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St Luke's Innovative Resources
137 McCrae St
Bendigo 3550 Australia
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A
philosophy for practice
When
asked the question: "What sort of society
do you want?" most people describe qualities
such as social harmony, peace, justice,
respect, sharing, mutual support and purpose.
When thinking about this, people are imagining
a society often different to the one they
observe and experience. This comes from
experience and observation of what happens
when these qualities are not present. It
also comes from imagination of what could
or should be instead.
That
imagination is made possible out of lived
experience - people's personal experience
and their observation of what happens when
respect, collaboration, inclusion, justice
and support are present. In other words
people have aspirations that are made possible
more by positive experience than negative
ones. These experiences are lived in communities
every day in or across groups, neighbourhoods,
families, workplaces, schools, clubs, other
organisations or institutions, or lateral
ties and informal links.
The
connection between people's strengths that
are represented through real stories of
lived experience and their aspirations for
something better, is the key to every successful
action for change. It is crucial to hope
and an essential characteristic of what
we call the strengths approach.
from The
Strengths Approach by Wayne McCashen
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'It's
a small world, but I wouldn't want to
paint it.'
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Coming
Soon...really soon...
Cars
'R' Us
What
kind of car are you today?
Take
these fun, boisterous, quiet, angry, happy,
racy and just plain goofy cars for a spin...and
don't forget to fasten your seatbelt - change
is just around the corner!
Cars
'R' Us is built around a fleet of very
human-looking cars demonstrating a range of
emotions in everyday situations. Bursting with
personality and fun, this resource is based
on the idea that cars can reflect our nature-complete
with our idiosyncrasies, foibles and predicaments.
These delightfully humourous, full-colour car
characters created by illustrator, Mat Jones,
provide rich metaphors for what it is to be
human; to have good days and bad days, to make
mistakes, celebrate successes and, above all,
to be actively making choices.
Inspired
by Choice Theory, Reality Therapy and strengths-based
ideas, Cars'R'Us is a conversation-building
tool for exploring our feelings and setting
goals. Consisting of 52 Fleet cards, 16 Know
Your Vehicle cards, 10 Thinking Bubbles, A
Journey Planner and an Owner's Manual, the
Cars'R'Us kit suggests many great
questions we can use to ensure we are in the
driver's seat of our own car, with a tank
full of fuel, a well-tuned engine, an effective
map of our journey, and a safe set of tyres.
Questions like:
What
am I thinking? - What am I feeling? - What's
happening in my body? - What do I really want?
- Is what I am doing now working? - What can
I learn from this? - What will I do next?
'...when
people are able to make a shift from a belief
in external control to an awareness of choice,
they are well on the way to effective long-term
change. Cars'R'Us provides an excellent self-evaluation
and planning process, as well as gently teaching
the basics of good emotional health based on
the maxim that we choose all that we do.'
From
the foreword by Ivan Honey, psychologist and
instructor with the William Glasser Institute.
View
this resource on our website
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'I
was getting into my car, and this bloke
says to me, "Can you give me a lift?"
I said, "Sure, you look great, the
world's your oyster. Go for it."
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Tommy Cooper
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Kids
With Confidence
Connecting
the 'hidden children'
 The
Kids With Confidence project started back
in about 1996, growing out of a pre-existing
Family & Carers Project at the Centre
For Rural Mental Health (Bendigo Health).
The ideas was developed after the Burdekin
Report (1993) named the children living in
families affected by mental illness as 'the
hidden children'.
The
project spans the entire Loddon Campaspe Southern
Mallee region of Victoria. Since I have been
the project worker (2003), we have been running
two camps per year for children aged 7 to
12 years. These camps are run in conjunction
with Interchange which assists in program
planning and arranging suitable fully-equipped
camp sites and safe activities. Prior to each
camp we try to bring together all the children
who will be attending (a limit of 14) at pre-camp
groups. These groups provide an opportunity
for the kids to meet each other and the staff.
Through fun activities we try to build trust
and rapport with the kids and their families.
Surprisingly,
when some children come along, we find that
their parents have not yet broached the fact
that someone in the family has a serious mental
illness. It can come as a shock when we raise
this issue, and indicates how hard it is for
some families to talk about mental illness
internally, let alone outside the family.
Yet, the fact that the family has chosen to
become involved indicates that they want their
children to understand more about what is
going on. The Kids With Confidence project
is a means of creating new experiences and
conversations.
On
the camps, the children participate in activities
aimed at developing self-confidence and increased
personal awareness. There are opportunities
to move beyond their comfort zone. We also
weave stories about mental health into the
time away, and try to find moments to have
those important conversations. Each child
has a personalised camp diary which includes
information about mental illness and strategies
for young people to deal with the difficulties
life can throw at all of us.
The
project also attempts to meet some of the
needs of young people aged 12 and over who
are also dealing with mental health issues.
Through Carer Support Services & Bendigo
Health we have received funding to run an
activity once a month, such as movies, go-karting,
indoor rock climbing and ice skating to name
a few. Arts projects are also being developed
in conjunction with City of Greater Bendigo
Youth Arts Network.
Many
of the children and young people in the program
deal with some tough issues in their daily lives.
Often they take on a parenting role, providing
support for their younger siblings. Sometimes
they feel they have to stay home from school
to provide care for an unwell parent. There's
often a compromising of their education, and
less interaction with peers, meaning that social
skills and confidence can take a battering.
Often those closest to a person with a mental
illness suffer trauma that can go unnoticed.
The
Kids with Confidence project continues to
keep kids, young people and families connected
to each other, themselves (their inner worlds),
and to services that can support and assist
them.
Sue
Ellen Radford
Project
Worker, Kids With Confidence Program, Centre
for Rural Mental Health, Bendigo |
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'My
mother loved children. She would have
given anything if I had been one'
Groucho
Marx
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New
on Our Shelf List...
The
Resilience Doughnut
The
secret of strong kids
By
Lyn Worsley
The
Resilience Doughnut presents a unique
model which highlights the outside influences
that build resilience in our lives and protect
us from stress and adversity. It draws on
strengths-based research into young people
and adults who have negotiated difficult
times in their lives, and have thrived,
survived, and become stronger as a result.
This research highlights the innate strengths
and abilities we all posess that can help
us to overcome adversity.
The
doughnut shape is an easy-to-remember model
of the outside influences that affect us
as we develop through childhood, adolescence
and adulthood. These influences inform our
perception of the world and our resilience.
In The Resilience Doughnut, resilience
is defined as the ability to bungee jump
through the pitfalls of life; to maintain
our mental health in the face of adversity.
The
Resilience Doughnut begins with a brief
outline of the characteristics that can
help to make us more resilient. These are
summarised into three concepts: I am,
I have, and I can.
The
outside influences on a person's life are
divided into seven factors:
-
Parent
factor
-
Skill
factor
-
Family
factor
-
Education
factor
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Peer
group factor
-
Community
factor
-
Money
factor
While
seven factors may appear daunting to anyone
caring for children and young people, the
research into resilient young people found
that only three of the seven factors needed
to be present for a person to become resilient
in the face of adversity.
Many
parents have breathed a sigh of relief as
they realise they are not the only influence
on their child's life. Community workers have
noted that the Resilience Doughnut gives them
justification as to why they initiated certain
activities with the young people in their
care, and the reasons for their success. The
doughnut allows professionals and carers to
have a sense of hope and to see their interactions
with clients and others as optimistic situations
for change.
This
book is recommended for teachers, youth workers,
community workers, counsellors, psychologists,
social workers, doctors, psychiatrists, parents
and grandparents, or anyone who works closely
with others. Clients as young as five years
old, to those seeking changes in their retirement
years, have used the doughnut to help them
recognise their own ability to change.
The
Resilience Doughnut has an accompanying
set of worksheets that can be downloaded from
the
author's website.
View
this resource on our website
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'
Mmmmm, doughnuts!'
Homer
Simpson
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Seriously
Optimistic Workshops
Bendigo
- October 2006
 Picture
this: It's springtime in Bendigo. You've got
three glorious days off work to do some professional
development. Now imagine yourself on a balcony
overlooking a Chinese garden. Water trickling
in the distance - the air ripe with growth and
the sound of birdsong. Your mind is spinning
with new ideas and opportunities. Pure fantasy?
Not at all. This has been a common experience
for many participants of Innovative Resources'
spring workshops.
The
Travelling Toolshed
On
Monday 23 - Tuesday 24 October Russell
Deal will present his infamous Travelling
Toolshed.
This
interactive, hands-on workshop explores a
whole range of readily available and useable
'tools' that can magnify the power of our
words and create new pathways into change.
Explore a range of Innovative Resources' materials
and experience how they can be used in many
different professional situations: in supervision,
in teamwork, in teaching, in organisational
culture-building ...
Be
prepared to laugh, cry and be surprised.
Soulful
Melancholy
On
Wednesday 25 October, Innovative Resources'
managing editor, Karen
Masman presents Soulful
Melancholy - Creative Ways of Working With
the Blues. Many of us are prone to bouts
of unexplained melancholy. While there may
be times when we need to seek professional
help for debilitating experiences of depression,
sometimes we know that our wistful sadness
is something else. Melancholy is not always
a sign of something going wrong. It may be
a call to reassess our goals, to quiet 'down
time' or it may signal a shift in our identity.
It could be a time full of potency and possibility!
So,
what is Soulful Melancholy? I asked that question
of Karen:
It's
a very simple idea about sadness. In our culture
I think we define sadness too narrowly. We
do not have enough words to describe the subtleties
of sadness, and the gifts that it can bring.
Often, as a society, we are afraid of it and
we tend to define it at one end of the spectrum
only, making it into a pathology. We make
it wrong and we ask people when they are experiencing
it, 'What's wrong?' 'Buck up,' we say. We
want people to move out of it quickly, especially
children. While there is obviously a serious
and clinical experience called 'depression',
there is also a gentle and highly soulful
state of sadness that appears in a very different
place on the continuum. We may label it 'sadness',
but this word does not do it justice. It is
not really sadness; it is not depression either.
We might call it 'soulful melancholy'.
And
what can people hope to take away from the
Soulful Melancholy workshop?
A
day of self-reflection in the respectful company
of others. While I'm hoping that this self-reflection
will have a gentle and compassionate quality
to it, we will also be inviting ourselves
to muster as much honesty as we can. So there
may be a degree of 'ruthlessness' to it as
well. It would be great if we can laugh every
now and then, because, really, there's every
reason to do this. We will take away conversations,
journalling techniques, ideas for using resources,
insights and the clarification of personal
goals. We will briefly explore what the differences
between depression and soulful melancholy
might be. Mostly participants will explore
what I have identified as the 'seven stages'
of soulful melancholy and will take away a
method for creating 'meaning statements'.
Participants who work therapeutically with
others may see ways of adapting the seven
stages and meaning-making protocols for use
with their clients. Above all else, I hope
we will take away a sense of 'becoming bigger'
inside ourselves and a greater capacity to
experience the gifts of our own challenges.
For
further information or a registration form contact
Linda Crawford
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'I
can sympathise with people's pains, but
not with their pleasure. There is something
curiously boring about somebody else's
happiness.'
Aldous
Huxley
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SOON
mailbox
Hi
everyone,
My
daughter went to Adelaide recently
to catch up with an old friend.
While over there, they drove down
south to visit a winery in McClarenvale
and stopped in Port Elliot to
buy fish'n'chips. On the wall
in the kitchen, clearly visible
from the shop, was a collection
of Innovative Resources cards
from various packs. It was too
busy for her to ask about the
relevance of the cards, but it
just goes to show that there is
no end to the possible applications
for seriously optimistic materials!
Would
you like salt and vinegar with
those Strength Cards?
Russell
Deal
Director,
Innovative Resources
Hello,
I
have been using your cards and
sticker packs for over 10 years
now. Not only are they fantastic
tools for use with teaching,
training groups and one-on-one
counselling work, but I have also
found them great for reflective
practice and as assessment tools.
They assist individuals in realising
their strengths, while initiating
discussion about how people can
use their particular strengths
to their advantage.
Keep
up the good work.
Therese
Bryant
Very
Special Kids, Shepparton
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'It's
easier to put on slippers than to carpet
the whole world'
Al
Franken
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Shooting
Star
 We
are driving, my six-year-old son and I, chasing
a crescent moon that he says looks like a
comfortable hammock. The horizon glows orange
from a CFA burn-off in the distant forest
and we are singing-howling along with Moby
at the rising moon like a couple of young
pups, overawed by the sheer beauty of it all.
'I'm
gonna find my baby-whoo!-before that sun goes
down... '
At
the crest of a hill we pull over to the side
of the road to take it all in. The Milky Way
is spilling stars like a million tiny light
bulbs. Then, as if we'd willed it to happen,
a single star pops like a champagne bubble
and tumbles across the sky, disappearing into
the forest glow.
And
he's seen it! My boy, who's always the one
to miss the moment, has seen a shooting star
and can't find the words to express it. And
of course there are no words for those moments
when life is exactly as you want it to be
and all you can do is luxuriate in the perfect
curve of a crescent moon.
© JH 2005
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SOON
