Welcome to the first edition of
SOON for 2005. At Innovative Resources we’re excited (and seriously optimistic)
about what the new year holds in store. In this issue we introduce Everyday Goddess, a slightly wicked,
deliciously humourous card set hot off the press that dares to suggest our
everyday lives are far more heroic and magical than we ever imagined. We preview Storm In a Teacup, a stunning new
picture book that launches Innovative Resources into the emerging genre of
illustrated poetry and is due for an April release. You’ll also read about the
fun way Tassie kids are turning ‘problems’ into new skills using Finnish
Psychotherapist, Ben Furman’s 15 step Kids’ Skills method. And of course there’s
our regular book reviews, inspirational quotes and the weirdest micro-story to
date.
SOON welcomes your feedback –
stories about your experiences using Innovative Resources’ publications,
letters, micro-stories and other creative gems. Send your contributions to john @ innovativeresources.org (remove spaces).
HOT OFF THE PRESS:
Everyday Goddess
– Finding the heroines
within
This set of 36 cards
created from the paintings of internationally acclaimed artist, Katharina Rapp,
take a light-hearted, but oh-so-compassionate look at the lives of everyday
women and the heroines to be found there.
Everyday Goddess is for anyone who is experiencing
a sense of imprisonment within their own, or others’, expectations and
conventions. It is for anyone who wants to take a fresh warm look at how we
‘story’ the great myths and legends of our everyday lives.
Most of all, this set of cards is
intended to champion something that many of us glimpse from time to time:
Perhaps our everyday lives are far more heroic and magical than we
imagined.
Everyday Goddess comes with a 40 page booklet
written by Innovative Resources’ Managing Editor, Karen Masman. While it
includes a myriad of suggestions for using the cards, it goes way beyond being
an ‘instruction manual’. The booklet is a reflection on the ways in which we
create our identity and how that effects our wellbeing. It is about
self-expression and the characters we play in our own lives. With chapter
headings like Wistful Melancholy, Our Dance With Others and What Tickles You?, the Everyday Goddess Booklet is a valuable a
resource in its own right.
Here’s a taste of what you’ll
find:
Struggles and
Triumphs
We may be used to thinking that
other people have glamorous lives. We may think of the heroes and heroines in
Greek tragedies, or even in present-day
Perhaps the great tragedies and
fairy tales of literature are actually our stories after
all?
36 laminated full-colour cards,
100 x 150mm, 2-part cardboard box, 40-page booklet
Artist: Katharina
Rapp
Designer: Jane Prideaux
Booklet author: Karen
Masman
ISBN: 1 920945 01
6
CAT NO: 2800
AU$49.50
‘Instead of resisting yourself,
try finding yourself
irresistible.’
Julia
Cameron
Strong support leads to
recovery
A review of Beyond the Divide by Marg Brooks,
Community Services Manager, St Luke’s Anglicare
As
a worker in community mental health Marg Brooks has often witnessed the courage
and strength of women with a mental illness as they move toward recovery. She
wished to uncover the meanings they attached, particularly to the psychiatric
rehabilitation and support services they received. What were their experiences,
and what can be learned from them?
Over several months, in research
undertaken for a Masters degree in Social Work, Marg interviewed nine women
about their experiences of having a mental illness, and the services they used
in their recovery. As well, she ran focus group interviews with rehabilitation
and support workers to gain their perspective.
The result is Beyond the
Divide: Women’s experiences in rural Victorian psychiatric rehabilitation
services, that not only honours the struggle of the women but also gives
information to people who support women in their journeys of recovery.
During the research interviews, as
women discussed their life difficulties, they also explored and identified their
managing and coping strategies. Some women directly attributed their
achievements to the support they received from psychiatric disability support
services, while for others it was achieved through a mixture of supports from
clinical workers, friends and community members.
The women’s stories provide a
sense of journey, of change and movement where they have mediated their
environment to move from a position of powerlessness and lack of control to a
position of regaining control and power. They speak powerfully of the ability of
women to overcome adversity, despite the odds.
The book also contains a chapter
outlining implications for practice and points of discussion for workers to
explore how the research findings can inform their work.
By Susan Pepper – Editor, New
Paradigm
Beyond the
Divide
Author: Marg
Brooks
Publisher: New Paradigm
Press
ISBN: 097516562 –
3
CAT NO. 8373 AU$22.45
‘In the midst of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.’
Albert Camus
The Darlings of
VoicePopFoible
At Innovative Resources we like to support local artists,
writers and musicians, particularly those with a social conscience and a wicked
sense of the absurd. As it says so modestly on the VoicePopFoible (VPF) website
this band are the darlings of
The rest is history, as they say,
and the foibles (as they’re affectionately known around town) are a household
name – a bit like Draino or Ray Martin. But how to describe the music of this
fab foursome? Well, it’s hard to pin down. On their new CD, Blessed are the Tastemakers, you’ll find
everything from four part a capella harmonies to trumpet-driven pop. Throw in
some chunky
Standout tracks on Blessed are the Tastemakers include Van Damn Nation: reflecting on the
Australian government’s treatment of asylum seekers, Band Without a Genre: a melodic,
self-conscious look at the vagaries of the music industry and Warrnambool: a brooding ‘love song’
about cheating on your home town.
Available now from Innovative
Resources.
Blessed are the
Tastemakers
VoicePopFoible
CAT NO. 2069
AU $27.50
‘Good taste is the enemy of creativity’
Pablo Picasso
I CAN DO IT!
An Australian Adaptation Of Kids’
Skills
By Lisa
Ambrose, Family Support Service, Lady Gowrie
The I Can Do It program was originally
inspired by the highly successful Kids’ Skills method created by Finnish
psychologist, Ben Furman. Kids’ Skills is a 15-step method for engaging with
children in fun and practical ways to convert ‘problems’ into skills to be
learned. The English language version of the book Kids’ Skills was published by Innovative
Resources in August 2004.
With kind permission from Ben, the Family Support Service of Lady
Gowrie Tasmania began adapting the Kids’ Skills program in early March 2004 to
more easily accommodate the needs of children living in Australia and
particularly to a younger age group of children who were described as having
‘aggressive and anti-social’ behaviour. A surprisingly large number of these
children have been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD).
The I Can Do It program largely focuses on
involving children through complete participation in the program. For instance,
children are encouraged to draw pictures in their book and photos are taken of
the children practising their skill.
As one of the 15 steps in the
original Kids’ Skills method children are invited to select a ‘power creature’
to support them in learning their skill. As many childcare centres in
Feedback from parents and children has been extraordinary. Parents and
children who have participated in the program made the following
comments:
‘I wish I had this when I was
young, it would have made such a difference to me growing up.’
(Parent)
‘I like the I Can Do It book because I want to do
it!’ (Young person - 10)
‘It has been amazing how much the
I Can Do It book and special animal
has helped Simon to manage his anger.’ (parent)
‘It’s my book and I can do lots of
things.’ (child - 4)
The I Can Do It program is used in
conjunction with a number of card packs from St Luke’s Innovative Resources, for
example, I Can Monsters and Strength Cards have been used very
successfully cross-culturally with a number of Sudanese children.
The
Family Support Service of Lady Gowrie
‘Children need love, especially when they don’t deserve it.’
Harold Hulbert ~ Child
Psychiatrist
COMING SOON
Storm in a Teacup
A teardrop reveals a universe of meaning
A
teardrop fell into a teacup
Half of
which was never drunk
The half that ended up in the sink
Down the
drain
Never to
be seen again
Or at
least—that’s what I thought
So
begins this stunning picture book and Innovative Resources’ foray into the
illuminating world of illustrated poetry. Written by Chris Townsend with
original paintings by Chris Sage-Marsh, Storm in a Teacup is but one small story in the
oceans of stories and books created over the course of human history. One small,
seemingly insignificant story. Just like a single star or a planet—so easily
lost, overwhelmed in the immensity of the universe. Or a teardrop
unnoticed—almost unnoticeable—in the enormous, swirling water cycle of our own
insignificant little planet.
But Storm in a Teacup might also be many
stories; about a drop of water, about the environment, about death and decay,
about journeys and regeneration. Or it might be a story about nature or dreams
or nightmares—or about one little boy and his grandfather. And maybe, just
maybe, Storm in a Teacup might be the story of meanings, connectedness and
relationships, of purpose and renewal, of resurrection and
hope.
For teachers, counsellors and
human service workers in general, this is a book that can be used to build
countless ‘learning’ and ‘therapeutic’ conversations. Because Storm in a Teacup invites readers to
inject their own individual meaning into the story, it opens up profound
possibilities for discussion, debate and connection with the journeys of
others.
The extensive reflective notes in
the back of the book are written primarily for teachers, social workers, health
care workers, psychologists, pastoral care workers and other human service
professionals who share a love of creative arts and who are open to using
picture books in their professional practice. Equally, we hope these notes will
be of interest to parents, grandparents and all readers.
Storm in
a Teacup
Poem by
Chris Townsend
Paintings
by Chris Sage-Marsh
ISBN:
1
920945 03 2
CAT
NO. 6054 AU$39.50
Travelling Book Launch and Exhibition
The paintings in oil created by
Chris Sage-Marsh for Storm in a
Teacup will be exhibited in various Victorian venues in late April, May and
June this year. The 27 paintings that feature in the book will all be available
for purchase, as will the book itself. Refreshments will be served. No RSVP
necessary. All welcome.
Where: The Sun Bookshop,
When: Friday 6th May,
Where:
When: Sunday 29th May,
More about Storm in a Teacup in our April Edition
of SOON
‘Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.’
Albert Einstein
Recently – while the rest of us
were enjoying our summer holidays and tucking into Christmas dinner with all the
trimmings – Linda Beilharz, Director of the Community Capacity Building &
Research Unit at St Luke’s, became the first Australian woman to ski the 1,100
kms from the edge of
This month’s micro-story is
dedicated to Linda’s intrepid pilgrim’s spirit. From all at Innovative Resources
– Congratulations Linda!
Nowhere
Montana
By John
Holton
She’d never won anything in her life, so she couldn’t believe her luck
when the radio station rang to say that she’d won a no expenses paid holiday to
Nowhere,
Of course she’d read about
Nowhere, Montana in coffee table books and seen it’s eerily, evanescent
landscape on her favourite travel programs, but never in her wildest dreams had
she imagined getting on a plane and flying there. She didn’t even own a
passport.
Nowhere,
There was absolutely nothing to
see in Nowhere,
The sun set unspectacularly in
Nowhere,
There was little talk in Nowhere,
On the flight home she flicked
through her blank photographs and ruminated on all that she hadn’t
done.
She truly felt like the luckiest
woman alive.
© John Holton
2005
‘If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere.’
Frank A.
Clark