News

I’ve received an invitation to speak at the Moira Anderson Foundation ‘Not on our Watch’ Partnership Conference on the 26th October 2015. Sandra Brown is the founder of the Foundation and was awarded an OBE in 2006 for her contribution to child protection. Sandra is also an endorsed trainer in Protective Behaviours and it is through this that our paths met 🙂

Sandra was eight when eleven year old Moira Anderson disappeared from the small town of Coatbridge, near Glasgow, in 1957. Twenty-seven years later, at a family funeral, Sandra’s estranged father confessed to her that he had been involved in the girl’s disappearance. Appalled and fascinated by his curious half confession, Sandra began to delve into the case and in so doing discovered that her father was an acknowledged molester of children and his activities were known not just to everyone in Coatbridge but also to the police

As a result of her experiences, Sandra founded The Moira Anderson Foundation in 2000. She has remained deeply involved and assisted them to grow to where they are today.

Sandra Brown was educated at Coatbridge High School, Hamilton College and the Open University, which awarded her an Honours Degree in 1978 and a Masters in Education in 1996. A primary Deputy Head Teacher, then a Senior Lecturer in Further Education, she is the author of the bestselling book ‘Where there is Evil’.

I am so looking forward to being part of this amazing event and hope as many of you as possible can be there too 🙂

For those of you who have attended Protective Behaviours training with me, you’ll hopefully be aware of how I love to find PBs in everyday experiences including popular songs, advertising, merchandise, film and even food and drink. For me, if the PB process were an item of confectionary it might be a Mars Bar, as in being there ‘when you work, rest and play’. If it were a ‘tipple’ it could perhaps be Martini, as in ‘any time, any place, anywhere’. And whenever I’m watching films, I often find myself pausing the action to make a note of the moment when PBs appears – my latest example comes courtesy of my PB Buddy, Judith Staff, who encouraged me to look again at the sequel to ‘Shrek’ and notice how in Chapter 2 the character Donkey practises the strategy of  Persistence asking ‘are we there yet’ every few seconds, Shrek masks his feelings after Risking on Purpose and leaving the safety of his swamp to travel to Far, Far Away Land, which by the way is far, far away, adopting a brave face on and off throughout the journey and Unwritten Rules are in abundance surrounding a visit to new ‘in-laws’!

Another current favourite of mine is supplied, maybe unsurprisingly, by the film ‘Frozen’. I particularly love the way the colour blue now appears to have been ‘reclaimed’ by the female gender – this was highlighted at a recent little girl’s 5th birthday party I attended where an older female was questioning why the tablecloths were blue – ‘surely they’re for boys’ and it felt fab for me to hear the reply from one of the much younger females exclaiming – ‘no it’s Elsa Blue!’ And I also admitt to singing both aloud and to myself the song ‘Let it Go’ at times when feelings of exasperation could perhaps result in behaviours associated with a much younger Sally Ann.

So ‘thank you’ Walt Disney Animation Studios for providing more examples of PBs in action and, in my opinion, a very helpful Protective Interruption. I’m also feeling hopeful that current plans to produce a sequel will yield further example of PBs in action and more opportunities to sing aloud!