The weeks are whizzing by

The weeks are whizzing by, the Stroud recovery champion’s course was really good to be part of. The venue was fantastic, beautiful views & gardens, lovely ambience; food was gorgeous, put on about half a stone. The participants were challenging, engaged & by the end of the week champing at the bit to return to their services & start some changes. One women in particular had her light bulb moment on the last day, it was truly wonderful to watch her suddenly release all the pent up negativity of working in a system that had demoralized her thrown away as she realized that recovery was possible including her own.

They bought us a present of a beautiful spiral sculpture made by a craftsman in the grounds whilst we were there, I attach some photo’s it is very beautiful.

After Stroud it was a return to the island to make ready for our trip to Australia. First Ron, who travelled to Sweden first to take part in 2 conferences in Stockholm & Gothenburg, He then returned to Glasgow & flew out to Australia the next morning.

Meanwhile I had been sorting everything out on the island so that the kids and me could make our journey out to Australia 6 days later. House gutted & cleaned it looked livable in by the time I left. Pigs sorted with an assortment of relatives staying at the house whilst we are away & Brian in charge of pigs for some of the time. Accounts up to date, vat ready to go, book orders all sent out, by the evening of our flight to Glasgow I was exhausted.

Overnight stay at the airport & finally we were ready to fly taking Karen from Lewis with us to help look after the kids whilst we are working. Needing looking after myself I had an half hour massage at the airport & became completely chilled before boarding.

The kids were fantastic on the flights they are such seasoned travelers now, though Frankie wanted to stay on the island to finish her Viking project & Finn was miffed because he is missing a game of football whilst away.
Now we are here in Perth, it’s the night before our first recovery course the weather over the weekend has been lovely & we have spent most of the day in the swimming pool with the kids. Ron & I sat earlier thinking what an amazingly lucky life we have. Yes we work hard, yes it can be stressful but how many people get to do a job they love in fantastic locations and with amazing people. Recovery is real, it happens to all of us  & how I appreciate the joy it has brought to my life

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Ron Coleman and Karen Taylor have an international reputation as speakers and authors. They are the directors of ‘Working to Recovery Limited’ an innovative international consultancy, training and publishing company with a cutting edge approach to supporting and improving mental health provision.