Seminars 1







  • Seminars created to address social inclusion, and provide evidence an organisation meets requirements of Single Equalities Act and Ofsted SMSC development.

    Welcome to Aethos

    Seminars

Workshops 2







  • Workshops use a participatory learning approach, with open dialogue, a teaching style preferred by adult professionals.

    Welcome to Aethos

    Workshops

Research 3







  • Research shows some groups are underserved in UK. Cultural differences influence access to services and well being outcomes.

    Welcome to Aethos

    Research

Consultancy 4







  • Collaborative consultation and evaluation with key stakeholders. Reflective strategies to ensure recommendations address cultural biases.

    Welcome to Aethos

    Consultancy

Training Courses 5







  • Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Health and Well Being. Cultural expressions of physical and mental distress; communication strategies.

    Welcome to Aethos

    Training Courses

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What can we do differently to enhance our relationships and understanding of other human beings, including new migrants?

There are many ways to understand mental health and extreme human experiences. The medical model is just one, and although it is valued by many people, others support different interpretations of their experiences. These include cultural and religious interpretations, which lie outside Western models of ‘illness’ and ‘disease’.

Natalie's new book on "Cultural Perceptions of Mental Wellbeing"  is out in September/October 2016, with Jessica Kingsley Publishers. 

 

 TRAINING SEMINARS

Culture, Spiritual Awakening, and Mental Well Being

Update on our Retreat in Adalucia, Spain  - 27th June to 1st July 2016

 

We spent this retreat relaxing at the marvellous Casa de Laila.  Each day was made up of light yoga stretching, and mindfulness meditation before our tasty brunch.  Then we discussed topics of the day exploring cultural ways of understanding unusual or religious experiences. We explored spiritual awakening and how new concepts influenced mainstream understanding around mental health.  

 We acknowledged the current dilemma around the presentation and interpretation of symptoms.  Also we raised awareness of eastern and western cultural expressions of mental distress, diagnosis and treatment.  We discussed many ways to understand extreme human experiences: medical, religious, and spiritual.

 We are hoping to run this innovative retreat again next year.  It was so sucessful, thanks to all participants and our hosts at Casa de Laila. 

 

 Culture, Anomalous Experience, and Mental Well Being

Natalie Tobert is offering workshops to front line medical and health care practitioners on mental well being and spiritual experiences.

Her aim is to acknowledge the current dilemma around interpretation of symptoms; to invite staff to work with a client’s spiritual and religious beliefs; and to help deepen awareness of cultural and religious explanatory models for diagnosis and treatment.

She has presented training for the NHS Trusts who support an Open Dialogue approach, and also in medical schools, hospitals, and universities. Are you interested in hosting seminars for medical or healthcare staff practitioners? 

  

Spiritual Psychiatries
British medical anthropologist, Dr Natalie Tobert wrote the book to bring a fresh perspective to the mainstream global public health dialogue. The aim was for principles in it to provide important insights into ways mental health services in the west might be improved.

The book’s intention was to enhance the bridge between western knowledge and what people in multicultural societies actually believe and do for their mental well being.

Endorsements:  This is a beautiful and highly informative book. In simple language, and with great honesty and transparency, Dr. Tobert takes us on a fascinating tour through a variety of mental health practices in contemporary India, both secular and spiritual…. In the book’s pages, you will read some remarkable examples of how psychiatry and spirituality can be integrated in both theory and practice. Michael Miovic, MD, USA

“A remarkable book which is both informative and thought provoking: lessons drawn should enable workers in the UK mental health field to improve the services they provide to people from non-western cultural backgrounds." Dr Suman Fernando, Psychiatrist.

 Amazon link: click on image

  

 Determinants of Health and Wellbeing

Social factors, cultural and religious beliefs are critical when considering inequalities in the determinants of health and well being.

Aethos training programme offers a step towards reducing inequalities. It addresses the fundamental importance of personal beliefs, for clients accessing health services, for front line providers delivering those services, and for educators.
 
Below the Iceberg

Our understanding of diversity may be the tip of the iceberg. Aspects of culture sometimes lie hidden below the iceberg’s upper surface.  These may include: philosophies about faith or consciousness, core beliefs about life and death, history and conflict, and generational differences. Such factors may influence behavioural strategies to address health and well being.
social-inclusion       equality-and-diversity        health-and-culture 
Social Inclusion       Equality & Diversity       Health & Culture

Peoples’ beliefs about the theories of illness causation influence their health seeking strategies and their access to services.

Our series of seminars and workshops enhance social inclusion, by raising awareness of cultural assumptions about symptoms, especially with new migrants, refugees and asylum seekers.

 

 

 

These seminars provide evidence of training on equality and diversity, for teachers and health care staff.

They address one key aspect of equality and diversity: cultural, religious and spiritual beliefs, and the way these influence how people access health services, accept diagnosis of ill health, and concur with treatment strategies.

 

 

 

Our courses were developed for medical and allied health care professionals to offer an overview of existential beliefs of the human life cycle: conception, birth, women’s health, body, mental well-being, death, dying and beyond.

They explore cultural theories of illness causation, and investigate explanatory models for health and mental well-being.