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Goole & The Pool
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Feb. 14th, 2009 | 09:02 pm
Sitting at home after a busy week. Monday morning saw me up at the crack of dawn travelling from Darlington down to Goole to present a Mental Health First Aid course. The trusty Citroen C1 was heavily loaded with the new box on the passenger seat and a flip chart stand, flip charts, manuals and luggage stuck in the back on top of folded seats. I cannot complain though as the little deisel carries me all over the country and hardly ever seems to need filling up.
The course in Goole was fun, held in an old school building that has been converted as a community resource centre. We were holding two courses there on the Monday and Tuesday, the other being presented by a colleague from Community Links. It was interesting to compare notes about how the courses were being received at breaks.
Trainees were a mix of health trainers PCT staff and I'm happy to say, Police Officers. It was great to be able to get information about mental health and mental health issues across to them as the police often have to deal with people in crisis. It was also really useful to find out about procedure the police use in trying to access help for people in distress.
On the Tuesday night, rather than heading back North as usual, I followed the M62 right across the country to Liverpool to present two Day One's to Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service and Sefton PCT on the Wednesday and Thursday. Wednesday morning was marred by finding that the car had been broken into the night before. Nothing had been taken (I always take everything of value into the hotel) but the front passenger seat window had been smashed in. I managed to arrange for autoglass to fix it during the day and I got a taxi to Croxteth Fire Station. Luckilly I was only a little late and the day went very well. The following day was at the Fire Service HQ in Bootle.
I have to say I am full of admiration for the kind of work the Fire Sevice do on Merseyside. There are all kinds of outreach initiatives to try and reach young people, including one in which they are trained to be junior firefighters. Beats the Scouts every time.
I'm finishing both courses at another venue in Southport next week, and despite the stress of the car incident I have to say I'm looking forward to it.
Weather forecasts on the Thursday afternoon left me expecting a very difficult journey back to Darlington. However, the first snow I saw was in the centre of town at the end of the journey. The only thing that had been stolen from the car was the holder and charger from Miss Diane (my SatNav) so the main challenge had been finding something to stop her sliding across the dashboard. One advantage of being in training is that you always have BluTack with you and I can recommend it in a crisis.
You can find out more about MHFA and Mental Health First Aid training by visiting my website at www.mentalhealthfirstaidnortheast.co.uk
The course in Goole was fun, held in an old school building that has been converted as a community resource centre. We were holding two courses there on the Monday and Tuesday, the other being presented by a colleague from Community Links. It was interesting to compare notes about how the courses were being received at breaks.
Trainees were a mix of health trainers PCT staff and I'm happy to say, Police Officers. It was great to be able to get information about mental health and mental health issues across to them as the police often have to deal with people in crisis. It was also really useful to find out about procedure the police use in trying to access help for people in distress.
On the Tuesday night, rather than heading back North as usual, I followed the M62 right across the country to Liverpool to present two Day One's to Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service and Sefton PCT on the Wednesday and Thursday. Wednesday morning was marred by finding that the car had been broken into the night before. Nothing had been taken (I always take everything of value into the hotel) but the front passenger seat window had been smashed in. I managed to arrange for autoglass to fix it during the day and I got a taxi to Croxteth Fire Station. Luckilly I was only a little late and the day went very well. The following day was at the Fire Service HQ in Bootle.
I have to say I am full of admiration for the kind of work the Fire Sevice do on Merseyside. There are all kinds of outreach initiatives to try and reach young people, including one in which they are trained to be junior firefighters. Beats the Scouts every time.
I'm finishing both courses at another venue in Southport next week, and despite the stress of the car incident I have to say I'm looking forward to it.
Weather forecasts on the Thursday afternoon left me expecting a very difficult journey back to Darlington. However, the first snow I saw was in the centre of town at the end of the journey. The only thing that had been stolen from the car was the holder and charger from Miss Diane (my SatNav) so the main challenge had been finding something to stop her sliding across the dashboard. One advantage of being in training is that you always have BluTack with you and I can recommend it in a crisis.
You can find out more about MHFA and Mental Health First Aid training by visiting my website at www.mentalhealthfirstaidnortheast.co.uk