Last April, I spent six days in North Wales visiting North Wales Recovery Communities (NWRC) in Bangor and Eternal Media in Wrexham. I also spent a good part of a day in the mountains with Sober Snowdonia. I had such a wonderful time and met some truly inspiring people.
On Thursday 25 April 2024, I visited Penrhyn House, the residential part of NWRC, where I gave a workshop in the afternoon on trauma, resilience and healing, and the Story of the Aboriginal Child Artists of Carrolup, to the residents and staff. I’m told that the presentations went down really well, and people were very grateful for what I talked about. Amongst of things, it helped them understand some of their personal experiences relating to trauma.
Some time later, James Deakin, the Founder of NWRC, asked if I would be willing to give these talks several times a year over Zoom. I immediately agreed. Last Friday 10 January, we had our first session, which was my debut in giving a talk over Zoom. I’ve done a number of interviews on Zoom though.
I was
a little concerned at first because normally I watch my audience closely as I walk around the ‘stage’. This helps give me a feel for how the talk is being received. However, on this occasion I was looking down at my audience in Penryhn House (close to 20) from a height and the people looked very small. I could only make out who was at the front of the audience… other than James, because of his beard! And I certainly couldn’t tell anyone’s reaction (facial expressions) during my talk. Fortunately, I had a few other people attending the talk, including Jill Whittingham (Lead Therapist at Eternal Media), so I was able to gauge some reactions.
I’m told by James that the talk was well-received at Penryhn House, which was good to hear. I also had a really nice and interesting email from Jill.
My talk was primarily based on information provided in the excellent book What Happened To You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing by renowned trauma expert Bruce D. Perry and well-known personality Oprah Winfrey. In my opinion, this book is a classic. The information provided in the book needs to get out there far and wide. And I will continue to do my little bit.
Sadly, I forgot to click on the record button so there is no recording of my talk. Silly me! However, I’ll be doing the talk again and will not forget to record!
I’ve attached here pdfs of the two parts of my talk. I hope you find them interesting and useful. To see the film at the end of the second part of the talk, which relates to the story of the Aboriginal child artists of Carrolup, you need to access it here.