The Lifeworks Group was founded by Christine Sutherland in 1999 as a research and training organisation with a relatively wide ambit across the medical and corporate sectors.
This was followed by a number of research projects investigating more effective ways to deal with:
- Depression
- Chronic Pain
- Academic and Behavioural Performance in At-risk children
Although the results of the trials were outstanding, no-one at that time was interested in acting on the findings because the affect mechanisms described were very different from the general direction that research was taking (primarily pharmaceutical, but also a rising popularity of inhibition strategies such as CBT and mindfulness or ACT), and we did not at that time have access to the diagnostic tools (eg fMRI) enjoyed today in order to precisely validate the hypotheses we put forward.
The company has pivoted a number of times over the intervening years, developing programs for the corporate and military sectors around behavioural change for peak performance, as well as systems analysis (including TQM and QA) and consulting, which ties in well with our mission of playing a part in helping psychology become a true science, rather than a collection of philosophical or theoretical frameworks which remain unverified.
In 2015 when we once again reviewed the literature in our areas of clinical interest, we were delighted to find that over the intervening years so many researchers came closer and closer to the hypotheses we put forward nearly 20 years ago, and so many had comprehensively demonstrated the theoretical basis we described. The time had come to re-engage with the therapeutic community and with the research sector, to really drive forward with our mission to change the face of mental health care.
So what we\’ve done over the last 7 years is to revisit and refine our body of work, and mould it into what we know is an extraordinary learning experience for fellow clinicians, so that we are no longer alone, and can finally, with our colleagues around the world, bring a much greater level of relief to those who suffer, wherever they may be.
We do hope you\’ll come along on this journey with us, and look forward to an enriching and rewarding experience together.
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In an effort to streamline dissemination of our work, we\’ve begin moving that body of work to Substack. That provides more safety and security for our colleagues, as well as freeing us up from the endless \”tech\” stuff that\’s involved in constantly updating and debugging software. You can find us on https://psychologybestpractice.substack.com.