Another week and Ron is away again. Monday and Tuesday he was engaged in consultancy work in Angus, helping people find a way forward with their day services, on the second day they did an organisational PATH which everybody enjoyed doing, Ron is no artist so one of the staff did all the drawing
Tomorrow he is in Sunderland for his annual lecture at the university for the Psychosocial –Intervention course. He always likes visiting the north east as he lived there for a while. It also gives him a chance to catch up with our daughter Vicky who is in her third year of mental health nurse training in Middlesbrough.
Meanwhile I am continuing making our home liveable in. I started on the garden this week as we have had a series of sunny days, there is nothing like getting your hands really dirty and using muscles that have forgotten how to work.
I have also taken most of the administration of working to recovery back from Sonja now. We have been so busy training I hardly had time to even keep an eye on the admin so I am having to relearn most things. So bear with me over next couple of weeks if your orders are late.
You may have noticed the website is slowly changing, this is because we are now using Radish to keep our site up to date which means we are now working closely again with our old friend Paul Baker, there will be more changes in the next few weeks.
Well must go and pick up Rory from the youth club, the kids have really settled into island life quickly, probably because they are so used to travelling with us and adapting to new situations and Frankie has started using her first Gaelic phrases, with all the confidence an ebullient 5 year old has ...
Lol
Karen
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Saturday, April 26, 2008
It has been a beautiful week on Lewis, blue skies, light winds and wonderful sunsets, I feel at home here already.
The course went very well last week. The presentations were stimulating and creative, the last one a role-play based on the “mental health bus’ was particularly funny.
I left Ron in Dundee to come back home as he was flying to Denmark. He has been working for the “Castle” near Copenhagen for the last 3 years helping them change manage a rehabilitation service into a recovery orientated one. They have already had many successes, he also works with Jorn & Anne Erikson in Psykovision a sister agency to ours, so he currently working with voice hearers and workers 2 hours away from Copenhagen deep in the countryside.
Speaking of voice hearing I caught up with Rufus May’s documentary about the Doctor who Hears Voices
Wow well done Rufus, it was thoughtful and brave and I hope it helps to timulate debate in a positive way. I remember Rufus “coming out” about his diagnosis at one of our early Handsell conferences we used to hold in Birmingham. He attended the conference and approached Ron & I to ask if he could get up and speak, he gave a moving account of his life and psychotic experience, he and a lot of the audience including me were in tears, he was honest and open.
Well I must go back to unpacking boxes, I still have so much to do to make this place a home
Lol
Karen
The course went very well last week. The presentations were stimulating and creative, the last one a role-play based on the “mental health bus’ was particularly funny.
I left Ron in Dundee to come back home as he was flying to Denmark. He has been working for the “Castle” near Copenhagen for the last 3 years helping them change manage a rehabilitation service into a recovery orientated one. They have already had many successes, he also works with Jorn & Anne Erikson in Psykovision a sister agency to ours, so he currently working with voice hearers and workers 2 hours away from Copenhagen deep in the countryside.
Speaking of voice hearing I caught up with Rufus May’s documentary about the Doctor who Hears Voices
Wow well done Rufus, it was thoughtful and brave and I hope it helps to timulate debate in a positive way. I remember Rufus “coming out” about his diagnosis at one of our early Handsell conferences we used to hold in Birmingham. He attended the conference and approached Ron & I to ask if he could get up and speak, he gave a moving account of his life and psychotic experience, he and a lot of the audience including me were in tears, he was honest and open.
Since then he has gone from strength to strength in his fight to see different approaches to working with psychosis accepted in the main stream. I wish him luck with his nomination for the Mind Champion award –he deserves it. Especially as he still fights the system from inside as an excellent psychologist.
We have run 3 voice dialoguing courses with Rufus & Dirk Corstens and will be incorporating the course in a residential course we are planning in Fife from 22nd September to 26th, Dirk and Eleanor will be involved along with Ron, unfortunately Rufus is away teaching in Switzerland.Well I must go back to unpacking boxes, I still have so much to do to make this place a home
Lol
Karen
Friday, April 18, 2008
Recovery course - but where is Ron?
What a week! Left Lewis on Saturday not knowing where Ron was, he wasn’t answering his mobile and arrived on the mainland to find he had been admitted to hospital.
Recovery course to start Monday - I´m in big trouble!
His diabetes was way out of control and the doctor was telling me he wouldn’t be out by Monday.
No choice but to start the recovery course on my own. The course participants were fantastic, very supportive and understanding. I ran the first 2 days on my own , all was well , course proceeding as it should, me feeling fairly exhausted though as I run between Arbroath where the children are staying, Ninewells hospital in Dundee and Drumoig Fife where we were doing the training.
Luckily on the third day I receive a phone call from Ron to say he is being discharged and he is on his way to the course, a weight leaves my shoulders as he arrives and immediately stamps his mark on the course.
The course has had some really diverse participants from across the UK. Participants from a personality disorder unit in Colchester, from St mungo’s homelessness charity in London, a new private unit in Welshpool based on recovery, Mind in Birmingham, Glasgow & the Borders health boards, Aberdeen shire social services. Turning point Scotland, Plus Perth, Augment Arbroath, Dundee hearing voices network , Shetland Link and Richmond fellowship Scotland.
This has led to lots of cross fertilisation , new friendships and links and loads of conversation and debate both during the day and at the bar in the evening.
Its now friday morning and I wait in anticipation of the presentations to see what they have to say, they have been a great bunch of human beings.
Recovery course to start Monday - I´m in big trouble!
His diabetes was way out of control and the doctor was telling me he wouldn’t be out by Monday.
No choice but to start the recovery course on my own. The course participants were fantastic, very supportive and understanding. I ran the first 2 days on my own , all was well , course proceeding as it should, me feeling fairly exhausted though as I run between Arbroath where the children are staying, Ninewells hospital in Dundee and Drumoig Fife where we were doing the training.
Luckily on the third day I receive a phone call from Ron to say he is being discharged and he is on his way to the course, a weight leaves my shoulders as he arrives and immediately stamps his mark on the course.
The course has had some really diverse participants from across the UK. Participants from a personality disorder unit in Colchester, from St mungo’s homelessness charity in London, a new private unit in Welshpool based on recovery, Mind in Birmingham, Glasgow & the Borders health boards, Aberdeen shire social services. Turning point Scotland, Plus Perth, Augment Arbroath, Dundee hearing voices network , Shetland Link and Richmond fellowship Scotland.
This has led to lots of cross fertilisation , new friendships and links and loads of conversation and debate both during the day and at the bar in the evening.
Its now friday morning and I wait in anticipation of the presentations to see what they have to say, they have been a great bunch of human beings.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Ron has already spent most of the last 2 weeks off island.
Last week he was down in Bristol running a workshop for Second Step Housing and speaking at a Rethink stake-holder event both were themed on taking recovery forward, there has been lots of talk of the theoretical aspects of recovery but much less on actually practically implementing it, something Ron & I love getting involved in. This is the nuts and bolts of recovery, how to "be" a recovery worker, using the tools of person centred planning, of working differently with psychosis and self harm, using "self" as a recovery model.
How many organisations have actually looked at how they organise themselves? Are their policies recovery focussed or do they hinder recovery? Are their middle managers onboard, is their paperwork recovery focussed, do they treat their staff in a person centred way?; these are the kind of questions Ron & I like to ask when we are engaged to work for an organisation.
This week he has been in Angus working with consumers on how they can take their day services forward.
Then the train down to Chester to work with Social worker ASW students, then the train back to Fife where he is running a workshop at the fife recovery conference.
An exhausting programme of training and travelling which he equally loves and hates. I cannot imagine him being in one place for more than a few weeks before he gets the urge to travel, still it will be interesting watch him relax and develop his garden and the croft so eventually we wont need to go off island so much.
Last week he was down in Bristol running a workshop for Second Step Housing and speaking at a Rethink stake-holder event both were themed on taking recovery forward, there has been lots of talk of the theoretical aspects of recovery but much less on actually practically implementing it, something Ron & I love getting involved in. This is the nuts and bolts of recovery, how to "be" a recovery worker, using the tools of person centred planning, of working differently with psychosis and self harm, using "self" as a recovery model.
How many organisations have actually looked at how they organise themselves? Are their policies recovery focussed or do they hinder recovery? Are their middle managers onboard, is their paperwork recovery focussed, do they treat their staff in a person centred way?; these are the kind of questions Ron & I like to ask when we are engaged to work for an organisation.
This week he has been in Angus working with consumers on how they can take their day services forward.
Then the train down to Chester to work with Social worker ASW students, then the train back to Fife where he is running a workshop at the fife recovery conference.
An exhausting programme of training and travelling which he equally loves and hates. I cannot imagine him being in one place for more than a few weeks before he gets the urge to travel, still it will be interesting watch him relax and develop his garden and the croft so eventually we wont need to go off island so much.
Saturday: Off the island
I got off island today with the kids to join Ron
We are running our making recovery happen training at Drumoig in Fife next week.
I love this weeks training, watching how people develop over the week and "recover" - they all leave with a very deep understanding of what recovery means to them, the "them and us" of worker – service user - disappears as everyone realises they are all human beings with strengths, gifts and some failings.
I am always proud of the presentations they do on the last day of the programme, usually very creative, one group in Perth - Western Australia did such a fine drama that they have just filmed it and put it into a competition I hope they win’ it is fantastically powerful; we will soon have this on our site for people to down-load.
This particular week has been sold out for over 6 weeks, which is fantastic, I first had the idea for this course over 5 years ago and S.A.M.H agreed to run the first course for their staff and service users. What was fascinating was watching what happened to the service users on the course, within weeks one had left services to set their own business up in cultivation. One decided they didn’t need services again and another, Agnes Smith, became a fine speaker and trainer in her own right which was fantastic especially as she hit 60 I think the week of the course.
Ron and I would love to have a pot of money to run and research this course for a few groups of service users and watch their progress, any brave NHS trusts or organisations with a few spare pounds please come forward, we believe that courses like these could safe millions in the future from service users discharging themselves because they are well.
One of the biggest bug- bears of training is watching consumers struggle at our events because they are over medicated and have distressing side effects. In Melbourne we met up with John Watkins, a hero of Ron’s who wrote a book a few years ago called "Hearing voices a common human experience". He was a lovely modest man who has fought for better services for years in Melbourne.
He has written a book called Healing Schizophrenia-using medication wisely; it is an excellent resource for anyone wanting to learn more about their medication, possibilities of coming off it and alternatives. He has done some impressive research for the book and some very surprising quotes emerge. For example Bleuler the father of schizophrenia says quite categorically that no more than 10% of people with schizophrenia should be kept on long- term anti psychotic medication, something I wish our present day psychiatrists would adhere too.
Anyway read it for yourself, the book is now available through our website as we felt it was important that this book was known about more widely.
We are running our making recovery happen training at Drumoig in Fife next week.
I love this weeks training, watching how people develop over the week and "recover" - they all leave with a very deep understanding of what recovery means to them, the "them and us" of worker – service user - disappears as everyone realises they are all human beings with strengths, gifts and some failings.
I am always proud of the presentations they do on the last day of the programme, usually very creative, one group in Perth - Western Australia did such a fine drama that they have just filmed it and put it into a competition I hope they win’ it is fantastically powerful; we will soon have this on our site for people to down-load.
This particular week has been sold out for over 6 weeks, which is fantastic, I first had the idea for this course over 5 years ago and S.A.M.H agreed to run the first course for their staff and service users. What was fascinating was watching what happened to the service users on the course, within weeks one had left services to set their own business up in cultivation. One decided they didn’t need services again and another, Agnes Smith, became a fine speaker and trainer in her own right which was fantastic especially as she hit 60 I think the week of the course.
Ron and I would love to have a pot of money to run and research this course for a few groups of service users and watch their progress, any brave NHS trusts or organisations with a few spare pounds please come forward, we believe that courses like these could safe millions in the future from service users discharging themselves because they are well.
One of the biggest bug- bears of training is watching consumers struggle at our events because they are over medicated and have distressing side effects. In Melbourne we met up with John Watkins, a hero of Ron’s who wrote a book a few years ago called "Hearing voices a common human experience". He was a lovely modest man who has fought for better services for years in Melbourne.
He has written a book called Healing Schizophrenia-using medication wisely; it is an excellent resource for anyone wanting to learn more about their medication, possibilities of coming off it and alternatives. He has done some impressive research for the book and some very surprising quotes emerge. For example Bleuler the father of schizophrenia says quite categorically that no more than 10% of people with schizophrenia should be kept on long- term anti psychotic medication, something I wish our present day psychiatrists would adhere too.
Anyway read it for yourself, the book is now available through our website as we felt it was important that this book was known about more widely.
Photos from our work visit to Austraila and New Zealand (when we took some time off)
Some photos of our work visit to Austraila and New Zealand (including when we took some time off)
The lads who attended our last Recovery course in Perth, Austraila showing off their bellies ...
The lads who attended our last Recovery course in Perth, Austraila showing off their bellies ...
Sunset in Wellington taken from the house we rented over looking South island in the distance
Any idea where we are? Ron in discovery mode ... on a boat in Shark bay , near Monkey Mia
Recovery Island ahoy! Daytime view from our house in NZ
"Daddy, what´s that behind us ..."
This is the life! Ron and Karen contemplating joining "I´m a celebrity - Get me out of here" - nah!
Inside a tree with mummy and me! - Karen and Francesca
Monday, April 7, 2008
From Perth Austalia to the Isle of Lewis
Well, what a contrast.
2 weeks ago we were swimming with dolphins at Monkey Mia in Australia (see previous post) with the temperature at 36C, today we wake up in Ness on the Isle of Lewis, its blowing a gale and yesterday it was snowing and 5C.
Our move from Fife to Lewis went surprisingly smoothly, the ferry was on, the weather lovely , in fact the crossing was so smooth it was like a summers day We made our way to the house and the van followed with our wordly possessions.
Hit our first problem the driveway, the lorry trying to back in got stuck in the peat and had to be towed out by a local farmer on his tractor, the weather was beautiful though , blue skys , no wind we finally got all possessions into the house by 10pm except our big American fridge which was not going through the doorWe had a local guy Kyle on hand who managed to set up the beds, ours immediately got covered in boxes, but Francesca & Rory (our children) had a relatively normal nights sleep in their own beds.
Ron & I ended up on the sofa, next morning was a different picture , a howling gale , heavy rain, no coal for the fire and the floor of the kids bedroom flooded from an unknown source.
Again a local to the rescue , Richard the plumber and rayburn mender, sorted out the central heating pipe causing the flood in the bedroom. Ron, I and the kids headed for Stornoway, to buy new fridge freezer, and vax to restore the carpet in the kids room. A week on we have mastered the rayburn, I have successfully cooked on it, there are no boxes left in the house, the shed is still packed solid with boxes though, Ron has wetted the new house at the local social club and more importantly put his first seeds in the poly tunnel and the strawberry plants. Recovery- my understanding is improving every day.
Its been an expensive week though, anyone wanting training we still have two weeks free in May and June!!!!
Lol Karen
2 weeks ago we were swimming with dolphins at Monkey Mia in Australia (see previous post) with the temperature at 36C, today we wake up in Ness on the Isle of Lewis, its blowing a gale and yesterday it was snowing and 5C.
Our move from Fife to Lewis went surprisingly smoothly, the ferry was on, the weather lovely , in fact the crossing was so smooth it was like a summers day We made our way to the house and the van followed with our wordly possessions.
Hit our first problem the driveway, the lorry trying to back in got stuck in the peat and had to be towed out by a local farmer on his tractor, the weather was beautiful though , blue skys , no wind we finally got all possessions into the house by 10pm except our big American fridge which was not going through the doorWe had a local guy Kyle on hand who managed to set up the beds, ours immediately got covered in boxes, but Francesca & Rory (our children) had a relatively normal nights sleep in their own beds.
Ron & I ended up on the sofa, next morning was a different picture , a howling gale , heavy rain, no coal for the fire and the floor of the kids bedroom flooded from an unknown source.
Again a local to the rescue , Richard the plumber and rayburn mender, sorted out the central heating pipe causing the flood in the bedroom. Ron, I and the kids headed for Stornoway, to buy new fridge freezer, and vax to restore the carpet in the kids room. A week on we have mastered the rayburn, I have successfully cooked on it, there are no boxes left in the house, the shed is still packed solid with boxes though, Ron has wetted the new house at the local social club and more importantly put his first seeds in the poly tunnel and the strawberry plants. Recovery- my understanding is improving every day.
Its been an expensive week though, anyone wanting training we still have two weeks free in May and June!!!!
Lol Karen
Sunday, April 6, 2008
March 2008, Working in Australia and New Zealand
Wow it is hard to believe that we have been out of the UK for 8 weeks now and what a fabulous trip we are having.
We spent the first couple of days in Dubai before arriving in Perth, Australia on a Thursday I had got my dates completely mixed and started arguing with the hotel receptionist that it was Friday and they should have a room for us, luckily they had a spare room so the kids, Ron & I were able to sleep off our jet lag. Ron & I have been working here in Perth on and off for almost 3 years.
Richmond fellowship WA took the brave step of introducing us here and training their staff in recovery, due to their growing success here we have been asked back a number of times and our making recovery courses are now regularly oversubscribed and more and more people are wanting to attend from other Non government organisations and now the government funded health service have come on board and are sending their staff and consumers onto the training. Much of this is due to the tireless networking of Joe Calleja the CEO of RF here, who is totally committed to making recovery happen within the state of WA.
We are always made to feel very welcome here and now feel very much at home, accept for the heat it has regularly hit the high 30’s.
After 2 successful making recovery happen courses in January we took to the road in a camper van for a few days rest and a workshop in Esperance. This again went very well with over 60 people attending the event which is unheard of for a small place like Esperance. It was so good to see so many people embracing the ideas of recovery.
We then made a small stopover in Melbourne before flying out to New Zealand. Hiring another camper van for a few days holiday before hitting Palmerston North for a 4 day psychosis course. This was a new venture for us and proved to be very successful with 30 staff attending the first 2 days looking at the theory behind hearing voices, then 15 staff returned with a voice hearer each to explore the voice hearer’s voices using the voices workbook.
It was wonderful to watch the transformation as people began to understand why they heard voices and that they could take control and learn to live with their voices. Also to hear staff say how much they had learnt about their voice hearers that they had no idea about before. We have already had back stories of people carrying on the transformation after the course had finished. I am always taken back by peoples trust and honesty when we run this programme and their ability to stand enormous emotional pain so they can transform their lives. So often trauma, especially childhood sexual abuse is at the root of their voice hearing and what Ron & I are understanding more and more is that it isn’t the abuse that is the issue but the feelings the person is left with often shame and guilt.
We then moved on to Wellington to run the same course for Wellink followed by another making recovery happen course for them. Again we saw consumers transforming before our eyes as they understood that there was hope and that they had the power to change their lives.
Now we are back in Perth , I am running a 2 day person centred planning course whilst Ron is visiting individual units to offer mentoring to the staff and consumers on site, and next week our last making recovery happen course which apparently was oversubscribed, so we will be back again in October.
Our final week is back in a camper van up north to see the dolphins at Monkey Mia with a workshop in Geraldton on the way up, with temperatures regularly up in the 40’s up there I will be longing for our return to Scotland on 22nd March, and our move to the isle of Lewis.
We spent the first couple of days in Dubai before arriving in Perth, Australia on a Thursday I had got my dates completely mixed and started arguing with the hotel receptionist that it was Friday and they should have a room for us, luckily they had a spare room so the kids, Ron & I were able to sleep off our jet lag. Ron & I have been working here in Perth on and off for almost 3 years.
Richmond fellowship WA took the brave step of introducing us here and training their staff in recovery, due to their growing success here we have been asked back a number of times and our making recovery courses are now regularly oversubscribed and more and more people are wanting to attend from other Non government organisations and now the government funded health service have come on board and are sending their staff and consumers onto the training. Much of this is due to the tireless networking of Joe Calleja the CEO of RF here, who is totally committed to making recovery happen within the state of WA.
We are always made to feel very welcome here and now feel very much at home, accept for the heat it has regularly hit the high 30’s.
After 2 successful making recovery happen courses in January we took to the road in a camper van for a few days rest and a workshop in Esperance. This again went very well with over 60 people attending the event which is unheard of for a small place like Esperance. It was so good to see so many people embracing the ideas of recovery.
We then made a small stopover in Melbourne before flying out to New Zealand. Hiring another camper van for a few days holiday before hitting Palmerston North for a 4 day psychosis course. This was a new venture for us and proved to be very successful with 30 staff attending the first 2 days looking at the theory behind hearing voices, then 15 staff returned with a voice hearer each to explore the voice hearer’s voices using the voices workbook.
It was wonderful to watch the transformation as people began to understand why they heard voices and that they could take control and learn to live with their voices. Also to hear staff say how much they had learnt about their voice hearers that they had no idea about before. We have already had back stories of people carrying on the transformation after the course had finished. I am always taken back by peoples trust and honesty when we run this programme and their ability to stand enormous emotional pain so they can transform their lives. So often trauma, especially childhood sexual abuse is at the root of their voice hearing and what Ron & I are understanding more and more is that it isn’t the abuse that is the issue but the feelings the person is left with often shame and guilt.
We then moved on to Wellington to run the same course for Wellink followed by another making recovery happen course for them. Again we saw consumers transforming before our eyes as they understood that there was hope and that they had the power to change their lives.
Now we are back in Perth , I am running a 2 day person centred planning course whilst Ron is visiting individual units to offer mentoring to the staff and consumers on site, and next week our last making recovery happen course which apparently was oversubscribed, so we will be back again in October.
Our final week is back in a camper van up north to see the dolphins at Monkey Mia with a workshop in Geraldton on the way up, with temperatures regularly up in the 40’s up there I will be longing for our return to Scotland on 22nd March, and our move to the isle of Lewis.
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