A Person-Centred Residential Weekend Day at Debden House, Loughton, Essex

Day 1 focusing on The Healing Power of Story: The Tale of the Ugly Duckling; evening encounter groups and/or social gathering. 

There is a potency for healing available in fairy tales, myths and stories.  Certain stories grip us, whilst others leave us cold.  The Tale of the Ugly Duckling has particular relevance to those who feel the outcast in their family of origin.  For individuals who grew up sensing that there was something wrong – some mismatch between themselves and other members of the family – this story can bring hope. The experience of exile for all who grew up in the wrong nest, can be isolating, and put obstacles in the way of connecting with others outside of that family experience. Hans Christian Anderson first published ‘The Ugly Duckling’ in 1845. He was an advocate for the lost and neglected child through his stories, and he strongly supported searching for and finding one’s own kind.  A day for personal and professional reflection

Day 2 focusing on finding and maintaining hope in a world and therapy room of trauma

Our world is continually, it seems, balancing on a knife edge of global power struggles, destruction, inhumanity and trauma. At the same time, there is urgent focus on global warming, and how we all need to do what we can to save our planet. For a simple soul like me, it seems the first imperative is to stop warming and destroying the planet with bombs, chemicals and endless new developments in weaponry.

In this extreme situation, individuals are not only dealing with their own personal histories of dilemmas and trauma, but are bombarded with traumatic imagery, and terror daily. Many forced to resort to  the most dangerous ways of trying to find hope and welcome  after escaping from war or persecution simply because they are different, other.  

This day will explore some of the psychology of othering, the impact of multiple traumas, and how we find and maintain hope in our therapeutic relationships, as we process our own responses to daily reports of barbarism against people and planet.