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Catch Up
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Mar. 25th, 2009 | 08:31 pm
March has been very busy and it has been difficult to post.
4 & 5 March saw me in Sheffield at the PCT building, which is an impressive high rise near Meadowhall. The centre of Sheffield turns out to have been knocked down recently, which creates havoc for SatNavs, which meant Miss Diane had real problems. Although the venue was only a couple of miles from my hotel the revamp, together with changing one way systems and bus lanes, meant that it sometimes took 45 minutes to find my way home.
On 9 & 10 March I was in Leeds at TV Centre, two days after the announcement of the massive job losses there. I have a good friend who has lost his job on Heartbeat and really sympathised. Although ITV had arranged the course they had opened it up to organisations all over the Leeds area and the mix made for a really entertaining two days, despite the bad news.
The following day I was back in Sheffield at the PCT building with another interesting group. I have to say, no Mental Health First Aid course is the same. The experiences and insights that trainees bring to the group make each unique, and for me endlessly fascinating.
The end of last week and the beginning of this have been spent in Castleford and Wakefield training, for the most part, Police Officers and support staff. This was really encouraging as, at the beginning off the courses, most said that they had been TOLD to attend. This could have made for some resentment but at the end of each courses the groups expressed a real appreciation of the things that they had learned and a new confidence in being able to use this in their front line roles.
I've just returned from an interesting meeting in Liverpool which may mean more courses in that area. I'll keep you posted.
You can find out more about MHFA and Mental Health First Aid training by visiting my website at www.mentalhealthfirstaidnortheast.co.uk
4 & 5 March saw me in Sheffield at the PCT building, which is an impressive high rise near Meadowhall. The centre of Sheffield turns out to have been knocked down recently, which creates havoc for SatNavs, which meant Miss Diane had real problems. Although the venue was only a couple of miles from my hotel the revamp, together with changing one way systems and bus lanes, meant that it sometimes took 45 minutes to find my way home.
On 9 & 10 March I was in Leeds at TV Centre, two days after the announcement of the massive job losses there. I have a good friend who has lost his job on Heartbeat and really sympathised. Although ITV had arranged the course they had opened it up to organisations all over the Leeds area and the mix made for a really entertaining two days, despite the bad news.
The following day I was back in Sheffield at the PCT building with another interesting group. I have to say, no Mental Health First Aid course is the same. The experiences and insights that trainees bring to the group make each unique, and for me endlessly fascinating.
The end of last week and the beginning of this have been spent in Castleford and Wakefield training, for the most part, Police Officers and support staff. This was really encouraging as, at the beginning off the courses, most said that they had been TOLD to attend. This could have made for some resentment but at the end of each courses the groups expressed a real appreciation of the things that they had learned and a new confidence in being able to use this in their front line roles.
I've just returned from an interesting meeting in Liverpool which may mean more courses in that area. I'll keep you posted.
You can find out more about MHFA and Mental Health First Aid training by visiting my website at www.mentalhealthfirstaidnortheast.co.uk