Growing Unlimited UK HSP info and meet-up

Spend the day with Barbara Allen, deepening your understanding of your highly sensitive clients and how they might differ from others, their particular needs and challenges, behaviour in therapy, differential susceptibility, vantage sensitivity. This day will have a flexible agenda in order to ensure participants can each gain something personal, from either information about the trait or therapeutic insight, to enhance their understanding of highly sensitive people, especially those in therapy. Please share any questions or needs when you sign up for the workshop and Barbara will try to address these on the day. For example, some topics could be:

• Common misinformation about high sensitivity and what do we really know? Facts, myths or mysteries.
• How do we tell the difference between what is simply a unique but normal aspect of this trait and a therapeutic or mental health issue or block?
• How do we navigate the complexity of wounds or reactivity that might be relational, traumatic or a vestige of marginalisation and do HSPs respond differently than the other 80%?
• What matters to HSPs in therapy?
• If you as a therapist are highly sensitive too, what are the advantages and disadvantages of working at depth with people in distress?
• As a therapist, does it make a difference if your supervisor does not have accurate understanding of high sensitivity (yours or your client’s)?
• Does it matter which model of therapy we use with HSPs?

Barbara will also share during the process, her own, unique view and context for working with HSPs, underpinned by thirty years experience.

This workshop is suitable for therapists or other professionals who are involved with well-being or care of highly sensitive clients. Barbara is a retired therapist, supervisor and group worker and currently works as an HSP mentor, writer and speaker. She has been trained in the field of addiction, dissociation, process of change, various models of therapy, supervision, group work. She has also received training specifically on sensory processing sensitivity, directly with Dr Elaine Aron in California.

This workshop will provide the equivalent of 6 hours of continuing professional development, please let us know in advance if you would like a certificate of attendance. Although this workshop is not offered as supervision, you might find the content supportive and therapeutic to your work and you may ask questions that might help you with your client work. Please leave out names, occupations or other identifying details. All participants must assume that details shared at this workshop have to remain confidential.

Fee for the workshop is £60 plus PayPal fees (there are concessions for students or those on benefits, please ask).

PRACTICAL MATTERS AND GETTING HERE
Please bring a packed lunch and let us know if you have any special dietary or other needs. Tea, coffee and biscuits will be served in the breaks. There is parking available on the premises. Arrive any time from 9am onwards. The training area is accessed via two steps into the building, toilet is on the ground floor. This is a private domestic property. There are two small dogs on the premises.

The postcode for the workshop is SP11 7H. Nearest railway station is Andover. There are taxis at the station, which is 5 mins drive from the venue. Nearest airport is Southampton and it’s nearby railway station (Southampton Parkway) is within an hour of Andover.

If you are travelling far, consider staying overnight in the area, there are a variety of Airbnb and bed and breakfast establishments in local villages. We also have two guest rooms in the main house beside the venue that are available for a small fee, first come first served.

If you have a highly sensitive child between the ages of 5 and 18 who is coping with more than average amount of anxiety, this workshop could be helpful to you. Spend the day with Barbara Allen-Williams and Rosie Leigh exploring what high sensitivity is, how anxiety manifests and what we as parents can do to help. There will be plenty of information, plus time for discussion and tools to take away with you.

Tea and coffee will be provided. Please bring a packed lunch and a notebook, an open mind and sense of humour. This will be a small group so as to give enough time to explore your hopes for the day and to think about questions you may have about your child, high sensitivity or anxiety. Please be aware that there is an expectation that participants will respect the privacy of others on the workshop.

Barbara Allen-Williams is a highly experienced professional in the field of high sensitivity and has received training from Elaine Aron PhD. She is semi-retired, having spent thirty years in the personal development field as a therapist, specialist in high sensitivity, a group worker and supervisor. She currently hosts events for HSPs, training for professionals, is a mentor for highly sensitive people and a speaker on the topic of high sensitivity.

Rosie Leigh is a certified NLP practitioner and member of the NLP Association of Excellence (NLPEA). She is a coach and mentor and has a background in trauma informed practice, supporting highly sensitive children and adults. She has compassion focused training, and has worked in custodial settings with substance misuse and behaviour change around unhealthy behaviours within relationships. She works in education with students aged 16 and over, and in private practice with children, mentoring, empowering and supporting mental health and wellbeing. Rosie is also a safeguarding consultant and trainer for various companies.

The workshop fee is £70, concessions are available, please ask.

The workshop takes place in Andover. It is approximately 1.5 miles from Andover station, there are taxis nearby. There is parking available at the venue for 6/7 cars. This is a private domestic venue, there are two steps up into the training area, the toilet is on the same floor.

If you would like to get together with other HSPs for a weekend this summer, why not join us for an HSP-friendly experience? The event takes place Friday to Sunday, 19th to 21st July, and is hosted by Barbara at her cottage in Pendeen in South West Cornwall. See below for a rough guide to the plan. Please book early, this takes a lot of preparation and we want to avoid having to cancel prematurely due to low numbers. We will have a limit of ten participants in order to keep the event relaxed for HSPs.

What is included in your fee:

• Facilitated discussions, sharing, and gentle activities (tbd)
• Tea, coffee, cold drinks, biscuits
• Hang out in Barbara’s coastal garden, enjoy the view in groups or quietly on your own with a book
• Borrow books from Barbara’s HSP library for the weekend
• Time to yourselves to walk, explore beaches, shops in nearby towns etc
• A wholesome and gentle atmosphere, meaningful chats and a chance to relax amongst your peers

OTHER

• Barbara will be making her own supper Friday and Saturday evening, and a light lunch on Sunday and is happy for you all to share her meal without charge. This will consist of whatever is in the pantry at the time, please let her know when you book if you have any special dietary requirements. If you have really serious food allergies, you might want to bring your own ready made food as Barbara’s food will be prepared in her normal domestic kitchen. Message Barbara if you have any questions.

What is not included:

• Overnight accommodation (there are Airbnbs, B&Bs in the locality and local villages, and campsites nearby)
• Bring a packed lunch on Saturday, there is a local shop if you need it
• Parking (there is free parking in the car park opposite the local shop and along the road in Pendeen, just 5-10 mins walk from the venue)

Rough schedule for the weekend:
More info on activities may be available nearer the time
FRIDAY

• Turn up some time between 4pm and 6pm on Friday
• 6pm Welcome, introductions and housekeeping
• 6.30pm Guests for supper at Barbara’s (optional), chat around the table
• 7.30pm-9pm relax here in the cottage or garden for an hour, or go for a walk or off to bed

SATURDAY

• 10am Group discussions/activities TBD
• 11.30am tea break
• 11.45 Group work/activity TBD
• 1pm eat your packed lunch and chat or spend some time alone
• 2pm - do your own thing/explore the area or hang out at the cottage
• 6.30pm Guests for supper back at Barbara’s (optional)
• 7.30pm-9pm relax here in the cottage or in the garden (or at the pub) or go to bed

SUNDAY

• 10am Group discussions/activities TBD
• 11.30am tea break
• 11.45 Group discussion/activities TBD
• 12.45 Closing
• 1pm Guests for lunch around the table (light lunch) - optional
• 2pm-4pm Stay to chat together or set off to explore, or travel home

Information:

• For those of you travelling a long way, consider making a week of it and including this HSP weekend as part of your holiday - the best experiences are not rushed and it will reduce the likelihood of overwhelm.
• When booking travel or accommodation, please choose options that can be changed or cancelled - we all know that HSPs sometimes need to change their minds :). Please read the refund policy for this event.
• The nearest train station is Penzance (7 miles). There are buses from Penzance station that will stop right outside the venue (Lower Boscaswell) and other buses that stop in Pendeen by the local shop.
• There is a nice campsite at the North Inn, 5 mins walk from the venue, they also do breakfast. There is another camp site close to Pendeen Lighthouse. You can see the Lighthouse from the cottage, but it will take you about half an hour to walk to the venue from there, or longer depending which route you take.
• The cottage has uneven pathways, steps and an uneven lawn area. There are steps up to the house and stairs to the area we will gather in. This is a rustic, domestic setting so please be careful of your footing.
• There are small dogs on the premises who will steal your food if you leave it low enough, please keep an eye on your packed lunch!
• If you want to walk Candy the dog, please let me know. She loves walks but keep her away from other dogs as she doesn’t like them. It is not possible to have other dogs on the premises as we have our own.
• Bring a torch with you if you intend to stay past 8pm so that you can see the steps and avoid stumbling on uneven ground.
• Bring a blanket or cushion to sit on in the garden, we also have garden table and chairs and a hammock - and be prepared for various types of weather - you never know!
• Acoustic guitars, wind instruments, singing are welcome

NB: ACTUAL DATE TO BE CONFIRMED - (THIS DATE IS A GUESSTIMATE UNTIL WE HAVE FOUND AN AFFORDABLE VENUE WITHIN REASONABLE DISTANCE OF PUBLIC TRANSPORT): This is an initial announcement of our exciting Gathering for highly sensitive people here in the UK (please note the date indicated on Meet-up.com here is a guesstimate at this stage). It feels the right time to bring together a multitude of people in one place and one time in the UK, to bring awareness of SPS out from the background and into the foreground. Ideally it will be two days and will potentially include speakers from a variety of fields, education, health and well-being, workplace psychology and also speakers on the topic of parenting highly sensitive children. I would also like to have some creative people there who work within the arts to explore how we can bring more awareness about sensitivity through the arts, whether that is painting, film/TV, music or writing. I’m envisioning lectures, talks, a hub to explore current and future projects, discussion and training groups on various topics related to support, research, plus opportunities for HSPs or parents of HSPs to talk about empowerment and education of the sensitive population. Please RSVP to show interest, signing up to attend the conference will be via a different website once we have a date. Please feel free also to comment here or email me with any ideas :)