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.

Recovery Champions course

2011
We have set dates for the next Recovery Champions course in Stroud for March 21st to 25th 2011. Put the date in your diary now, information will be up on the website soon, we may also put on an autumn course 2010, unfortumately the Stroud venue was full, so any suggestions for a venue or place in the UK let us know

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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.

May 2010  

Spring has really taken hold and Summer is almost with (in the Northern hemisphere anyway) and we hope that it will be a good one for us all. In this noticer we provide the latest information about our upcoming training and consultancy work.

 

Australia

Ron & I have had a very busy time in Australia over the last month or so, running 3 Recovery Champions courses in Perth, Canberra & Tasmania. This was all return business as feedback from previous courses in each of these areas has been so positive.

 

Ron remains in Australia for another 4 weeks and I am hoping to return to Australia in August, this time leaving Ron at home for a rest and accompanied by Paul Baker, who will be training with me. For anyone in Australia interested in training please contact me as we still have some availability in August for recovery related training and consultanc.

 

Paul can also run training sessions on Hearing Voices, theory and practice; Setting up and Supporting Hearing Voices Groups; Introducing and Developing a Community Development Approach to Providing Mental Health Support. Meanwhile, Ron & I are busy planning next Year’s visit to Australia, possibly around this time of the year. So if you may want training please contact me at karen@workingtorecovery.co.uk

 

Recovery Training

We have developed a 3 day version of the Recovery Champions course specifically for an organisations Managers. We have found this to be an area that training is greatly needed in to help managers shift the focus of their organisation to working in a recovery based way, whether this is developing  policy & procedural changes, employing peer workers, understanding what recovery working really means, understanding your own recovery journey as a manager /leader, action planning using recovery tools for the organisations future direction. This course is equally relevant to NGO’s, private sector or publicly run mental health services, see more information here or again contact me at karen@workingtorecovery.co.uk

 

Hearing Voices

For those of you in the UK & Europe we have more How to Set up & Run Hearing Voices Groups workshops in England, Wales & Scotland, which will run by Paul Baker at the end of June. More information and booking details can found on this page (see below).

 

In September we will be running the successful residential course in beautiful Stroud Gloucestershire onWorking & Talking with Voices with Ron Coleman , Dr Dirk Corstens & Eleanor Longden. Booking details on this page. This course has had an amazing impact on both workers & voice hearers when we have run it before.  If you are an individual worker, family member or voice hearer you are welcome to attend this ground breaking course as we will match you up with someone to work with. We believe personalisation & direct payment budgets can be utilised for this training as it will very much assist the recovery process of voice hearers. E-mail Karen to register your interest, or download the booking form or book on the website on this page (see below)

 

Work in Italy, USA and our programme for the rest of 2010

We are working in Italy at the end of September and the beginning of October & will be touring USA/ Canada in November. Training and publice speaking engagement opportunities are still available.  Finally our diary over the next year is filling fast so if your organisation is interested in any of our training or consultancy (including in house) don’t hesitate to e-mail me at  karen@workingtorecovery.co.uk or phone +441851810060/+447884268192

 

Regards,

Karen Taylor, Director 

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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.