I just wanted to take the time to thank one of my esteemed colleagues, Dr. Sari Fine Shepphird, PhD for recently blogging about In Vision Concept Cards. A licensed clinical psychologist and eating disorders specialist practicing in Los Angeles, California, she is perhaps best known for authoring 100 Questions & Answers about Anorexia Nervosa, available through Gurze books. Her Treatment Notes blog is an incredibly insightful resource for professionals treating clients who suffer from eating disorders.
I found her take on the cards incredibly helpful, as she really brought home the usefulness of the cards and even helped me think about how I speak about and explain the cards in my presentations. While you can read her entire entry here, I found these words of hers particularly illuminating:
When you read the words "Niagara Falls", what comes to mind? Probably an image of a water fall, or of the falls themselves, if you have ever had the opportunity to see them in person. What about the words cotton candy? I am guessing you can picture the fluffy pink blob of sugar on a white stick.
Words and concepts often illicit visual cues, and visual cues are an important part of memory retrieval and learning...remember learning your times-tables on flashcards? There's a reason why flashcards helped with learning and made it easier than just trying to remember the concepts based strictly on auditory memory.
Seeing something helps you learn and remember.
But what about a concept like "Black and White Thinking"? Does an image come to mind? Probably not. Or how about Resilience? How can you explain that concept to a client in a way that is memorable and enhances learning? What about "Proactive versus Reactive"? Ever wished for a concise way to explain these concepts to your clients?
Suzanne Ricklin, MSW, CEDS has devised an innovative, creative, and immensely helpful way to do just that.
Thanks so much, Sari, for your thoughtful words and support!
