the New York Federal Reserve contain 507,000 bars, worth about $510bn at this week's prices (the weight is borne by the bedrock of Manhattan  island, 15 metres beneath sea level). London's vaults, including those of the Bank of England, hold another 8,650 tonnes, worth $690bn. A lot of gold is mined ...
Gold fever	... and then buried again.'

Gapper, J. A new gold rush reflects the world's deep worries. FTWeekend, 24/25 August 2024. p.11.

The dynamics of life and death

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dynamic care?	dynamic care?
dynamic care?	'dynamic pricing'

Cavet emptor!

Beware -

 you get what you pay for; but do you get what you pay for?

Previously on W2tQ - 'dynamic'

Laughter and Medicine Conference

Manon, Laughing Gas, 2019, installation, Kunsthaus Zürich
photographer: Franca Candrian, 2022.

British Academy/Wellcome Trust Conferences bring together scholars and specialists from around the world to explore themes related to health and wellbeing.

'Connecting knowledge across the disciplines, this conference will put practicing doctors in direct dialogue with researchers in the humanities – especially scholars of literature, cinema and cultural history. Together, they will seek to understand the social, diagnostic, therapeutic and physiological implications of laughter, inside and outside the clinic. Laughter is not always the 'best medicine', nor is it linked only to comedy and enjoyment. 'Healing laughter' differs markedly from pathological laughter, hysterical laughter, forced or bitter laughter, laughter aimed at mitigating awkwardness in unsuccessful communication, laughter intended to deceive, or laughter signifying fear, discomfort or aggression. Irony and other double-coded signifiers that abound in comic and parodic representations of medical practitioners and their patients often reveal medicine’s paradoxical place in various cultural imaginaries and in individual and collective experience.

This conference will study the diverse forms of laughter occurring around medicine in particular eras and cultural environments alongside comparative analysis of patterns and problematics over the long history of Western medicine and its representations.'

         https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/events/british-academy-conferences/laughter-and-medicine/

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group

I don't find this funny!	I laughed so much it hurt!
"All the world's a stage"	Politics is a running joke - that's never funny. The human epic of triumph and tragedy.

Previously (with overlap):

arts :: drama :: poetry :: literature :: narrative

British Computer Society: Real AI 2024 -::- AI for One Health and Planetary Health

In July I posted news of this month's Real AI event 27th September. Plans are in place to attend.

In November, London beckons again:

AI for One Health and Planetary Health: Where Are We?

Friday November 8th 2024

Even as I look forward to September's trip; I'm pinching myself. 

Following a BCS event last year, Hodges' model has been recognised. A video chat and many email exchanges has revealed there is a model possessed with the necessary holistic bandwidth. Hodges' model has the conceptual scope to encompass intelligence(s), One Health and planetary health. 

This also fits with current reading - interrupted by Hardy's A Mathematician's Apology (£2.00) - with posts to follow that will also inform November's co-presentation.

More to follow and clearly I have learned a great deal from engaging with the BCS. While my affiliate  membership has lapsed now, since the early 1990s the Society's publications, specialist groups: medical informatics, nursing, methods, security, expert systems, and now AI have proved well worth getting involved!

I am also hoping for some part-time tutoring at Bolton University in the new academic year.