Connected For Life

25/02/2022

Many children are feeling anxious and upset due to recent world events right now. This comes on the back of 2 years of a pandemic which has resulted in worldwide anxiety and fear as well as significant loss and change for many.

Children primarily need to feel safe before they can learn, grow, develop and thrive. This recent piece by Newsround is a useful tool to support parents, carers and those who work with children to have some of those difficult conversations. But remember, as parents, carers and practitioners we too need to feel safe so we can, in turn, be that safe regulated anchor for our children or those we support.

Now is the time to up the ante when it comes to self-care and self-compassion as well as collective care and compassion.

Think about what helps you feel safer, more regulated, calm and resilient. Then do more of it. Switch off the news and unplug from social media if that helps, go for that walk, draw or paint, read that book, sleep more, sing and dance more, spend time with loved ones. Do what makes your heart and soul sing, not what makes them sink.

There's too much hurt, pain, suffering, anger and hatred in the world right now. We send love to everyone who is suffering and pray for light and healing in the darkness. Let's do what we can in our wee part of the world, in our families, workplaces, organisations and communities to tip the scales towards love, joy, compassion and connection ♥️

If you are upset by the news, here is some advice to help you.

27/01/2022

🗣Do you want to help children to develop their speech, language and communication skills?

Help Kids Talk webinars are free and open to parents and people who work with children.

Joining details in the flyer below.

Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council
Resurgam Healthy Living Centre
South Eastern Health & Social Care Trust

17/01/2022

Our next webinar for parents is tomorrow evening 18th January at 6 30pm. This webinar will be of interest to any parent of a teenager or young person who will soon be in their teenage years. Feel free to share.

This online webinar will discuss what to expect during adolescence and why as well as how to successfully navigate this developmental stage

12/01/2022

Connected Minds Lisburn youth Committee are currently recruiting for 2022. This is a great opportunity for any young person between 14 and 24 in the Lisburn area who has a passion for mental health and wants to create positive change, influence programmes and services that support young people and make a difference within their community.

Committee members will have the opportunity to plan and lead awareness-raising and fundraising events. They will also receive training such as: Committee skills, SafeTalk, Mental Health 1st Aid, Take 5 and OCN level training, as well as training of their choice.

The video below showcases all of the amazing work the committee achieved last year: https://resurgamtrust-my.sharepoint.com:443/:v:/g/personal/carris_holdsworth_resurgamtrust_co_uk/EfJCM9NTKRdOqG4ynvt0uiwBpCTekOW5mn_jhdLa4Bd50w?e=4%3aBHZgcC&at=9They

Please share with anyone you think may be interested or benefit from this opportunity.

27/12/2021

22/12/2021

Hope you are all keeping safe and well. We are coming to the end of a very challenging year and we want to sincerely thank you for your support. We are so lucky to have the privilege of working with wonderful people, who make a huge difference in people's lives through these challenging times.

Please stay safe over the break and have a beautiful, calm and joyous time and don't forget the well-deserved chill time and self-care!

Sending you and your family our very best wishes for a healthy, safe and peaceful New Year.

Warmest regards.

Deirdre and Marie

07/12/2021

Looking forward to our parents' webinar this evening on self-care. If you fancy joining us, there are still some spaces available.

This online webinar will explain the importance of self care for parents and why we find it so hard to practice it

20/10/2021

Great day at the Young Hearts and Minds conference. Some amazing speakers, learning and insights. Great to be involved in the panel discussion about the impact of COVID on children and young people and how we move forward.

17/10/2021

We are taking part in a panel discussion on Wed and Thurs this week at the upcoming Action Trauma Young Hearts and Minds conference. The focus is the impact of the COVID pandemic on children and young people and how to support children and young people going forward. The discussion is only for half an hour but we would like to share as many experiences and perspectives, not just our own. If you have any experiences or views you think may add to the discussion, both personal and professional, feel free to comment or email us on [email protected] .

17/09/2021

09/09/2021

We are looking forward to this event next Wednesday, which will share some of the learning from the Connected Minds Lisburn project which we have been involved in on behalf of Early Intervention Lisburn / The Resurgam Trust, over the past year.

To book your place on 'Introduction to a trauma informed approach from a voluntary & community perspective, shared learning event', Wednesday 15th September 2021, 10am-1pm (via zoom / in person at Laganview Enterprise Centre, 69 Drumbeg Dr, Lisburn) contact [email protected].

We look forward to seeing some of you there in person or online.

10/08/2021

Do you work or volunteer with children and / or families in Northern Ireland? Are you and your organisation interested in starting the journey towards becoming more trauma informed and responsive? If so, you may be interested in attending our 2 day training event that is taking place on 18th and 19th of August. You can either attend in person or via zoom as we will be using zoom and room technology for the first time.

This training is being delivered by Connected for Life on behalf of Early Intervention Lisburn and the Resurgam Trust as part of the Comic Relief , Connected Minds Mental Health and Well Being Project.

Please note that this training is for organisations in Northern Ireland only. If you are interested in taking part in this training you must be able to attend on both days.

More details and link to book is below. Please share with organisations / individuals who may find this of interest.

2 day training event for organisations in Northern Ireland who work with children and / or families.

10/08/2021

Today, August 10th:

The Connected Minds committee will be in Haslems Lane (location shown below) as part of our interactive art project. We will be trying to find out what young people in Lisburn think about positive mental health.

We will be there from 12-2pm. If you are a young person in Lisburn please come by for a chance to voice your views... we might also have 🧁🧁!

26/07/2021

Are you a parent who lives in the Lisburn area or do you support parents in this area?

If so, we are running a series of free webinars for parents on a monthly basis, starting in Sept 2021 until January 2022. Topics for the webinars are:

- Helping children manage their emotions
- What is 'attachment' and why does it matter?
- How our early experiences can impact us throughout our lives
- Why self care really matters for parents
- Navigating adolescence

The webinars are being delivered on behalf of Early Intervention Lisburn and the Resurgam Trust as part of the Comic Relief, Connected Minds Project.

Connected for Life was established in 2016 by Deirdre Mc Laughlin and Marie Blaney, to raise awareness of the far reaching impact of early adversity, attachment issues and trauma and the power of relationships to build resilience. Deirdre and Marie have over 50 years’ experience working with young...

27/06/2021

Hard to believe that this was 4 years ago now. So much has happened since..

First screening of Resilience in N Ireland. Belfast, 26 June 2017

26/06/2021

What a brilliant week we had facilitating Start from the Heart parents support programme Train the Trainer to services in Laois and Offaly via zoom.

We must admit that while, like most people we are facilitating a lot online, we thought a full intensive week online would be a nightmare, both for us as facilitators and for participants. It wasn't, we really enjoyed it and were able to really connect as a group and learn so much from each other.

What a journey, what a privilege, what a joy! We are truly humbled & inspired by the gifts we have been given by these amazing people. Parents across the midlands are in safe, caring, compassionate & capable hands!

“Final day of . What a journey, what a privilege, what a joy! Humbled & inspired by the gifts we have been given by these amazing people. Parents across the midlands are in safe, caring, compassionate & capable hands ”

14/05/2021

Work, volunteer or live in Lisburn? Have your say on health inequalities in the Lisburn area as part of Lisburn ICPs health inequalities informed approach. Survey closes today.

Take this survey powered by surveymonkey.com. Create your own surveys for free.

13/05/2021

We were humbled and privileged to attend the book launch for Dr Karen Treisman's (Safe Hands and Thinking Minds) amazing must-read new book on trauma informed organisations and to have the opportunity to read one of our contributions to the book (at around 42mins).

The contribution shared was entitled 'The power of personal, system and community relationships - the story of Peter and Paul'. It was initially shared at the Action Trauma conference in 2019.

Most of you know that Marie and I worked for a long time with young people in the justice system. Peter and Paul are a combination of the experiences of many of the young people we worked with over the years. Some of those young people are surviving, some of them are thriving and some of them are no longer with us. The story is in their honour, with appreciation and gratitude for all they have taught us.

Join us for the launch of Dr Karen Treisman's magnum opus, A Treasure Box for Creating Trauma Informed Organizations! An ambitious two volume set that aims t...

20/04/2021

** Do you work, live, volunteer or provide services in the Lisburn area? If so, we would love to hear your views about health inequalities in your area**

Lisburn Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) is committed to reducing the impact of health inequalities across Lisburn. Last Autumn they held 2 very successful virtual 'call to action' events, the aim of which was to start a conversation about the impact of inequalities on the health and wellbeing of people living in Lisburn, and the role that stakeholders play, to inform the development of a shared inequalities informed approach.

One of the next step actions agreed was to explore what matters to people who experience inequalities. ​As a first step to progress this, Lisburn ICP asked us to undertake a series of workshops / facilitated discussions on their behalf. The information gathered in this survey and during the workshops, will be summarised and presented confidentially to the ICP with recommendations as to how best to engage and incorporate the voice of lived experience into practice.

Please share or tag if you are based in Lisburn.

Thank you!

Take this survey powered by surveymonkey.com. Create your own surveys for free.

15/04/2021

This is an excellent and affordable opportunity to ask Gabor Maté questions about addiction, trauma and the impact of Covid and hear him speak about these issues.

When the world's experts on trauma and addiction speak at events, these are rarely accessible to those whose lives are significantly impacted by trauma and addiction. However, this event is affordable (£5.98) and concessionary tickets are available also for those who are using services.

If you haven't seen Dr Mate speak and either support those impacted, or are personally impacted, by trauma and addiction, this is an opportunity not to be missed!

Join us for the second event in our series of seminars where we will talk to Dr Gabor Maté about addiction, trauma and the impact of Covid.

07/04/2021

It is such a privilege to have made a very small contribution to what will be another amazing book by the wonderful Dr Karen Treisman. The book has so much rich content that it has 2 volumes! A must have for organisations and systems that are on the journey to becoming more trauma informed and responsive.

24/03/2021

*** Have your say on inequalities in the Lisburn area***

Lisburn Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) is working to understand and address the unfair and avoidable differences in health and wellbeing in the Lisburn population. Part of this work involves exploring what is it like to experience inequality within daily life for people and families living in Lisburn.

As a first step we have been asked by Lisburn ICP to undertake a series of workshops / facilitated discussions on their behalf. The aim of these workshops is to enable people who work and volunteer in the Lisburn area to:
• share their experiences of what they are hearing from people using their services about their experiences of health inequalities and how this impacts them as a worker or volunteer.
• help us to consider how we might sensitively enable the voices of those with this live experience to speak for themselves.

The learning from the workshops will be used to further develop the ICP’s inequalities informed approach and engage and incorporate the voice of lived experience into practice. The information shared in the workshops will be anonymised and personal data will not be shared.

If you feel you could contribute and would like join us please contact [email protected]

Workshop dates are as follows and places are still available:
• Thursday 25th March 10am – 12pm
• Wednesday 31st March 10am – 12pm
• Friday 16th April 10am – 12pm
• Friday 23rd April 10am – 12pm

If you work in the Lisburn area and can share, please do so.

Thanks and we look forward to meeting some of you in the coming weeks.

Deirdre and Marie

21/03/2021

Your chance to have your say in relation to Mental Health Crisis Services in Northern Ireland.

The Dept of Health are seeking views. You can complete the survey using the link below.

Deadline is 31st March.

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