I've always liked the French term for the start of the school year. It's called La Rentrée. For me, it evokes shiny red apples, plaid skirts and brand new, rather stiff black patent leather shoes. Of course, I'd always end up wilting in the heat of the school yard during the first weeks of September, but it felt important to start the year with Fall stuff.
Actually, I am not going back to school, but the whole world around me seems to be heading back next week. I am back at work however, and so this is my own little Rentrée. I took a long break this summer, working part-time, doing a lot of reading and spending time with my family. Every summer, my kids and I endeavour to make some new food product from scratch (my own little contribution to "Where Things Come From"). Last year we made butter and ice cream and this summer we tried our hand at yogurt, sprouts and mozzarella. My husband laughed himself silly when he found out that a small ball of mozzarella required 8 litres of milk but the kids enjoyed the process and the degustation. Now I need my own dairy cow I guess...
I am looking forward to this coming year and wanted to begin by telling you about upcoming events.
Upcoming workshops
This Fall, I will be offering the two day Compassion Fatigue Train the Trainer retreat in Kingston November 24-25th. This workshop is designed for individuals who have not yet attended a full day or half day Walking the Walk workshop. If you are interested in the Train the trainer but already have Walking the Walk under your belt, please consider the March 3-4th session which has been designed for those with past Walking the Walk experience (there is also the option to attend Walking the Walk the day prior to this training, on March 2nd, 2010). For more information on these workshops click here.
I am also co-teaching the three day Crisis Intervention Institute from October 26-28th 2009 in Kingston. The emphasis of this course is on developing a thorough understanding of crisis-intervention and crisis management and the development of effective, concrete crisis-intervention skills. It is suitable for professionals in the field of mental health (psychologists, social workers, nurses, counsellors, physicians, crisis workers), and students in these disciplines. Dr Mike Condra and I have been offering this workshop for the past 6 years every Fall.
Invited lectures/workshops
I will be travelling all over the country this Fall, from Yellowknife to Prince Edward Island. In fact, I am nearly fully booked until December. If you are interested in booking an event, please email me and I can either offer you a Winter/Spring date or one of my associates can come to your agency in the Autumn: I am now working with three highly talented compassion fatigue educators who work in the field and have received rave reviews during past workshops.
What's in the works?
I am currently working on the following projects:
The Compassion Fatigue Workbook: I am currently in discussion with a public agency and we are exploring turning this program into a web-based course. As some of you know, the Compassion Fatigue Workbook is now available for sale at our online bookstore.
I am also working on the Stories from the Frontlines book, based on interviews with helping professionals.
This Blog: I will be posting strategies and book recommendations every Monday starting next week. If you want to receive notification of new posts, consider registering as a follower of this blog (you will see a sign up box in the upper left corner of the page called "Subscribe to Blog").
Please do not hesitate to drop me a line via email or through this blog. I wish you a great Rentrée.
(photo courtesy of www.freedigitalphotos.net)
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