I'm Harriet...

I AM NOT THE EXPERT 

Yes I have done training (which you can learn about below), yes I have experience, so I am an expert in those practices/skills/approaches. But do you know who knows the most about what is going to help you? What's going to be most supportive? What's most accessible? What's going to be sustainable long term? Yes, it's you! I see our work together as very much a collaborative process - I can offer invitations, practices and reflections, and together we can explore how this integrates, what needs adapting, where we need to go next. You are the expert in what you need from a facilitator - you have a right to access services without barriers and sharing your access needs helps me to better support you in these spaces. 

FORMAL TRAINING ISN'T EVERYTHING

I have included my formal training below, as I know this can be reassuring for some to see my 'scope of practice', to know that I have learned about the practices I am sharing, and for me this forms part of the trauma-informed principle of transparency and trustworthiness to be clear about this. I also include it because I know that I always want to see other people's training, so sharing for any other nosy nellies out there..! 

But a really important reminder for all of us is that formal training isn't the be all and end all, and also a recognition of the fact that it has taken many layers of privilege for me to able to access these trainings (middle class, family wealth, financial support from partner and family, English speaking etc). 

Our society tends to prioritise formalised learning and education, but actually we need to recognise the value and importance of lived experience, intergenerational and somatic wisdom. We need to commit to wider learning and unlearning, and applying an intersectional and justice-based lens to our work. I talk a bit more about this in my Knowledge Lineage section below.

SLOW IS THE FASTEST WAY

My work is about trying to step out of autopilot. Working from a place of embodiment rather than pushing. Slowness allows us to start building more of a sense of safety and trust - this isn't something that can be rushed. It is my strong belief (and experience) that meaningful change is able to happen quicker when we decide to go slow in our approach. There is so much wisdom in our bodies and intuition, but we need to slow down enough to access this.

At the root of this work is the honouring of natural needs - we are learning to slow down and tune in to what we really need and feel. Taking care of ourselves is a fundamental building block of taking care of our communities. I commit to embedding this in my approach to myself as a practitioner, as I try to embody these values and lead by example.

* This is a practice inspired by N'Deye Oumou Sylla, who shared their Lineage of Knowledge during a Radical Mental Health First Aide workshop I attended. *

It is important for me to acknowledge and consider carefully the lineage and history of the practices I am sharing to make sure that I am being respectful and not culturally appropriative, as well as striving to be working from a perspective that is not just informed by western, (predominantly white, male, cis) methodologies. 

Below is a (non-exhaustive and ever-changing) list of people and bodies of work that influence my work. These include people whose wisdom I have received and been influenced by via reading, listening, watching and by virtue of it being included in other trainings:

Sobonfu Somé, Sharon Blackie, Priya Parker, Nkem Ndefo, Francis Weller, Adrienne Maree Brown, Molly Brown, Lucy Jones, Helena Vissing, Hakomi, Polyvagal theory, Focusing, John O'Donohue, Disability Justice, Mia Mingus, Mary Oliver, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Ann Weiser Cornell, Sonya Renee Taylor, Prentis Hemphill, Staci Haines, Sarah Ockwell-Smith, Toi Smith, Ayesha Khan, Nova Reid, Katherine May, Joanna Macy, Vandana Shiva, Mikaela Loach, Aja Barber, Margeaux Feldman, Lia Leendertz, Lisa Olivera, Raeeke Yassaie, Alfie Kohn, Vivek Patel, Carlos González