Feeling excited and a tad puzzled?
It feels like it’s been a bit of a whirlwind few weeks with lots of interest in PBs from old and new contacts and the prospect of lots more to come. This time last week I was in Brighton attending the Safety Net PB conference where I got to spend more time with Di Margetts and PBPeople buddies from around the country celebrating PBs and what those who practice and share the process can achieve. Hearing from Professor Robin Banergee and Dr Stephen Briers about how we can evidence-base PBs felt really exciting as this has so often felt like a barrier to getting PBs accepted by educational institutions and funding organisations – really looking forward to reading the transcripts from their presentations and following up the references. Also felt so good to acknowledge where PBs started in the UK with Di on an ‘adventure’ and to have her continued acknowledgement and support for what PBPeople and our training partnership is achieving.
So, where for me does feeling puzzled come from? On reflection, (and I had a quite a bit of time to do this on the way to and from Brighton), some of it is from the time it has taken to get where I feel PBs is today. However, perhaps a bigger bit is from hearing and reading about organisations that claim to represent PBs yet, to me, lack authenticity with the process. For example, I received information in the last few weeks about a ‘new’ group that makes the following claims: ‘the national organisation for Protective Behaviours’ and ‘the voice of PBs’. My immediate reaction is to say ‘who says?’ And anyone who understands and promotes PBs the way I believe I do, will hopefully think the same as they recognise a lack of the application of the Language of Safety in such claims. And, as the Language of Safety is described in PBs as ‘the glue that holds the process together’, I wonder how long it might take this time round for things to become ‘unstuck’ for this group. So this is where I start to feel excited again, because I now realise that, for me, evidence of the application of the Language of Safety within the content of what is being communicated by individual trainers and training organisations, is what validates the authenticity of and maintains integrity towards the Protective Behaviours process and all that Di Margetts brought to the UK back in 1995.
Thank you so much Di for helping me to continue to ‘walk the talk’ and offering me a place to feel safe enough to sit and think – photo to follow!
