In February and May 2016, Stephen Berkeley, VIHASA facilitator and Organisation Development Manager for GHRC and a team of facilitators ran well-attended VIHASA facilitators’ residential training retreats. The first was at a retreat centre near Delhi for 51 hospital staff and some alternative practitioners and 120 health practitioners attended the...

Silent Retreats – March 2016 The last Silent Retreat for healthcare practitioners in Kent earlier this year was led by Dr Craig Brown, retired GP, former chair of the BHMA, and former President of the National Federation of Spiritual Healers (NFSH), and member of the University of the Third Age...

Recent Events  – January 2016 Values in healthcare: A Spiritual Approach (VIHASA) Over the last year, keen facilitators in India, South Africa and UK have run a number of VIHASA activities, including the annual VIHASA facilitator trainings in Johannesburg, [read report here] and at Mt Abu India [read report here]....

MT Abu INdia news – December 2015 September 2015 saw one of the largest VIHASA Facilitator Trainings to be held in Mt Abu, India, with 74 participants from across 12 states in India. This is a testament to the enthusiasm of individuals and teams of VIHASA-trained facilitators. In further developments,...

Holland – 20 November 2015 I was invited to attend a medical leadership symposium at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam in November 2015.
The event was to celebrate the professorial inauguration of Dr Carina Hilders whom I had met at a Still Point -Turning World Retreat at Oxford the year before....

Science that frees the spirit –  November 2015 The JF lecture this year was given by JF chairperson, Neville Hodgkinson on: ‘Good news, you are not your brain! It was a thought-provoking look at science, reviewing some of the information from research in the fields of consciousness, near death experience...

Still point-turning world SPTW – October 2015 The SPTW occasion was a four day retreat in rural Oxfordshire – on the theme of ‘Love, the heart of healthcare’ and it created time for participants to really explore. We looked at our own concepts of, love, power, spirituality and silence and...

Facilitators training in South Africa – August 2015 Healthcare workers from all parts of South Africa and neighbouring countries of Botswana and Mozambique came together at Kempton Park, Johannesburg for a VIHASA facilitator training from 27-30 August 2015. Thirty participants, the majority of whom were healthcare professionals, learnt about the...

The rebirth of wisdom and compassion in healthcare – November 2014 JF trustee, Dr Craig Brown, attended and presented at the sixth annual conference, jointly hosted by the Scientific and Medical Network and the British Holistic Medical Association, in Cashel in November 2013. The purpose was for delegates and presenters...

Guy’s hospital – October 2014 In response to The Francis Report, an in-house team at Guy’s hospital, including clinical governance facilitator Deirdre O’Toole, organized a half-day workshop on Values and Compassion in Healthcare, for nursing staff of the renal directorate. The aims of this workshop were met through guided and...