I cant believe the summer is nearly over, it has been so busy on the island, we’ve had 29 piglets, new geese, ducks & chicks, the vegetable garden was worked on nearly every day, + a fantastic 10^th wedding anniversary weekend which saw all our kids together for the first time since Ron’s 50^th birthday and we have kept the Working to Recovery rolling along through this bleak time for mental health services in the UK.

Hence to say I am back in Australia for 5 weeks work. Missing out on August at home wet cold & windy for Tasmania today wet cold & windy! At least its winter here. Ron is at home reversing roles, very happily getting stuck into family life and the croft. He is loosing weight rapidly which is fantastic news for him as he battles with diabetes.

I spent the first 2 weeks in WA firstly in Perth working with Richmond Fellowship, this time running a champions course with David Rivett one of Richmond’s staff for a new set of staff who will be running a homeless hostel for men which is being set up on recovery principals and where hopefully each resident will graduate after a year well on the road to recovery. It is an exciting and new project for both the state & Richmond. Ron has been involved in designing the service.

The second week was spent in Esperance right on the south coast of WA, coming of the plane I was hit by a cold southerly wind which reminded me of home, but the rest of the week has been warm. Again I have been running the champions course this time for BOICO a small NGO who want their organization to be totally recovery focused. I really enjoyed this week as it was myself facilitating 10 women of middle age like myself, we had a great week, very emotional, at times funny, lots of good questions & debate and lots of warmth again I cant wait to see how this team do and the outcomes & stories they will have over the next couple of years.

Yesterday I travelled to Melbourne & later today I fly to Tasmania for the last 3 weeks of this trip

Election fever is gripping Australia with the federal government up for re-election. It’s a very close call with both parties neck & neck, what is interesting is that Mental illness has played a big part in this campaign with cries for much greater funding for this neglected area of health spending in Australia especially within community services and young peoples mental health.

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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.

July 2010 - Wedding Anniversary and 12 new piglets

Ron & I are finally taking a well- earned break from training & concentrating on our kids & the croft this month.

This is just as well as on the 1^st of July which was our 10^th wedding anniversary our big pig “Spotty” gave birth to 12 beautiful piglets and this weekend our other big pig “Pinky” has given birth to 9. So we are going to be very busy over the next 8 weeks.

This is the first summer we will actually spend July on the island, usually we are dashing off to Australia for work. This year I will be going at the end of July for 5 weeks leaving Ron in charge of the croft & kids.

So after celebrating our wedding anniversary with a fantastic party with friends & all of our kids we now have the Hebfest to look forward to this week.

It will be interesting to see over the next few months how the government proceeds with mental health policy. Apart from the fact that very little training is being funded at the moment, I wonder how the notion of recovery will fair. Richard Warner showed clearly in his book recovery from schizophrenia that in years of economic decline the rates of recovery tend to go down, possible related to lack of job opportunities. Will they still pursue a policy of encouraging people with mental health problems back to work when there are so few jobs, & companies can pick & choose who they employ.

If there was ever a time where a well being agenda is important though it is now, when so many young peoples self esteem is at an all time low, unable to get jobs trapped on low benefits in substandard accommodation. My own daughter at last got a job as a youth support worker on a 6 month contract- her first proper job, first thing to hit was that her partner would loose all benefits and that they will be worse off than if she stayed unemployed which seems ludicrous, then 2 weeks into the job she has been told the project is to close down in 3 months & she will be made redundant. The world must seem a very cruel place.

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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.