Friends, I need you help! S:VOX is big on vision but for the last couple of years we have been too small on resources. We urgently need more volunteers! Then we will be able to start running self-help events an training weekends again and support new local self-help groups. Please start thinking about how you might be able to help and if you could recruit any more volunbteers from your friends and colleagues. We need people with all types of skills and availability - from fundraisers to website content writers to administrators to group facilitators…a fully list will be posted soon, look out for front page news….

I also need your help for a workshop I am running later this month - please see my forum topic in the survivors forum.

Thank you to everyone who has helped with S:VOX and it’s predecessors over the last 9 years and here’s to celebrating our next anniversary with a great new team!

I have to admit that this year has probably been one of the hardest to keep S:VOX going, because the volunteer team who run things have all had lots of other things going on in our lives with the result that our resources are well over-stretched!

In the midst of stretching it is difficult to stay focussed on what is our vision and where are we going with this? Before the end of the year, the trustees will be meeting to ponder on this and I hope we are inspired to make the right and good decision for S:VOX and for all survivors.

I would welcome any ideas, comments from anyone who supports our work.

The coming bank holiday weekend, S:VOX are again hosting events for survivors of abuse and their supporters at the greenbelt arts festival (www.greenbelt.org.uk) - closed support group on Friday evening and “The art of depression” workshop on Sunday evening. As well as these two events, every day a group of S:VOX volunteers will be helping create a community mosaic. Here is a sneak preview (click on image for a closer look)…

Well half term is over, feels like the week has been far too short and not sure I’m ready to be going back to work. Potentially a difficult week this week, will be trying to keep on top of it.

Today has been nice, shopping followed by an evenings entertainment from Peterson Toscano. Laughter is great therapy!!! Saw him at greenbelt last year in a large venue, very different tonight, a small hall and only about 40 people in the audience. He is still as funny and as thought provoking as he was last time I saw him.

Will definitely be seeing him at Greenbelt this year if I get the chance.

Sandee

its finally half term. have my class’s reports to write and other bits and pieces to do but am so glad to be having a break.

been struggling a lot with different things the last little while.
not sure how long. not sure about time.

so am looking forward to a break, some time to relax i hope.
the last half term of the year is always hectic! sports days and open evenings and a show to perform. nonstop.

feeling pretty numb and switched off, guess maybe its from being so tired. emotionally and physically exhausted.

need some time out…

I was shocked to realise that I haven’t blogged yet this year! Partly because there has been lots of other activity like the forum, which is a great reason to be too busy! But suggests I need to have a quiet moment to be still and at peace.

Decided I needed to remind myself of the qualities of ‘Shalom’ - what I hope for everyone here- shalom doesn’t just mean ‘peace’ in the sense of silence or absence of conflict; it also means peace in the sense of wholeness, well-being and community.

My enduring aspiration is that S:Vox in all we do and in all we are, will be a place and people of shalom. To all those who are coming here new, as well as all us old timers, may your life be increasingly shalomful.

Of course I am as usual writing about what I most need to hear myself. Do you do that too?
For once I will listen so I’m now off to be at shalom with my family and bed!

Do post your thoughts about shalom and ideas about how we can all work towards shalomfulness ...read more »

Did anyone else hear the programme on Radio 4 tonight about some of the latest research in neuroscience? It was looking particularly at what our new technologies that help us to ‘see’ the brain - e.g. MRI and PET scans - tell us about mental health, e.g. schizophrenia and depression.

I can’t pretend I retained or even understood it all, but some revelations stood out.

For example, when you look at the brains of people who hear voices, you can see activity in the area that is normally active when we are speaking; AND in the area that is normally active when we are listening (to external sounds). So here is physical evidence that the brain really has got speech going on inside it, which is being ‘heard’ as though outside. A real validation for someone who might be dismissed as ‘making it up’ ...read more »

Inspired by recent forum postings, I thought I’d start a new page about healing…

I guess that the fact that we’ve all found our way here somehow and are reaching out to each other, means that we are in or just entering the season of healing.

As we enter Autumn, this seems an appropriate idea to explore. I love Autumn! The warm, rusty palette of leaves, snuggling up in woolly coat and red scarf, sweet smell of blackberry jam cooking, stoking up the stove, birds gathering to set off for winter holidays, harvest supper in the village hall with Pam’s apple pie…(okay I’m lucky to live in the country!)

So if this is the season of healing, what are the signs and characteristics of the healing season?

A question to ponder…do post your ideas here..

Channel 4 are currently running a 4 part series where parents of newborns undergo an experiment, testing the various ‘parenting styles’ - from strict routine based approaches to constant body contact ‘attachment parenting’ stlyes.

The first episode this Tuesday left me reeling. A so called ‘baby guru’ who charges £1000 (yes that is a thousand) per day, subjected new parents and one day old babies to her formula for training babies to sleep through the night. This included no cuddling in between strictly timed feeds, no eye contact during feeds, leaving the baby in a pram in the garden for 3 hour stretches during the day between each feed and parking the baby in its cot for 12 hours between 7pm and 7am and not opening the door, regardless of how much the baby is crying. ...read more »

Just wanted to say a big thank you and well done to all of you who went to Greenbelt this year and participated in the S:VOX programme. Whether you facilitated a group, ran the workshop or went to either (and even said nothing!) the feedback recieved has been very positive.