Home Heward Wilkinson
Elham

Welcome to My Website!

Dr. Heward Wilkinson, D. Psych, UKCP Fellow, UKCP Registered Psychotherapist, is an Integrative Psychotherapist. On my website I begin by describing the therapeutic services I offer.  You will also find biographical information, papers and links to books which give an idea of my vision of life and psychotherapy. Enjoy!

My book is published by Karnac and available in all three formats and through the usual outlets:
http://www.karnacbooks.com/product/the-muse-as-therapist-a-new-poetic-paradigm-for-psychotherapy/25803/

What Kind of Practitioner?

I am what is called an Integrative practitioner. This means that to the best of my ability, in dialogue with my client, I seek to develop a way of working which is most appropriate to your individual style and way of being. Approaches I draw from In developing a way of working with you I draw especially from Humanistic and Existential approaches, Psychoanalytic approaches, and also from more solution-oriented approaches such as Cognitive and Behavioural approaches and NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming). I also offer a form of Philosophical Practice, and a form of Poetry or Literary Therapy. Broadly, in Humanistic and Existential work the emphasis is on what is going on in the present, in the here and now, drawing from that creative renewal for living. In Psychoanalytic work the emphasis is upon how past patterns, sometimes from very early, repeat themselves, and also can transform themselves, in the present. More solution-oriented approaches offer specific methods to relieve the symptoms and manifestations of particular problems. Philosophical Practice draws from the philosophical traditions of West and East to address issues about ‘way of life’ in general – which can have a surprising impact on specific life difficulties also. Poetry and Literary Therapy draws from the wisdom of the world’s great literature and art to widen perspective, release feeling in a non-pathologising way, and open doors to new life possibilities. I have written articles, (see later pages), and a book, The Muse as Therapist, currently in press (Karnac Press), about philosophical and literary approaches to psychotherapy and counselling. http://www.karnacbooks.com/product/the-muse-as-therapist-a-new-poetic-paradigm-for-psychotherapy/25803/

In practice there are many overlaps between all these elements. Issues which might bring you into therapy Some people come into therapy simply to support themselves in their lives, and work, to have a place where they are free to unburden themselves and ‘feel and think out loud’, and to facilitate their personal and creative development. There does not have to be a remedial purpose for coming into therapy. None of us is entirely stress free or completely sorted, but at the same time being alive is not an illness! and therapy is not a substitute for life! It is and should be an individual decision whether to come into therapy and not something which is seen as a stigma or a sign of mental disorder. That said, life today is perhaps as challenging as it has ever been, and many people today have real emotional and psychological difficulties. People have difficulties with many emotional and sometimes behavioural areas, which may relate to, among others, Anger, Anxiety, Bereavement and loss, Depression, Domestic violence, Drug and alcohol problems, Lack of confidence, Low self esteem, Obsessional difficulties, Panic attacks, Personality adaptations, Phobias, Relationship difficulties, Sexual identity, Sexuality, Stress, Surviving childhood abuse, Isolation and Withdrawal, Troubles with our Inner World, and others not named here. I also work with Couples, and offer Supervision for Counsellors and Psychotherapists


 

Writings

I have a special interest in the interface between religion, philosophy, the arts, and psychotherapy. I am dedicated to promoting and protecting a serious pluralistic and deconstructionist position and dialogue within the politics of psychotherapy. I believe the structure and conventions of all human organisations, and institutions, are profoundly secondary to individual personal and relational processes, - there being no inherent step from any supposed 'natural order' to human institutions, - but that, within their necessarily imperfect limits, and as a necessary evil, they should be regulated by constitutional and libertarian principles of organisation, ethics, and politics. I try to bring jest and humour to serious matters without dismissing their seriousness. I like people, by and large, and some of them I love, and I love also the natural world, particularly butterflies, the sea and moors and mountains, - as well as music and soccer.

Selection of Papers

Jane Austen and The Shakespeare Authorship Question

YouTube talks and associated paper

Jane Austen's enigmatic gossamer cobweb of allusions to the Shakespeare Authorship Problem in her novel Emma, which nevertheless I believe gives us enough circumstantial evidence to be reasonably certain she did indeed identify all this - under the radar and with plausible deniability - is now, as far as I have ascertained, comprised in four 'complexes' or rafts of allusion:

  1.  References to the I am Ipse - Touchstone - passages of As You Like It in Emma's Epiphany (Ch. 47): First Talk April 2021 Jane Austen and Shakespeare - Mystery Woman Mystery Problem https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8-Td00muOY

  2. References to 'Vere' and related allusions to Stanza 81 (the Melville Stanza in Billy Budd) of Andrew Marvell's poem to Lord Thomas Fairfax and his daughter Mary, 'Upon Appleton House', (in Chapters 18 and 19 and 20): Second Talk July 2021 Mystery Woman Mystery Problem       

  3. References to the First Folio and Canto 1 of Spenser's Faerie Queene (crucial in the search for Edward de Vere as Senior Poet in 1589) in Ch. 42 'Mr Knightley's Detective Work', also in the Second Talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Libc0PnXXI&t=2529s

  4. Now we have two talks February 2022 which together discuss the significance of the Anonymisation of the Author of Shakespeare through the fate, progress and relevance of Jane Austen's character Harriet Smith, through whom the allusions to 'Oxford', as erased and anonymised author, are transmitted. It also outlines the role of Samuel Johnson in establishing the orthodox narrative as mainly unassailable.

         Talk no 3 https://youtu.be/EtC0LW7g6qo

         Talk no 4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK3JH4SUBLo

The Paper

Jane Austen, her worlds within worlds, and Shakespearean Authorship – March 2022.pdf

Paper on the Theory of Metamodality of Psychotherapy

PDF version and PDF for Kindle version

Previous Writings:

  1. Chapter 1) 'Phenomenological Causality', (International Journal of Psychotherapy, 1998) .pdf

  2. Chapter 2) Jaynes and the origins of consciousness (International Journal of Psychotherapy, March 1999)

  3. Chapter 3) Kant’s lineage and Buddhism

  4. Chapter 4) Integration from a Gestalt perspective or Gestalt from an Integrative perspective?

Various Writings 1999-2003

Review Articles 2003

Further Papers and Editorials

Various Writings