The School of Life

The School of Life is an organisation founded in 2008 and based in branches in London (Headquarters), Antwerp, Amsterdam, Berlin, Istanbul, Melbourne, Paris, Sao Paulo, Seoul and Tel Aviv. The School offers a variety of programmes and services concerned with how to live wisely and well: finding fulfilling work, mastering relationships, achieving calm, and understanding and changing the world.[1] The School also offers psychotherapy and bibliotherapy services and runs online and physical shops[2] which have been described as 'apothecaries for the mind'.[3]

The School of Life is not affiliated to any religious, educational, charitable or other organisations. It declares itself to be a place ‘free from dogma’, where participants are ‘directed towards a variety of ideas—from philosophy to literature, psychology to the visual arts—that tickle, exercise and expand your mind’ and where participants can 'meet other curious, sociable and open-minded people in an atmosphere of exploration and enjoyment'.[1]

People

Alain de Botton co-founded The School of Life

The School of Life was founded by philosopher Alain de Botton[2] and Sophie Howarth, a former curator from Tate Modern, in collaboration with a number of writers, artists and educators. It is currently staffed by Charlotte Neser, Caroline Brimmer (Content), Ewen Haldane (Business), Kathryn Garden (International), Roger Gray (Finance), Felicity Soper (Marketing), and Vassili Christodoulou (Programme). The faculty includes philosophers Mark Vernon, Roman Kraznaric, Robert Rowland Smith, writers John Armstrong, Charles Fernyhough, John-Paul Flintoff, Catherine Blyth and Rebecca Abrams. Ambassadors for the project include photographer Martin Parr, psychotherapist Brett Kahr, journalist Rosie Boycott and publishers Patrick Walsh and Simon Prosser.

Classes

The School of Life offers offers a curriculum of classes teaching emotional intelligence. These explore ways to make work more fulfilling, improve romantic relationships, and face the day-to-day challenges of life, from facing death to relating to one’s family.[4] These classes are devised by leading authors, artists, actors and academics, combining their own experiences with ideas from great thinkers of the past to offer participants intelligent and playful ways to interpret the world, and their place within it.[5]

Sermons

On Sunday mornings The School of Life hosts secular sermons in which cultural figures are invited to give their opinion about 'what values we should live by today'.[6] These theatrical events are usually held at Conway Hall in London. Past preachers have included Brene Brown on courage, Ken Robinson on education, Grayson Perry on kinky sex, and Paul Mason on capitalism. The Financial Times described the sermons as being 'hedged about with all sorts of ironic paraphernalia, designed to reassure the trendy young audience that they are not about to be harangued by a religious zealot'.[7]

YouTube

The School of Life posts films every week to its YouTube channel on a variety of topics related to the art of living.

The Book of Life

The Book of Life is an ambitious collection of written articles aimed at curating the best and most helpful ideas in the area of emotional life. It covers topics such as work, self, capitalism, relationships and culture, and has a core curriculum Covering a range of philosophers and philosophical theories. Articles are written and updated several times a week.

Bibliotherapy

The School of Life offers a literary consultation service it calls bibliotherapy.[8] For a fee, people are able to meet with a bibliotherapist who will talk to them about their reading habits and 'prescribe' books which relate to their interests or concerns. The School of Life's bibliotherapists include the novelist Susan Elderkin.

Psychotherapy

The School operates a psychotherapy service run by Professor Brett Kahr, one of Britain’s foremost psychotherapists. Professor Kahr is Senior Clinical Research Fellow in Psychotherapy and Mental Health at the Centre for Child Mental Health in London. He is also a Visiting Clinician and Visiting Lecturer at the Tavistock Centre for Couple Relationships, at the Tavistock Institute of Medical Psychology in London, specialising in work with marital couples. He is also a registrant of the British Psychoanalytic Council.

The service is described as offering clients 'a fascinating and valuable tour of your own psyche'[9] and aims to counter the stigma often associated with mental health.

Business Psychology

The School of Life works with businesses to provide internal learning and development programmes, in the form of bespoke development sessions, team effectiveness facilitation and executive coaching. The business psychology consultancy has a focus on partnering with clients to develop the ‘soft skills’ associated with success at work, and draws from psychology, philosophy and psychoanalysis, as well as culture more generally.

Brand partnerships

The School of Life also partners with businesses to create branded content. In the past they have partnered with Amex, Mars, The Bank of Ireland, Smart Water, Mini, Häagen-Dazs and Morgan’s Hotels amongst others. The School of Life focuses their approach on the psychological or emotional needs associated with a brand’s products and provides relevant content for the customer.

Shop

The School of Life has an online shop stocking a range of books, stationery, homewares and gifts, all with international delivery. The London branch has a small shop on Marchmont Street in Central London.[2] The interior of the London shop is designed by Susanna Edwards and Joseph Harries and features real silver birch trees.[10] Beneath the shop is the School's classroom[2] muraled throughout by the British fashion illustrator Charlotte Mann.

Books

The School of Life has produced many books, including its popular 'How to' series and 'Toolkit for Life' box-sets, covering topics such as 'How to Choose a Partner' and 'How to Age', and with authors including Alain de Botton, Oliver James, Phillipa Perry, Eva Hoffman, Susan Quilliam and John-Paul Flintoff. The Life Lessons series systematically examines some of the great issues of life through the ideas of six great thinkers: Bergson, Freud, Nietszche, Kierkegaard, Byron and Hobbes. The book 'Art as Therapy', written by Alain de Botton and John Armstrong explores the belief that art can help us with our most intimate and ordinary dilemmas.

References

  1. 1 2 "About Us". Theschooloflife.com. Retrieved 2015-03-07.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Conrad, Peter (1 September 2013). "Life Lessons from... Bergson, Byron, Freud, Hobbes, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  3. ↑ "The School of Life [Monocle]". Monocle.com. 2008-09-03. Retrieved 2012-03-22.
  4. ↑ "Sunday Express Magazine". Theschooloflife.com. Retrieved 2012-03-22.
  5. ↑ "Classes". Theschooloflife.com. Retrieved 2012-03-22.
  6. ↑ "Sermons". Theschooloflife.com. Archived from the original on May 1, 2009. Retrieved 2012-03-22.
  7. ↑ Eyres, Harry (2008-12-20). "Secular lessons from the School of Life". FT.com. Retrieved 2012-03-22.
  8. ↑ "Bibliotherapy". Theschooloflife.com. Retrieved 2012-03-22.
  9. ↑ "Psychotherapy". Theschooloflife.com. Retrieved 2012-03-22.
  10. ↑ "Blog Archive » The School of Life by Susanna Edwards". Dezeen. 2008-09-26. Retrieved 2012-03-22.

External links

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