Think I am singing again..

Forgetting the words, but not the sentiment.

Watch the Survivors Stories DVD Montage

This montage is approx 2.5 mins click to start..

Doing Theology In Altab Ali Park - Rev Kenneth Leech

I am attending a ( real in person ) event this afternoon to mark the launch of a book of Rev. Kenneth Leech - 'Doing Theology in Altab Ali Park'.

Ken has been wonderful and inspiring to work with in the East End of London, and the most equipped to write as a 'social and theological scientist!' Fearless, from a community development perspective, he has been able to instigate work where no-one 'dared' to go, but everyone thought was a good idea. Indeed others may have thought, 'yes this work needs to occur, but I can't do it'.

There is nothing 'virtual' about his reaching out to 'connect with communities', and is where I and many others learned just how to do that, just how hard it can be to ensure that engagement is kept, and just how prepared we will have to be, when working in areas where our hearts and the silent communities call, but 'politics and fear' invade!

A source of literary strength, to all working in community settings.

Emotional Offload??

I had been writing a reply to Alex Bellinger on the smallbizpodnetwork at ning and was full of emotion and wanted to put it somewhere.. I thought of coming here straight away.. and wondered what that was about. Not wanting to share a side of me like that.

I then read chris hambly's blog and found an answer or had I?

need to think more on this.

Media Camp Bucks.

This sounds like another exploration in all things web 2.0 based and innovative.

Yes, yes, I like ALL that!

Media Camp Bucks is a gathering and 'participatory happening' in October in Buckinghamshire. I have decided I will do a talk on a couple of web 2.0 based concepts too. It may even be a good source to greater networking for the Virtual Launch of the Survivor's Stories DVD and website.

Click the banner below for further information and to register your attendance. The event is FREE



If you are attending, say hi to me here and we can network on the day too.

Tish

Survivors Stories DVD and website Virtual Launch

Click on the player below to hear the background to the Survivor's Stories DVD Project.


Survivors Stories is a DVD of the real life stories of people fleeing domestic violence and rebuilding their lives. A selection of 13 interviews, in a DVD, which will raise awareness of domestic violence and how front line staff in public agencies can support those that are experiencing / living with, or may be at risk of domestic violence and abuse. It will be launched in November at the start of the White Ribbon Campaign on 26th November during the international 16 days of action against gender based violence / violence against women.

Survivors Stories will be holding a LIVE Launch and connecting with women and groups supporting those affected by domestic violence across the globe. You can get involved in this VIRTUAL LAUNCH or can support it with a donation too.

The Virtual Launch will be a place to connect live online across the globe and send us your support and watch the survivor stories interviews. If you support work with domestic violence or want to help educate and prevent domestic violence in your area, get involved.

The launch venue in Babergh Suffolk County Offices, In the UK will be linked up with internet access, all you need to do is come online and join us. for more information on how to link up on the day please email myself Tish, at the following email address: survivorstories@person-centred-consultancies.com or cathypress1@hotmail.com

Awareness Matters - Training Pages

Awareness Matters - Training Pages

Cathy Press is the chair of Babergh Domestic Violence and Abuse Forum which houses the Survivors Stories DVD Project and she is also Counselling Clinical Services Manager of Southend Women's Aid.

Cathy is a Counsellor Trainer and counselling supervisor in Suffolk and is a specialist county council trainer with suffolk County Council.

Here is her training page at her 'Awareness Matters' website. subscribe to her mailing list for information on training and news updates on the Survivors Stories DVD and website.

Website Design Support Patricia Mata at Person Centred Designs

Survivor Stories DVD project Interview

On the Right of this page you can find a link to the person centred consultancies BTTradespace site where the podcast interview of Cathy Press is placed. Cathy Press Chair of Babergh Domestic Violence and Abuse Forum speaks about the background to the Surviror Stories DVD Project.

You will find an RSS feed to subscribe to ( this is free) on the following pages to subscribe and listen to the 20 minutes interview


or at Person Centred consultancies on windows media player ( Firefox Browser the audio has controls and plays on page download. )

Honour? What Honour? Another young woman murdered by a UK British National

I can't quite fathom out what else the police need to act upon what is known acceptably as an INTERNATIONAL crime, perpretated by a UK National. Any country that houses a murderer knowingly and does nothing to bring the assailant to justice is denying us all of protection and human rights.

12th May 2007

A 19 year old mother is killed by her husband whom was summond back from the UK to help his family to murder her and their baby. He did so and went back to the UK like he had just 'sorted out a problem' he lives and works in the UK and nothing is done? He took part in murder of his young wife and his own baby for pity's sake!

read more about this story here.

Campaign to stop so called 'honour killing' and 'honour crimes'.

If we have Interpol doing all they can to ensure paedophiles are stopped in their tracks then what are we saying about MURDERERS of women and children, if we stand by and do nothing.

" I urge the UK police to bring this man a UK national to Justice"

Campaign Letter - Justice for Du'a & to stop so called 'honor killing'

Send this campaign letter to urge the Iraqi Prime Minister to investigate the murder of Du'a and to campaign to stop so called 'honour killing'. Copy to your blog too, send it and encourage others to do the same. This was provided by Amnesty International UK

Prime Minister Nuri Kamil al-Maliki

Baghdad

Republic of Iraq

Your Excellency,

I am writing to you to express my horror over the stoning to death of Du’a Khalil Aswad which has taken place at the hands of an unruly mob and appears to have been actively enjoyed and promoted by many of those present who filmed and photographed it. I am particularly concerned to learn that it is alleged that law enforcement officials stood by and took no action.

I am urgently calling on you to:

• Ensure that those responsible for the stoning to death of Du’a Khalil Aswad be brought to justice,
• That it be investigated if it is indeed the case that law enforcement officials were present and took no action and if so to prosecute them,
• Amend Iraqi Law to make so-called “Honour killings” a serious criminal offence.

Yours sincerely

Violence against Women- Murder is OK now?

I have been involved in a number of campaigns as a youth and community worker over the years to support the day to day lives and human rights of young and adult women. Sometimes the campaigns I have been involved in highlight the death and murder of women and everyday experiences for many, of domestic violence and abuse. The news of a murder of a young woman at a conference led by IKWRO ( Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organisation) held at Amnesty International offices last week is the most abhorrent and public statement of violence, power and control of one gender over another: men over women and campaigning to stop so called 'honour killings' and 'honour crimes' has to be supported, mobilised, and highlighted across the globe.













( pics campiagn speakers)

The young woman Du'a Khalil Aswad aged 17, had been murdered on 17th April 2007 in northern Iraq, through what is known as an 'honour killing'. This term is not accurate, but is common. It belies the fact that what has occured is the murder of a young woman led by 8 men and a marrauding 'tribe' of over 1000 men whom seemingly felt what they saw either not WORTH intervening for, in any attempt to stop it, or that by standing and watching, were colluding and agreeing in the attack.



This YOUNG FEMALE CHILD of 17 years of age, had apparently brought what was felt as some form of 'shame' upon her community. Members of her family were also involved in the murder.

They videoed their group attack on mobile phones and then published the video onto the internet.

What this 'public statement' also says is " we will exert power and control over you (Du'a and all women killed in the name of so called honour ) because we can. We are not stopped no-one will intervene and stop us from doing this, and no-one will want to anyway. We do this because we also feel you are not WORTH anything. You are less than human and as such we feel nothing towards you and your right to live free from harm and abuse, or to live at ALL. You are expendable and a tool to use for our aggression.

We enjoy the power and control we have over you and thereby, what we have done to you."

I have worked with girls/ young women and adult women for over 20 years in the UK and never have I been so outraged. I am concerned about a number of things which I have to list below:

• Murder of girls / young women and women through so called 'honour killing'
• The number of girls/ young women and older women murdered since 1991 - 33,000
  

33,000! murdered in the name of so called honour killing.

• The lack of combined public outrage across the world at this
  
• The position of women in society globally because of this
  
• The murder of women is what can be known as 'femininicide' a phrase highlighting homicide based on gender
• The numbers of women fleeing feared and expected violence and murder.
• The numbers of women whom have been forced to flee their own countries because of this
• The apathy or 'collusive agreement' of Security Forces, witnessing the attack and murder,whom were fully armed and could have at least shot warning shots in the air, failing to act
• 'Torture Porn' and 'femininicide' combined

I feel unable to share more today on this, but have provided the following links to find out information on this abhorrence that seemingly is allowed to continue in order for people MEN AND WOMEN & YOUNG MEN AND YOUNG WOMEN to campaign.

My feelings at the conference were one of shock and a connection to something which I thought was a historical account of Hitler's naziism and ethnic cleansing and also of the medieval Witch Trials across Europe, brought slap bang into the present day. share your views below and post the links to your own blogs.

IKWRO website

http://www.stophonourkillings.com/

Amnesty International - web page on the murder of 17 year old Dua, Khalil Aswad

Madre - an International Women's Human Rights Organisation

For further support if you are fleeing violence connected to what may be a suspected or actual forced marriage, contact The Forced Marriage Unit - 0207 008 8759 http://www.fco.gov.uk/

person centred accessibility

Trying to support my ethos of offering 'person centred and innovative developments combined' I embark on a journey that has taken me to all sorts of places in the search for knowledge. My learning curve widens, in promotion of my ethos of 'access for all' as depicted in my website http://www.person-centred-consultancies.com/

My feelings on inaccessibility started with my own experiences of not being able to do the stuff I wanted to do. This was in regards to just getting out there into community and public sector or private sector buildings with a pushchair. I learned that this was not the only way unequal access affected me. I was also realising that there were hardly any creches available and that the lack of street lighting and transport were a pain as well. I was being effectively 'socially and publicly excluded' from the stuff I wanted to do.

Now that I have a website. I worked on how to make the services I offer accessible to others. I will book venues that are accessible and ensure that the blocks to my greater participation are not the blocks to others.

However the actual website needs to be made accessible also. There are a range of ways of doing this but as I understand it since the disability discrimination act came into force, only 3% of websites are accessible on the net.

Text readers like browsealoud and others are available for those with visual impairments and I have made some contact with this organisation to support my efforts. However much more is needed to be done. The challenge for web designers is to learn what is necessary in order to ensure the websites they build are compliant.

I am by no means a web designer by trade, but my understanding of the wider aspcets of social and public exclusion was enough to inspire me to take on this too for my own website. Further, any consulting I offer, includes the need to 'think this through' adapt what people have, design with accesibility in mind and not run for a web 2.0 flash presentations that might exclude a vast number of people from the content on the site.

Jim Byrne's book sounds like a great start for my endeavours. '60 Hot To Touch Accessible Web Design Tips' available here at amazon or through his own website www.webaccesstips.co.uk/

This sounds like a good place to start for anyone equally wishing to offer an 'access for all' ethic in their website development and design.

Lifelong Rita!

I have been studying what seems a lifeltime. Like in the film Educating Rita, ( here belies an 'educated view' ) I have come from a background that said "stay in the pub and be happy to drink the beer girl". I realised I was not happy with this at 18 years of age, the year this film was made. I 'asked' yes I will say that again, asked my 2 year old's father if he "minded me going to college in order to 'teach the baby'?" I lied. I played down my dreams of returning to education and played with his permissions and admissions of his stauts quo not being shaken, his masculinity not being challenged. Yes a woman that 'belonged' to him being educated messed with this for him it seemed. I made up some cockamamey story about the local adult education college women's returner course being a "group of mums that just talked kids really, that's all", and I was allowed to attend. Two basic qualifcations later, English O'level and City and Guilds Maths, spurned me on to taking on the book keeping and accounts course, a women's writing group a video with albany empire and channel 4 and by the time my daughter was three, the creche and college tutors had decided I was simply 'hanging around too long' and I should move on. I had by now been on the odd march to save the college from closing down ( ILEA days) and was now interested in nuclear disarmament 'of all things'. My poetry wrting was building fast too, and when he decided I was to come off the pill and have another baby and "leave that bloody college", that's when I decided me and Rita really were akin in our dreams. I left the ' bloody man' instead and carried on learning. Yes my books were burned too. My poetry ripped up and all sorts of other horrid things until I was safe and able to learn and live freely. Since my initial dreams gently smouldered at the young age of 18, having spent my post 16 years prior, bringing up my child, I learned a great deal about myself and my deterrmination to do something not only for my child, but also for me. Brixton Hill College, Access course for the diploma in social work, Morley College, for the introduction to youth and community work course, a DfES and Open University National Youth Agency accredited course for Full time youth and community workers (Apprenticeship Scheme), Birkbeck College, for women in management course, and Harrow College and Middlesex University for the certificate and diploma in person centred counselling. Throughout all of this time I had worked often as the sole breadwinner and at times as a lone parent too. My fight to learn and to be free from the oppression of others is still not over. I will endeavour to be strong and to face that which belies me in search of fulfillment. My lifelong achievement is the following: Passion to learn, Courage to learn, Courage to stay, Courage to flee, Passion to be ..what I want to be, Trying to teach, Trying to care, Showing to others .. the love that was there. To my daughter Michelle, with all my love Mum x

Patricia Mata

 

Person centred counsellor High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. Consultancy / Training / Podcast Learning / Mentoring using the person centred approach and counseling skills combined.

The 'EGO' email scam personal exercise

What is it like when you get an email scam that just seems a little bit different?

Here the latest one. This at least looks from an emotional and psychological point of view at 'ego' read on to see how Person Centred Consultancies was sucked in a little prior to processing of ego.

The scam INVITES me to one of two conferences on Children, Young People and Human Rights in California or Senegal, all expenses paid type thing. You are invited to attend and we saw your website at another NGO website.. blah blah, contact us to arrange your registration / and or speaker status etc.

ego wakes up! at this point. After processing charity and voluntray sector GUILT and RESPONSIVENESS GAGUE lol, I worked out the following:

This is just an organised scam. The email I got today,stated they had found me on a NGO website. Their conference does not exist.

This massages the ego, that you have been 'invited' and because the subject matter is of great concern to all of us working with young people or those at most risk, we are tuned into wanting to help. This is how our work in our sector develops. This 'big heart tuning in' to those in need.

This is what they are playing on. I'm a counsellor in the UK and thought oh goodness I'm being asked to attend beacuse they have read a great deal about my work in this field. Because my services are clearly matched with their target group.

Goodness. I stopped and re read everything again and thought, WHY ask ME? What is so special about me in that I feel I am being asked to attend and as they say 'represent' my whole country. I am hardly the best, most qualified person to do this. I've only got my website up and running (and needs work on too) recently.


I was simply spammed from my contacts page.

I laughed also about feeling my ego get shoved straight back in it's box too. lol.. very very good psychological and emotional tactics here in this scam.

If a person is that good about what they do then surely THEY would be running their own conference?

For other email scamns like this ask yourself a question:

What's so special about me? Why should I be 'invited'? If there was someone I would love to hear at a conference on such a matter, would it be ME? When you have answered this and let go of 'ego', logic comes flooding through.

If you are still not sure, then answer the same questions again with 'ego' (ego is a good motivator) and USE This to set up your own conference!

here's a link to show others have been alerted to it.


www.Person-Centred-Consultancies.com

regards Tish(Patricia)Mata

Director Person Centred Consultancies