John Launer
@johnlauner.bsky.social
Doctor, educator, writer. Columnist @bmj.com Own views.
Websites: www.johnlauner.com www.conversationsinvitingchange.com
Websites: www.johnlauner.com www.conversationsinvitingchange.com
Here's a podcast I've just done with Damian Tarnopolsky from the Narrative-Based Medicine Lab in Toronto. He's a very good interviewer and it's short and to the point (21mins). At the end I talk about AI-enhanced narrative medicine.
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
NBM Talks: Podcast from the Narrative-Based Medicine Lab - YouTube
NBM Talks is a podcast from the Narrative-Based Medicine Lab at Continuing Professional Development, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto. List...
www.youtube.com
November 28, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Here's a podcast I've just done with Damian Tarnopolsky from the Narrative-Based Medicine Lab in Toronto. He's a very good interviewer and it's short and to the point (21mins). At the end I talk about AI-enhanced narrative medicine.
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
How can you combine a narrative-based approach with statutory mental health assessments?
For your diaries: an important online event coming up on 16th January at the Association of Narrative Practice in Healthcare, led by Tom Cant and Jens Foell.
For your diaries: an important online event coming up on 16th January at the Association of Narrative Practice in Healthcare, led by Tom Cant and Jens Foell.
November 27, 2025 at 6:34 PM
How can you combine a narrative-based approach with statutory mental health assessments?
For your diaries: an important online event coming up on 16th January at the Association of Narrative Practice in Healthcare, led by Tom Cant and Jens Foell.
For your diaries: an important online event coming up on 16th January at the Association of Narrative Practice in Healthcare, led by Tom Cant and Jens Foell.
I get lots of spurious invitations in my spam box to give lectures or submit papers to journals. I delete 99 per cent...
But every now and again they are so outrageous, I let off steam by sending a rude riposte...
Unfortunately the one I responded to today turned out to be genuine...
Oops.
But every now and again they are so outrageous, I let off steam by sending a rude riposte...
Unfortunately the one I responded to today turned out to be genuine...
Oops.
November 25, 2025 at 9:30 PM
I get lots of spurious invitations in my spam box to give lectures or submit papers to journals. I delete 99 per cent...
But every now and again they are so outrageous, I let off steam by sending a rude riposte...
Unfortunately the one I responded to today turned out to be genuine...
Oops.
But every now and again they are so outrageous, I let off steam by sending a rude riposte...
Unfortunately the one I responded to today turned out to be genuine...
Oops.
Reposted by John Launer
My parents were from Prague & Vienna.
In the 1960s all our holidays were in a farmhouse near Trefriw, North Wales. There was no electricity.
Today I'm back in Trefriw teaching doctors in Japan on Zoom.
One (from Nagasaki) has joined us from the Prague-Vienna bus.
#globalvillage #synchronicity
In the 1960s all our holidays were in a farmhouse near Trefriw, North Wales. There was no electricity.
Today I'm back in Trefriw teaching doctors in Japan on Zoom.
One (from Nagasaki) has joined us from the Prague-Vienna bus.
#globalvillage #synchronicity
November 17, 2025 at 10:30 AM
My parents were from Prague & Vienna.
In the 1960s all our holidays were in a farmhouse near Trefriw, North Wales. There was no electricity.
Today I'm back in Trefriw teaching doctors in Japan on Zoom.
One (from Nagasaki) has joined us from the Prague-Vienna bus.
#globalvillage #synchronicity
In the 1960s all our holidays were in a farmhouse near Trefriw, North Wales. There was no electricity.
Today I'm back in Trefriw teaching doctors in Japan on Zoom.
One (from Nagasaki) has joined us from the Prague-Vienna bus.
#globalvillage #synchronicity
This is a magical piece by Anna Beug, just out online @bjgp.bsky.social It absolutely captures the nature of good family medicine in 'deep end' localities.
bjgplife.com/making-mosai...
bjgplife.com/making-mosai...
Making Mosaics – BJGP Life
bjgplife.com
November 14, 2025 at 11:47 AM
This is a magical piece by Anna Beug, just out online @bjgp.bsky.social It absolutely captures the nature of good family medicine in 'deep end' localities.
bjgplife.com/making-mosai...
bjgplife.com/making-mosai...
Have you ever attended a course in "Conversations Inviting Change" the narrative-based approach to healthcare consultations and education?
We're now planning two courses starting in 2026 to develop more trainers. Further details here:
www.conversationsinvitingchange.com/2025/11/11/w...
We're now planning two courses starting in 2026 to develop more trainers. Further details here:
www.conversationsinvitingchange.com/2025/11/11/w...
Would you like to become a CIC trainer? Online courses leading to accreditation. – Conversations Inviting Change
www.conversationsinvitingchange.com
November 11, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Have you ever attended a course in "Conversations Inviting Change" the narrative-based approach to healthcare consultations and education?
We're now planning two courses starting in 2026 to develop more trainers. Further details here:
www.conversationsinvitingchange.com/2025/11/11/w...
We're now planning two courses starting in 2026 to develop more trainers. Further details here:
www.conversationsinvitingchange.com/2025/11/11/w...
An irresistible case for doctors and medical organisations to take action to prevent or halt genocide.
Just out @bmj.com
www.bmj.com/content/391/...
Just out @bmj.com
www.bmj.com/content/391/...
Medicine’s reckoning with genocide and crimes against humanity
Accountability for human rights must guide every collaboration in medicine and science, write Rubin Minhas and colleagues
From Darfur to Tigray to Myanmar, attacks on healthcare have become a weapon...
www.bmj.com
October 31, 2025 at 12:35 PM
An irresistible case for doctors and medical organisations to take action to prevent or halt genocide.
Just out @bmj.com
www.bmj.com/content/391/...
Just out @bmj.com
www.bmj.com/content/391/...
Reposted by John Launer
Farage: epic grifter
October 27, 2025 at 12:45 PM
Farage: epic grifter
Reposted by John Launer
www.medicinanarrativa.eu/learning-for...
Some reflections from my dear partner in educational endeavour regarding the event we ran on learning for dialogue and compassion in a Polarised World.
Thank you to all those who attended and helped plan the day.
@johnlauner.bsky.social
Some reflections from my dear partner in educational endeavour regarding the event we ran on learning for dialogue and compassion in a Polarised World.
Thank you to all those who attended and helped plan the day.
@johnlauner.bsky.social
Learning for dialogue and compassion in a polarised world - by JOHN LAUNER - MedicinaNarrativa.eu
Can listening to personal narratives help health professionals to maintain caring relationships during times of political tensions, whether local or global? This is a question that a colleague and I h...
www.medicinanarrativa.eu
October 15, 2025 at 9:30 PM
www.medicinanarrativa.eu/learning-for...
Some reflections from my dear partner in educational endeavour regarding the event we ran on learning for dialogue and compassion in a Polarised World.
Thank you to all those who attended and helped plan the day.
@johnlauner.bsky.social
Some reflections from my dear partner in educational endeavour regarding the event we ran on learning for dialogue and compassion in a Polarised World.
Thank you to all those who attended and helped plan the day.
@johnlauner.bsky.social
Trump is no doubt too ignorant to realise it, but his alliance to govern Palestine is basically a reconstruction of the Ottoman Empire which did so, more or less peacefully, from 1517 to 1917 (until the British took it over and screwed everything up.)
October 14, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Trump is no doubt too ignorant to realise it, but his alliance to govern Palestine is basically a reconstruction of the Ottoman Empire which did so, more or less peacefully, from 1517 to 1917 (until the British took it over and screwed everything up.)
I love the way AI can't tell when you're taking the mickey.
October 11, 2025 at 9:44 PM
I love the way AI can't tell when you're taking the mickey.
Medical students and residents learn formulaic ways of conducting consultations. But in reality these can often develop in multiple directions, and be more like freeform jazz than line dancing. How do we teach this?
My latest "Talking Point" @bmj.com
www.bmj.com/content/bmj/...
My latest "Talking Point" @bmj.com
www.bmj.com/content/bmj/...
John Launer: The pluripotent consultation
Every time I teach, I try to introduce an exercise I’ve never done before. I hope this ensures that people are less likely to be bored if they’ve already been to one of my workshops, but it also keeps...
www.bmj.com
October 9, 2025 at 7:09 AM
Medical students and residents learn formulaic ways of conducting consultations. But in reality these can often develop in multiple directions, and be more like freeform jazz than line dancing. How do we teach this?
My latest "Talking Point" @bmj.com
www.bmj.com/content/bmj/...
My latest "Talking Point" @bmj.com
www.bmj.com/content/bmj/...
Important new book by current and former staff of all faith backgrounds at the Tavistock Clinic.
www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...
www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...
How do we even talk about Palestine and Israel?: one group's experience in unspoken territory | Nadia Dabbagh
Well, this is the first time I've started a post on Linked In. It is to share the news that, as child mental health professionals who either trained or worked at the Tavistock Clinic London, we have p...
www.linkedin.com
October 2, 2025 at 9:45 PM
Important new book by current and former staff of all faith backgrounds at the Tavistock Clinic.
www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...
www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...
Does anyone want an old church pedal organ and a red three-seater sofa? No I didn't think so.
But they're free to anyone who can pick them up from a storage unit in Rhyl, North Wales. Can't get rid of them for love or money but very sad about this.
(I bought the organ in Llanrwst for £1 in 1970)
But they're free to anyone who can pick them up from a storage unit in Rhyl, North Wales. Can't get rid of them for love or money but very sad about this.
(I bought the organ in Llanrwst for £1 in 1970)
September 20, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Does anyone want an old church pedal organ and a red three-seater sofa? No I didn't think so.
But they're free to anyone who can pick them up from a storage unit in Rhyl, North Wales. Can't get rid of them for love or money but very sad about this.
(I bought the organ in Llanrwst for £1 in 1970)
But they're free to anyone who can pick them up from a storage unit in Rhyl, North Wales. Can't get rid of them for love or money but very sad about this.
(I bought the organ in Llanrwst for £1 in 1970)
Reposted by John Launer
Yet again, the structures and funding for medical education in England are being reorganised.
Will anything be learned from the successes and follies of previous rounds of musical chairs?
My latest "Talking Point" column @bmj.com
www.bmj.com/content/bmj/...
Will anything be learned from the successes and follies of previous rounds of musical chairs?
My latest "Talking Point" column @bmj.com
www.bmj.com/content/bmj/...
www.bmj.com
September 18, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Yet again, the structures and funding for medical education in England are being reorganised.
Will anything be learned from the successes and follies of previous rounds of musical chairs?
My latest "Talking Point" column @bmj.com
www.bmj.com/content/bmj/...
Will anything be learned from the successes and follies of previous rounds of musical chairs?
My latest "Talking Point" column @bmj.com
www.bmj.com/content/bmj/...
Yet again, the structures and funding for medical education in England are being reorganised.
Will anything be learned from the successes and follies of previous rounds of musical chairs?
My latest "Talking Point" column @bmj.com
www.bmj.com/content/bmj/...
Will anything be learned from the successes and follies of previous rounds of musical chairs?
My latest "Talking Point" column @bmj.com
www.bmj.com/content/bmj/...
www.bmj.com
September 18, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Yet again, the structures and funding for medical education in England are being reorganised.
Will anything be learned from the successes and follies of previous rounds of musical chairs?
My latest "Talking Point" column @bmj.com
www.bmj.com/content/bmj/...
Will anything be learned from the successes and follies of previous rounds of musical chairs?
My latest "Talking Point" column @bmj.com
www.bmj.com/content/bmj/...
A date for your diary. The AGM of the Association of Narrative Practice in Health Care will feature some of the latest developments in teaching and learning "Conversations Inviting Change", including our online courses in the UK and Japan, the use of AI, and Educating Against Hatred.
Open to all.
Open to all.
September 14, 2025 at 5:32 PM
A date for your diary. The AGM of the Association of Narrative Practice in Health Care will feature some of the latest developments in teaching and learning "Conversations Inviting Change", including our online courses in the UK and Japan, the use of AI, and Educating Against Hatred.
Open to all.
Open to all.
"Narrative Means to Normative Ends." Jens Foell and I make the case for using a story-centred approach in statutory contexts like safeguarding procedures and compulsory admission. Just out in the Lancet. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Narrative means to normative ends: story-centred practice in statutory contexts
Narrative medicine places the patient's story at the centre of health care. It assumes
that, in almost every clinical encounter, patients need to tell their stories, feel
that these have been heard at...
www.thelancet.com
September 14, 2025 at 5:20 PM
"Narrative Means to Normative Ends." Jens Foell and I make the case for using a story-centred approach in statutory contexts like safeguarding procedures and compulsory admission. Just out in the Lancet. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Does western civilisation deserve to survive?
September 11, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Does western civilisation deserve to survive?
A new book by current and former staff of the Tavistock Clinic, including an Epilogue I contributed: "How do we even talk about Palestine and Israel."
www.amazon.co.uk/even-talk-ab...
www.amazon.co.uk/even-talk-ab...
How do we even talk about Palestine and Israel?: one group's experience in unspoken territory: Amazon.co.uk: 2024, Tavistock Working Group, Dabbagh, Dr Nadia Taysir, Freeman, Dr Mona, Hollins, Dr Kath...
Buy How do we even talk about Palestine and Israel?: one group's experience in unspoken territory by 2024, Tavistock Working Group, Dabbagh, Dr Nadia Taysir, Freeman, Dr Mona, Hollins, Dr Kathryn, Tro...
www.amazon.co.uk
September 9, 2025 at 8:48 PM
A new book by current and former staff of the Tavistock Clinic, including an Epilogue I contributed: "How do we even talk about Palestine and Israel."
www.amazon.co.uk/even-talk-ab...
www.amazon.co.uk/even-talk-ab...
The story of how I met Enid Balint and two other remarkable psychoanalysts, but never became one myself. Just out @bjgp.bsky.social.
bjgplife.com/encounters-w...
bjgplife.com/encounters-w...
Encounters with three remarkable women
"Although I knew so little about them at the time I met them, it now feels an extraordinary privilege to have encountered these three remarkable women." A slice of memoir from John Launer
bjgplife.com
September 4, 2025 at 2:25 PM
The story of how I met Enid Balint and two other remarkable psychoanalysts, but never became one myself. Just out @bjgp.bsky.social.
bjgplife.com/encounters-w...
bjgplife.com/encounters-w...
Reposted by John Launer
Please don’t succumb to hopelessness over Palestine. Your voice can still make a difference | Arwa Mahdawi
Please don’t succumb to hopelessness over Palestine. Your voice can still make a difference | Arwa Mahdawi
As the war gets livestreamed to our phones, it is easy to be overwhelmed and feel helpless. But even small acts of activism add up, writes Arwa Mahdawi
www.theguardian.com
September 2, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Please don’t succumb to hopelessness over Palestine. Your voice can still make a difference | Arwa Mahdawi
Reposted by John Launer
Doctors are familiar with the term neurodiversity and largely see it as a valuable concept.
Should we also use the idea of "psychodiversity" to acknowledge the different ways that patients - and we ourselves - may feel and behave?
My latest column @bmj.com , just out.
www.bmj.com/content/390/...
Should we also use the idea of "psychodiversity" to acknowledge the different ways that patients - and we ourselves - may feel and behave?
My latest column @bmj.com , just out.
www.bmj.com/content/390/...
John Launer: How the term “psychodiversity” can help us understand what it means to be human
Most doctors nowadays understand the concept of neurodiversity and find it useful. It’s a way of recognising that a diagnosis such as autism or attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder may be helpful ...
www.bmj.com
August 24, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Doctors are familiar with the term neurodiversity and largely see it as a valuable concept.
Should we also use the idea of "psychodiversity" to acknowledge the different ways that patients - and we ourselves - may feel and behave?
My latest column @bmj.com , just out.
www.bmj.com/content/390/...
Should we also use the idea of "psychodiversity" to acknowledge the different ways that patients - and we ourselves - may feel and behave?
My latest column @bmj.com , just out.
www.bmj.com/content/390/...