On today's show I am talking about prisons, men managing distress, boarding schools and our leaders with one of the UK's leading forensic clinical psychologists.

It's a fascinating discussion about Dr Naomi Murphy's work in the UK's secure prison units working with some of the most dangerous men. What did she learn? How did she teach these men to move from anger and violence to grief and healing? How did she help these men to feel again?

We also talk about trauma and its relationship to violence and the prison system. We also talk about boarding school and how prison offers similarities to boarding school life and boarding school syndrome. We talk about how our leaders have been to boarding school and the impact that might have on the people they serve.

Very eye opening.

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Dr Murphy is one of the UK’s most respected forensic clinical psychologists. Recently appointed Honorary Professor of Psychology at Nottingham Trent University, she qualified as a clinical psychologist in 1997 and as a consultant clinical psychologist in 2003.

She is also an accredited sensorimotor psychotherapist, NeurOptimal brain trainer and Safe & Sound Provider. She is also the co-editor of Treating Personality Disorder and co-host of the podcast The Locked Up Living Podcast.

Some of the areas that we talk about:

1. I would love for you to share some of your journey. How did you arrive at the work that you now do?
2. I would love for you to speak about trauma. What is it and how does it impact us psychologically?
3. What about trust? Do men trust? How do we cultivate more trust in our lives as men?
4. Women seem to be engaged in change whereas men seem to be more relectant to change. Could you please talk about that?
5. Vulnerability. Could you talk about how the prisoners changed once they started to be vulnerable?
6. Trauma informed society. We can't be trauma informed if we don't feel safe. Please speak to that?
7. The importance of sharing emotions
8. Could you please talk about what you understand about boarding school and how it might impact people. What if these people were the leaders of the country?
9. What's the research about boys being more needy than girls? How might this impact them if they are separated at a young age and put into an institution?
10. Why do men struggle so much?
11. Could the prison system in the UK and US be the way it is because the leaders of the country spent years in similar institutions? Whereas where there are few boarding schools like Finland or Sweden, the prison system is very kind and generative.
12. Where do people find out more about your work?

To find out more about Dr Murphy's work please visit: https://octopuspsychology.com

Or follow her on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/nmpsychologist