Hi to everyone who reads my blog, those of you who came to our recovery champions courses in the last few months, will know my passion is jazz singing and that Ron had bought me for Christmas a 5 day jazz singing course in the south of France. Well I finally did it a couple of weeks ago & it was amazing, in fact the way the week was set up it felt like I was a participant on a recovery champions course! But my singing improved & I met some wonderful muscians.
Over the summer Ron & I have spent time at home & actually had a proper holiday in France with the kids. We have also had 4 litters of piglets, the latest are only 4 weeks old. We bought some quails & these have become Ron’s pet project.
As for work we have concentrated on new products, with several new DVD’s, from Eleanor Langdon, Dirk Corstens, intervoice conference and our first joint Italian/English DVD of a hearing voices conference.
Ron’s new edition of Recovery An Alien Concept was just launched last week. It doesn’t seem like 12 years ago when we lived in Gloucester & Ron would write deep into the night on the first edition.
This time he asked Eleanor Langdon to edit it for him & she has done a great job, for all of those academics out there who encouraged Ron to get the book edited & indexed properly a big thank you, with particular thanks to Marius for his comments and Eleanors excellent job. The book looks beautiful with its stunning new cover designed by Evelyn from the puffin room http://www.thepuffinroom.co.uk/. She designs all our DVD covers and has been great to work with.
It has also been very professionally copy edited & type set by Sharon & David from Two Raven press who also live on our island in Uig they have been a great find
http://www.tworavenspress.com/. Take a look at their books. I can really recommend Sharon’s own book - The long delirious burning blue. A beautiful intense moving book that kept me riveted from cover to cover.
Finally Ron & I are moving into a house further into Ness facing north looking right out to sea, that we will actually all fit in to.
We are hoping to use our croft cottage for some interesting recovery work in the future & for holiday lets.
This autumn Ron will be very busy with a tour of North America. I will be knee deep in mud with the pigs & moving slowly into our new house.
We will have further new DVD’s coming out one by Marius Romme & One by Sandra Escher & a fabulous new workbook in the victim to victor series for male survivors of sexual abuse called reclaiming our lives written by Jim Campbell & Ron Coleman.
I am writing this from a hotel in Manchester.
We have just had a very successful 2 days of workshops in Glasgow & Manchester with Oryx Cohen & Will Hall from the USA. They were wonderful presenters and really made me think more about how we connect to our communities and start change there rather than trying to change the mental health system, we hope to invite them back again next year.
I’m waiting for my flight to Australia where I am working in Perth for one week, my body clock will be very confused by next weekend and my return to Lewis. Ron has unfortunately been taken into hospital for a couple of days to sort out his diabetes. I must admit it’s a little nerve wracking leaving him and the family but he assures me he is alright.
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.
