Dear Visitor,
With the Festive Season well and truly here it felt about time to write the final newsletter of 2013 to provide updates in terms of what’s been going on our end!
Developments in the PB Process
Some of you with an eye for detail may have already noticed that the wording of Theme 2 has been revised again! Those who met PBs from 1990 to 2010 will no doubt still be familiar with the following:
‘There is nothing so awful or too little we can’t talk about it with someone’
This wording is still included in our training as the word ‘nothing’ is significant. However, feedback over the years from a large number of PB people focused on the words ‘we can’t talk’. With this in mind, a number of PB trainers got together to find something that could supplement the original Theme 2.
In 2010 it was agreed that PB trainers in the UK would pilot the use of a revised Theme 2 as follows;
‘We can talk with someone about anything, even if it is awful or small.’
The advantages of using this wording were seen to be that is starts with the word ‘We’ like Theme 1 and it is positive as it states, ‘We can talk.’ It can also be broken down into parts which can help people remember it and it continues to include the words ‘awful’ and ‘small’.
BUT, and I guess you knew one was coming, in August this year, during a telephone conversation between Sally Ann & Di Margetts, Di mentioned something that appears to have been overlooked when revising the wording. And that was, who’s to say what is awful or small? Di highlighted that to be consistent with the PB process, the wording needs to reflect how something might feel to another person . This was truly one of those ‘Eureka’ moments for Sally Ann, for as soon as Di said what she said, the proverbial penny dropped leaving Sally Ann thinking ‘how on earth did I miss that?’ So, following healthy debate and discussion with the Protective Behaviours community via a PBPeople.org.uk forum post entitled ‘Theme 2 – Take 3’, PBTP trainers have agreed to use the following version of Theme 2:
‘We can talk with someone about anything, even if it feels awful or small.’
And, during recent training sessions, groups have been given the 3 versions of Theme 2 as highlighted above and asked to discuss which one best promotes what they have already learned about PBs. The overriding response has been ‘We can talk with someone about anything, even if it feels awful or small.’
Many thanks go to Di for continuing to be on our network and also to all those that contributed to the discussion.
Some Fantastic 'Dot-Joining'
The PBTP was set up to promote the PB process far and wide with a view to providing affordable quality training and joining up existing projects that have PBs as an integral part. Some of you may already be familiar with the Miss Dorothy Com, Values versus Violence and Watch over Me resources produced by Sharon & Neil Evans. In July this year members of the PBTP met Sharon & Neil at the Hope for the Hurt conference held in Northampton. Since then it’s been ‘all systems go’, working together to revise materials so they are more consistent with the PB process and develop new ones for children in years 1 & 2. Sally Ann is also developing a resource for pre-school children which will compliment the existing programmes and include a family journal for use with parents.
In October, Sharon & Neil completed a PBTP Foundation course and are really keen for all the trustees of the newly established Dot Com Children’s Fund charity to do so. And the great news is that by working together to develop PB consistent school-based resources we will be able to reach far more children across local authority boundaries and quite literally ‘join the Dots’. Full details of all that’s going on can be found at www.dotcomcf.org and please feel free to contact Sharon if you would like to be part of it all.
Protective Behaviours Around the Country
Since the publication of our Spring newsletter we are pleased to announce that the Protective Behaviours Training Partnership are now approved providers for Children's Social Care Training Services for Oxfordshire County Council, Oxfordshire. Simon has already delivered the 1st course from this brief and another will take place in February 2014. For full details please visit the Events page.
Sally Ann has continued to develop links with the University of Northampton; so far this year, 2 groups of Yr. 2 students reading Early Childhood Studies have attended Foundation training, whilst those in Yr. 3 who attended Foundation training in Yr. 2 have followed this up by attending 2 further days on a bespoke course called 'PB-plus'. We have also delivered 5 Foundation courses for Northamptonshire County Council Workforce Development and are awaiting confirmation of further dates for 2014.
Fuller details of courses may be found on our website. Please feel free to contact us to discuss how these could be tailor-made to meet specific needs.
Current Training Opportunities
All open-access courses are included on the Events page of the website and these are added-to on a regular basis. Early in 2014 we will be continuing to develop our training in Essex and a 2-day Foundation Course had been arranged on 21st January & 4th February.
Simon & Sally Ann will also lead another 4 day Specialist Practitioner course in January and February – full course details are again on the website
Protective Behaviours Online
Since our last newsletter we have been busy extending the functionality of the protectivebehaviorstraining.co.uk website and adding further resources to the area available to PBTP training delegates. On successful course completion, trainees receive log-in details to enable access to level-specific resource databases – these contain materials designed to support people putting PBs into practice. Please contact us if you have any specific requests for support materials and we’ll see what we can do!
Once again we look forward to staying in touch and supporting your work with PBs throughout what may well prove to be a wonderfully productive and empowering 2014.
Festive greetings and very best wishes,
Ann, Melanie, Sally Ann & Simon
Protective Behaviours Training Partnership

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