Monthly Archives: January 2013

Leisure

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This morning when I left my house, my son came to hug me goodbye. He stopped suddenly and listened, exclaiming ‘woodpecker’. I stopped too. All the noise in my head about leaving, driving, trains, my day ahead… all cleared and I heard the woodpecker drilling into a tree. I saw a leaf flitter across the lane and closed my eyes, just for a moment.

A poem came to me. One I had learned at my desk at school and I could recall every word…

Leisure, by WH Davies

What is this life if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare?

No time to stand beneath the boughs,

And stare as long as sheep and cows,

No time to see, when woods we pass,

Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass:

No time to see, in broad daylight,

Streams full of stars, like skies at night:

No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,

And watch her feet, how they can dance:

No time to wait till her mouth can

Enrich that smile her eyes began?

A poor life this if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

Post Induction Therapy

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pit photo

Pia Mellody and her training team with Mandy, Dita and Victoria from Charter!

Last week I was fortunate enough to attend a week of Post Induction Therapy with Pia Mellody in Arizona.  The model is focused on recovery from the relational trauma that manifests painfully later in life in self-destructive processes such as addiction, codependence and dysfunctional relationships.

As you can see from the photos I am not good at having my picture taken and closed my eyes to the experience!  I also do not have a great reputation for attention in class, with past school days littered with truancy.  (We teach best that which we most need to learn…!) But last week I was captivated.  Not all week I admit as I found the lecturing a bit tiring, but the information itself, the model, is wonderfully human and accessible.  It makes sense, and is interwoven with personal experience, crucially demanding that the therapist also is well!

The genuine integrity of the model was reinforced by the humility of the teachers. Both Pia and Sarah, who was co-facilitating, were keen to teach yet not hungry for applause. In fact Pia regularly yet subtly sidestepped the guru status that was often laid at her feet instead asserting the model as the prize and encouraging personal responsibility.

The PIT model aligns easily with the  therapeutic model at Charter, which is also borne of hard graft and personal experience and it should be relatively easy to integrate the two. This means the clients will experience more bodywork and shame reduction work, paying increased attention to relational childhood trauma and to the 5 core symptoms of codependence Pia describes in her books. We will also provide an intensive 3-day Trauma Reduction Workshop every 6 weeks which is inspired by ‘Survivors’ (The Meadows).

This is not a self-indulgent model it is an operation. It’s all about going home and getting on with your life, which is like a breath of fresh air.

Thank you too to my travel companions and co-trainees, Dita and Vic.  Getting to know you and spend last week with you was really special and enormous fun and I am privileged to have you on the Charter team.