Great discussions, Sunny Day, Good Company, Lovely Food - it had it all!
On Saturday 26th September 5 of our listening volunteers attended the Samaritans West Midlands Regional Conference at Yarnfields Conference Centre. The day was filled with valuable information and interesting presentations which we will be sharing within our branch to enhance the service we provide.
In the Morning we listened to a very moving presentation by Scott Mitchell describing his experience of caring for his beloved partner Barbara, as she was living with dementia. Scott gave us lots of thoughtful insights about how carers might be feeling when they ring Samaritans. He outlined some of the pressures they may be under, which are not immediately obvious or easy to explain. Scott also explained how he continues to advocate for carers of people who live with dementia and how important it is for them to have a secure infrastructure in which they can care for their loved ones whilst protecting their own mental wellbeing.
Later in the morning, we had the opportuntity to attend a variety of interesting workshops which covered topics which ranged from building great service delivery to increasing and enhancing our listening skills with callers.
In the afternoon we watched a short film called "The Knot" which helped us to understand more about the pressures which can build within families and the resulting devastating consequences. The film was challenging and thought provoking and led to a very meaningful discussion about how we might better understand callers who are experiencing family conflict of all types.
Finally we listened to some insightful poetry written by Jay and Rosie, listening volunteers from Worcester branch. Jay and Rosie very kindly, gifted each of the regional branches with a book of their poems (pictured below).
It was a beautiful sunny day at Yarnfield and we enjoyed good company, lovely food and a very interesting collection of talks and discussions. Thank you to the Regional Team, from all of us at Leek Samaritans for this very successful day.
