Psychology in the Real World

…Nothing has been the same in The Prince’s household since he traded one of his fine hunting dogs for a strange, green-jacketed monkey, and now his Kingdom, in Medieval Gwynedd, is starting to suffer. One thousand years later, in modern day Beddgelert, Martyn Llewellyn is struggling to recover from a traumatic childhood and has been offered the chance to make a name for himself at Bangor University through conducting an experiment on dogs. The lives of Martyn, The Prince, and The Prince’s son are inextricably linked: haunted by their own demons, their own ‘Black Dogs’, each has to find a way to survive…
 
It has been well-reviewed:
“The physical landscape of North Wales and the psychological landscape of people who live there are imaginatively brought together in this gripping psychological novel.” 
Journal of Critical Psychology, Counselling and Psychotherapy
 
“Drawing upon years of working as a clinical psychologist, Guy Holmes ingeniously weaves together stories based on ancient Welsh folklore with insights about modern life and the human condition, creating a rich tapestry of a novel about obsessive love, destructive depression and the very nature of evil.”  
Daren Kay, author of The Brightonians and The Brightonians Under Siege
 
Many psychological problems and issues relevant to Psychology in the Real World are illustrated in the book.

Or order a copy from your local bookshop or online: 
at Waterstones or Amazon
 

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Film Club

Film Club takes place once a month at The Old Market Hall in the Square, Shrewsbury - in this informal group we see a chosen film, then meet after at a local pub to discuss the film and the relevance to our lives.

To find out which film we are seeing next please email Nicki nicki@psychologyintherealworld.co.uk


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Apply for funding for your community group
 
The royalties from books by Guy Holmes help to pay for our grants for Community Groups. £1000 was recently donated to The Green Oak Foundation in order for free therapy to be available for people unable to receive it otherwise. Please cite this should you need help from The Green Oak Foundation


We have decided to make £1000 available on an annual basis for people to set up and run community-based groups that fit with the ideas of Psychology in the Real World.
It is easy to apply for money from this fund. We recommend that you fill in the enclosed form and return it, together with a covering letter saying how much money you need and what the money will be spent on. We will then pay the relevant invoices and, if invited, visit your group to see how things are progressing.
The more specific you are about the influence of the book Psychology in the Real World on your planned group, the more likely you are to receive a grant.


Application form

For information email guy.holmes@psychologyintherealworld.co.uk

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Walk and Talk


Psychology in the Real World - Walk and Talk is not currently running. Since Walk and Talk started in 2006 numerous walking groups, often with an emphasis on physical and mental health benefits, have been set up locally and nationally. In fact, any google search will show the phrase we devised for our group has spawned its own industry!

If you want something reliable and well organised we suggest you join one of the other myriad of groups that currently exist such as wellbeing walks and other groups though The Wellbeing and Recovery College, groups running through Meet-up such as: Pathfinders Meet up Group and the Shrewsbury Ramblers Walking group and Shropshire Mental Health Support (formerly Mind) who run various weekly walking groups. Wellbeing walks through Enable also run at different times of the year.

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Walk and Talk was featured again on Ramblings with Claire Balding’s review of her favourite walks, with Guy and Cyril talking about the benefits of walking groups for people’s mental wellbeing:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000j8rd


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Since Psychology in the Real World was first published in 2010. We regularly get feedback about how useful the book still is, in terms of thinking about, planning, setting up and running groups in all sorts of settings.

Issues of diversity, racism and prejudice are never out of the news, whether it be the Windrush scandal, immigration policy and Brexit, or representation of people from BAME groups in the Oscars and other awards ceremonies. Psychology in the Real World explores many group processes that influence prejudice. One chapter, written by Zounish Rafique, particularly focusses on these issues and we have reproduced it here:

Psychology in the Real World for people from Diverse Cultural Backgrounds

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Various resources used in the groups can be found on pages describing the groups and in The Resources and Other Articles Section. Please feel free to download and use these and anything else you find on the website. The aim of the website is to help people to set up groups.