Shared Reading: The Ultimate Therapy

by Jan Raes

Overview

• Shared Reading: The Ultimate Therapy puts forward the transformative power of Shared Reading, illustrated through concrete personal stories and fitting advice for anyone interested in taking up the practice

Those of us who live their lives in a context of vulnerability are in desperate need of accessible and efficient health care, a safety net that allows them to grow, learn and change. Powerful stories and poems can offer valuable help in that. Shared Reading brings forth a process of change that follows a universal pattern, in a dynamic cycle of starting, growing, reaping what you have sown, learning and relaxing. Small groups get together to read literary texts, helped by a reading facilitator who reads aloud and engages others to reflect on the text. Through talking and thinking participants learn from each other and grow their inner space. By connecting to others they can experience powerful added therapeutic effects outside of a formal therapeutic context. Shared Reading: The Ultimate Therapy puts forward the transformative power of Shared Reading, illustrated through concrete personal stories and fitting advice for anyone interested in taking up the practice.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789401476645
Publisher:	Lannoo International
Publication date:	07/12/2021
Pages:	152
Product dimensions:	5.91(w) x 9.06(h) x 0.61(d)

About the Author

Jan Raes is a psychiatrist and an executive company coach. He is a member of the core group of Timotheus and co-founder of training center EPECA. He is one of the founders of the readers collective Het Lezerscollectief, a network of reading facilitators that organises Shared Reading sessions in many locations and professional sectors and the organisation of reference in Flanders and the Netherlands. It is a partner of the International Centre of Shared Reading and works in an international development partnership with The Reader in the UK.|Jan Raes is a psychiatrist and an executive company coach. He is a member of the core group of Timotheus and co-founder of training center EPECA. He is one of the founders of the readers collective Het Lezerscollectief, a network of reading facilitators that organizes Shared Reading sessions in many locations and professional sectors and the organization of reference in Flanders and the Netherlands. It is a partner of the International Centre of Shared Reading and works in an international development partnership with The Reader in the UK.

Table of Contents

Prologue 8

A simple methodology that makes great things possible 14

A cyclical dynamic of change in five phases 16

The freedom to be, without labels and medical files 18

The first steps 19

1 Starting 22

Breaking through patterns of habit 25

Inspired to take action 28

Dealing safely with the unpredictable 33

Tips for practice 35

2 Growing 36

Growing: a multi-dimensional process 38

Shared Reading as a free space for growth 40

The story as a zone of experience 42

The conversation space during the breaks in the reading 44

Mirror neurons 44

Expanding the mental-emotional space 50

In education, care & support, and therapy 52

In Shared Reading 54

The therapeutic power of Shared Reading 56

Imagination 56

Beyond the pain point 57

Flexible distance for difficult themes 59

Embracing the shadow side and unreachable experiences 61

An associative process 63

Tips for practice 65

3 Harvesting 68

A time to harvest: gathering what you have rightly earned 69

The harvest of Shared Reading 72

Increased possibilities 72

Seeing the universal in the personal 74

Safety 78

Transfer: the reading companion as a parent figure 80

Strength 85

Building blocks for a caring society 87

Powerful therapeutic effects without high costs 90

The necessary conditions for harvesting 91

Slowness and serenity 91

Giving the participants the freedom they need 96

Tips for practice 99

4 Learning 100

Sifting and letting go 102

Clearing the clutter from your mind 104

Letting go and keeping hold of fragments: dementia 107

Shared mental-emotional space as a learning space 111

Neuroplasticity: flexible brains 112

No obligation to learn 117

Letting go of rigidity in care organisations 121

Tips for practice 126

5 Relaxing 128

Re-energising the depths of your being 130

A society in overdrive 132

Burnout 135

Shared Reading as a process of deepening 136

Taking people seriously 142

Tips for practice 144

Epilogue 146

The cycle of healing and integration 151

Het Lezerscollectief 152

Starting with Shared Reading? 153

Sources for the literary fragments 155