More PBs
With the heat well and truly here it also feels like things are ‘hotting up’ PB-wise. My PB Training Partnership colleague, Simon joined me at the recent ‘Hope for the Hurt’ conference held in Northampton and we had a great time re-connecting with ex-colleagues and meeting people who were already using Protective Behaviours. In fact, PBs seemed to be a common thread in both key-note presentations and in the work within individual workshops. The 2 PB themes (‘We all have the right to feel safe all the time’ & ‘We can talk with someone about anything even if it is awful or small’) to me underpin how people can start to heal wounds for themselves whilst not having to do it by themselves. Thank you to all the people who took part in the day and especially to John Fardon and Jenny Harris for organising the conference and inviting us to attend. Special thanks also to Mandy Higgs, whose stand was next to ours and joined us in having fun while reminding me of all the amazing work she and the highly skilled people who used to work for NCC continue to do with people and families affected by autism.
Following on from this at the beginning of July, there have been opportunities for more PBs work with other agencies including contact with NSPCC /Childline and also Sharon Evans, (Values Versus Violence & MissDorothy.com). I am looking forward to developing these networks over the coming months. The demand has also increased for more PB training, so another open-access course has been confirmed in Corby plus the first Foundation course, that I’m aware of, in my home town of Grays, Essex! Really going ‘back to my roots’ here and feeling like I’m risking on purpose. Details and booking form for the Corby course can be found by following this link.The dates for the course in Grays are 6th & 20th November 2013 and I’m awaiting total venue costs before producing the booking form/flier so feel free to ‘watch this space’. 🙄
One more thing that I have discovered during this lively PB time is how to balloon model PB network flowers. Whilst Simon was writing policies for Equality & Diversity and Health & Safety, I thought I would put my creative talents into action. I had a go at trying to recreate the Network balloon flowers that I remembered Di Margett’s daughter Emma producing at a PB Conference held at the Hockey Stadium in Milton Keynes way back. So, with Michael Floyd via YouTube on my network and my son’s balloon modelling kit resurrected from the back of a cupboard, I set to work. The result can be seen below although the squeals of joy and laughter which lead to the finished product cannot, for I found it absolutely compulsive as well as hysterically funny every time a balloon burst, either on inflation or during the twisting process. The whole experience was, for me, both therapeutic and fun. Isn’t it great when we find something we can practise and get better at – so glad my opportunity was balloon modelling rather than policy writing – cheers Simon 😆
