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Information and activities in this site are only intended to be educational. Nothing herein is to be used for diagnosis, prescription or treatment of any conditions, diseases, or disorders whatsoever. Nothing from the site should be used in place of competent health care. Yet, ideas and information may be used as adjuncts to responsible health care. Nevertheless, owners and staff are in no way liable for any use or misuse of material obtained herein.
 

Sounding Board's Enclave

Sounding Board hosts groups of people with common needs and interests.
Our restricted entry chat-rooms are called Enclaves.
Here, ideas are protected from lethal critical styles common in our troubleshooting culture.
Reserving our judgment and building on one another's ideas is our key to group creativity and more thinking power.
Groups will form for specific topics as demand requires:
Click here for a table showing times and topics. Also, register interest in your alternative topics.

As with the four stages of creative problem solving in counselling, judgment is deferred until after insight emerges.
This style was adopted by "primitive" councils around the world.
It was rediscovered by Physicist David Bohm.
"Suspending judgment" was David's term in his groups.
The process, he called "Dialogue" in contrast to "discussion," which sounds so much like percussion and concussion.

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See where the Sounding Board style fits in the General Scheme of Adult Learning?

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Is Group Counselling for You?

We begin with totally nonjudgmental respect for You and whatever you might say about yourself. Counselling, adds empathy. Staying in the Here and Now, the conditions are present for new insights. However, the shared energy of the group, and the insights and experiences of other group members can be very helpful. This careful style of interaction is a must, if we are to protect new ideas from "normal trouble shooting tendencies.
If you wish to make an appointment with our staff, click here.
The group develops a climate based on acceptable ways we agree to communicate. When our empathy is accurate, you can explore in ways nobody can predict. We simply stay with you in that exploration, adding our creative energy to the process. New ideas emerge, even hope can be renewed. New insights are enhanced as group members add their energy and experience.

Is It Worth Paying For?

One of the greatest hazards, in a trouble shooting society is that criticism is lethal to ideas. "Half-baked" ideas get wasted before they are fully "cooked." If it were not for this tendency, we would have very few problems with people. Our staff have overcome this harmful habit. Newborn ideas need protection and nurture until they are ready for testing!

Cost of Adversarial Styles: Our sciences have made great gains because of a critical analysis style of testing ideas, but at a cost! Yet, in education, teachers and parents are NOT careful to distinguish "the challenge of ideas" from "defeating ideas." Of course, children learn this adversarial style as a game, cruel as it might be. Competition in games gets transferred to life experience. Criticism, thus, becomes an automatic reaction. But, this habit kills creativity in conversation. It also makes people feel unsafe while discussing their newborn ideas, which have not yet been nurtured into useful shape.
See a full account of this dilemma in Why They Don't Listen.

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