Oakwood House
Oakwood Park
Maidstone
ME16 8AE

www.oakwoodhousehotel.co.uk

This will be an opportunity to network with other EFAer’s in your locality and share best practice in terms of embedding EFA in your work.
For those of you who have attended training, but not received your certificates there will be a certification celebration at the end of the call-back.

Even if you have attended a call-back before, we would still love to see you and hope that we can continue to host these events to build upon the fantastic network which you have created during the training.

If you are unable to attend the call-back, please let either us or your trainer know and we will forward on any information from the event to you, or post it on the community forum.

We look forward to seeing you all and celebrating the amazing work you do.

2011 has seen the creation of Parents’ EFA and further development sites including PGCE students at Southampton University; Tower Hamlets and Kenya!

The first EFA Trainers conference, which the EFA team particularly enjoyed, saw the coming together of EFA Trainers throughout the country and is something we hope to repeat in 2012.

On a rather sad note, we lost our highly efficient, effective and energetic administrator, Ally Krause, the loss of which we are still trying to come to terms with. (We are still trying to grapple with, on a practical level, the amount of work Ally did – we still don’t understand how to turn on the computer, let alone access data files, so please keep bearing with us).

Returning to good news, on the 12th December 2011, the EFA team were given permission by our host NHS Trust Board to explore the notion of becoming a Social Enterprise. We will keep you all updated on the progress of this exploration and hope to hold some stakeholder events in the New Year to share your thoughts and visions for the future of EFA.

In 2012, we hope to pilot and launch LD EFA and we are pleased to report we have been commissioned to deliver some bespoke training for CLIC Sargent to support the fantastic work they are doing helping young people with a diagnosis of cancer.

Thank you all for being part of the EFA Family, and hope you will all continue the journey with us and keep up the excellent work in your own areas. We want to acknowledge all those wonderful workers out there supporting Children, Young People and their families and know that it is you who make the real difference.

All the very best

Stuart & Paul

Most of you who have had contact with Ally will acknowledge her friendliness and professionalism, however to me as her boss and who also knows her in the other capacity as my personal secretary I am devastated by her departure. I want everyone to know I undertook various ways to secure Ally as the EFA administrator but was unable to deliver the right package in order to make it right for Ally to stay. I know that both she and I feel let down in this process and it has made me question the future of my role as EFA manager. I hope that one day soon I will report a different outcome and direction that may see Ally Krause back where she belongs and doing what she does best – not least managing me!!!!!

I wish you all well and hope to hear from you soon

Stuart Gemmell

As you will all agree Ally is irreplaceable and will leave a huge hole in the EFA team. Currently we do not have a dedicated replacement administrator and we would ask that you all bear with us in this difficult time of transition.

We will do our utmost to maintain as efficient a service as we can provide, however there may be delays in responding to enquiries and systems may not run as smoothly as we have all become accustomed to.

We recommend that if you know you will be delivering an EFA course or have bulk orders of pizza boxes you need access to in the next few months that you contact Ally as soon as possible to make arrangements. Please remember that all of the course material for EFA trainers can be found on the community forum. If you have still yet to register we recommend doing this before you are due to deliver any training.

Please note that there may not be anyone manning the office telephone as Stuart and I may be away delivering courses. In this event, please either email me directly as I will have access to emails on my blackberry, or you can leave a message on my work mobile below.

Thank you in advance for your understanding and we hope you join us in wishing Ally every success in the future.

Stuart Gemmell & Paul Jetten

Paul.jetten@solent.nhs.uk
07825 753114

If any of you would like to share a case study of the amazing work you are doing, please get in touch with the EFA Team and we would love to publish it here on the site.

You can also share your strategies with other EFA’ers across the country on the EFA Community Forum.

Hey guys,

I have just returned from Kenya where EFA is alive and kicking! The cohort I trained in July have set up a fortnightly meeting to support each other through the early days of using these very new skills. They are desperate for more people to be trained – they totally support the EFA concept. I was humbled yet again by the impact!

Play Kenya are opening a therapeutic house for young girls who have been sexually abused and it is my hope that ALL our staff will include EFA training in their skill sets. I hope you manage to spread it globally!!

Take care Anne-Marie

For more information about the work Play Kenya are undertaking you can visit their website at: www.playkenya.com

Wow – I had NO idea just how emotional this session would be! This has been an awesome journey with so much positive learning going on. This group have embraced every aspect of this course and I have watched the change happen! Even when we talked about self harm in session 5 there was a feeling (a very strong feeling!) that these were ‘bad kids’ who were totally selfish and attention seeking – one participant from an orphanage who used to be a ward nurse said that they used to fix the wounds of those who had self harmed, but never thought to look at the emotional side. She said she has changed her view now. Another group member who works in a juvenile remand centre says he is much more aware and that he will be looking at the emotions of the children who cut and burn themselves rather than label them bad kids! Such enormous steps in such a short time!

The feed back was so positive. One person said that she had never considered the emotions before; others said that the exercise of being 15 will change how they view others. They all, without exception want more training! They have formed an Emotional First Aider group and will meet monthly. They will each take it in turns to chair the group and will discuss successes and difficulties – they are desperate that EFA is able to reach so many more people.

On a personal note EFA fits in perfectly with the work of Play Kenya. Our aim is to support and educate those who work directly with traumatised young people – and EFA does just that. One of the aims of Play Kenya is to open a centre for young girls who have been sexually abused (this hopefully will happen soon) and I would like every person to have completed the YP EFA training. It really fits so well with our mission.

I am honoured to have taken EFA global and hope to be able to continue with this in the future. Please don’t under estimate the impact this training has on the lives of the very vulnerable Young People in Kenya.

Thank you so much to all of you who have made this possible

Photos to follow

Take Care,
Anne-Marie

You can follow more work from Anne-Marie and Play Kenya atwww.playkenya.com

Ok – when it was decided we would run a 6 session emotional first aid training course I was naturally excited – I was convinced I would be helping the local staff to understand the emotions behind the behaviours and help them understand that YP get ‘stuck’ with a behaviour and that is a coping mechanism for them – I hope I’ve done that and given them the theory behind it.

I have helped them understand the difference between stress and anxiety – I have given them an understanding of eating disorders and OCD – all of which was totally new info for all of them – I know this training impacts on each person individually BUT I wasn’t in the slightest prepared for the emotional impact this would have on these course members. The way this training has changed their thinking and emotions is beyond belief. I cannot break confidences by revealing some of the most enormous changes and how this has empowered staff to take the physical and emotional well-being onto another level but believe me when I say we ALL cried as one of the stories unfolded. Because of this training lives of young lives will change for the better – definitely!

The regimes in some of the children’s home is beyond harsh (not all homes) but to hear the punishment given out to a young girl who had been raped by two men will haunt me forever – but because of this disclosure things will change. That would not have happened without this training.

We have such a rich mixture of wonderful participants on this training including the lady that runs the local prison. She shared with us how her thinking and has changed and how she is looking at incidents with her inmates in a different light – it truly is inspirational. She also says that she will not allow her staff to identify the women by their crime now – big big changes and respect for others!

I don’t think I could pick any one part of this training as being the ‘moment’ that changed thinking and looked at YP in a more positive light – I think the ‘lightbulb moments’ have been happening throughout. A huge thank you to the EFA staff who have made this possible (and a rumour that Stuart may be coming over to Kenya to train trainers!!! – amazing!!)

I don’t think there has ever been one day where I have felt more emotionally drained through work – but also hopeful for the changes to come for the YP.

We have our last session next week and have really mixed emotions about that – hope I can come back and train more soon!

Take a look at all of the work Anne-Marie and her team are undertaking in Kenya on their website:

http://playkenya.com/

Sorry for the radio silence – unfortunately we have had no internet for a while – that’s Africa for you!!

What can I say about our EFA group apart from AWESOME!!!!

We have a real selection of people on this training – we have…

The Chief Warden from the Women’s prison where they have young woman as young as 15

2 counsellors who work for the young people through the local hospital

3 Play Kenya local staff who work in the community with girls who have been raped, street boys, children on remand and orphans

A main carer at ‘Welcome to the family’ a home for girls who have been raped and rejected from their families

Social Worker at a local orphanage

Nurse and carer from a local run orphanage

Project officer for a street boys rehabilitation centre

Proprietor of an orphanage

Psychology student

We are half way through the training and the impact has been outstanding in so many ways! They had NO idea what to expect and could not get their head around the term ‘Emotional First Aid’. Many of these front line staff had no idea about OCD, Anorexia or Bulimia and yet when we showed the videos of the young people they realised that many of their YP had these conditions but they thought they had mental health issues or were being defiant. To see and hear the change in their attitudes is humbling.

I think the group work is brilliant – we are lucky enough to have 2 Play Kenya volunteers who work in units for YP with anorexia and we have them sitting in each group. Traditionally Kenyan people don’t join in with discussions or group work (fear of failing is huge here) so by having these women in the groups it has had such a positive impact – some great discussions and some quality learning going on!

I think the most poignant moment so far has to be the exercise of being 15 – these people have experiences in life that many of us cannot even imagine – 15 was not a good time for this group. We had feed back of being beaten and so much worse and yet they ALL said they had never tried to stand in the shoes of the YP they are working with and what an impact it had on how they are now relating to those YP. It truly has been life changing.

One of the feedback that keeps coming through is – what now!! They are all so passionate and moved by what they are learning they have set up a monthly meeting to discuss how things are going with their YP – and they want more local staff trained!!! I don’t think I imagined just how well this training would be received!

I think the saddest thing that has come out is the lack of support for YP with emotional difficulties. There is nothing even remotely like the support at home. If a child has signs of depression or any mental health issues they are locked away as it brings shame on the family. VERY VERY few have any support at all. The English contingency where often in or close to tears to hear about the stigma attached to these vulnerable YP. They have a national child-line but the YP don’t have access to the details! It really is a third world country but there are those who are trying to make a difference. They want us to go to see the Education Minister to talk about some of the things we are covering on this training and attachment difficulties and to address a national teachers conference – big big stuff!

I am attaching some photos and will send another e-mail in a couple of days – we have our next session on Friday and I can’t wait to see how things are going

A million thanks for allowing and supporting this training – a real real impact here in Kenya!!!

Take Care,
Anne-Marie

EFA have donated some material for Anne-Marie to deliver the Emotional First Aid course to youth workers in orphanages in Kenya. Anne-Marie has kindly offered to keep us updated with a weekly blog which we will post on the news feed. We wish her every success and are very excited that we can support her in this venture.

I am so excited to be beginning EFA Kenya – I am going out next week and Play Kenya (www.playkenya.com) will be delivering to the first Kenyan cohort! Some of the institutions we work with in Kenya have very vulnerable young people and the staff have little or no training about their emotional needs – this training is going to make so much difference to their lives! I cannot wait to start and will keep you all posted – I will also being doing a daily blog on our Play Kenya site from next week – so please feel free to comment – and get saving to come next year to deliver to even more of the wonderful Kenya people!!!
Thank you for your support guys in making this happen!
Anne-Marie Tipper