A couple of years ago Wedge and I travelled to Wells in Somerset as Wedge had been invited to speak at a conference. The feedback received was so positive that the organiser Alison, a professional counsellor, invited us to return to the West Country to speak some more.

Wedge and I were delighted to accept, and we travelled to Somerset where Alison took us on to a large school in Wells. We received a warm welcome and Wedge spoke for 90 minutes to teachers and Year 12 students about self-injury. It’s always fantastic when a school is open and forward thinking enough to enable a talk on this difficult subject, and it’s great to be able to hand out our Fact Sheets and Guidance for School Self-injury Policy in real life.

In the evening we were taken out for a meal, where we enjoyed the lovely company of Alison and Flora, and were able to explore some subjects surrounding self-injury in a light and relaxing manner.

We were collected from our hotel early the next morning for the long drive to Buckfast in Devon, where we helped Alison facilitate a conference / networking event for a group of counsellors. Wedge spoke in the morning, and then after a lovely lunch and browse of the Abbey shops, we regrouped for a more informal talk as Wedge and I went through some of LifeSIGNS’ ideas for moving away from self-injury. The delegates then split into groups to discuss various scenarious and experiences, with Wedge and I floating between the groups to join in conversations and share ideas.

The final part of the day enabled everyone to pool their thoughts and share everything that had been learnt.

The whole event was a great success and the feedback we received was lovely; with everyone commenting on how much they had got out of the day. And that goes for us too; we learnt a lot from the experiences of these fine professonals, and we came away with some great ideas that we’ll be sharing with you over the coming weeks and months.

On a personal, I had a fantastic time. I love meeting people and talking about self-injury with people who work with self-injury in real life. And I never tire of hearing Wedge speak. Although I’m sure he gets a little embarrassed by all the praise he receives, it makes me very proud both of Wedge and of LifeSIGNS.

Many many thanks to Alison for again giving us this opportunity to talk about self-injury in real life, and for taking care of us so well. We had a super couple of days and look forward to working with Alison again in the future.

On another quick note, our shiny new wristbands and key rings are now available, so please do grab one now in time for SIAD (Self-Injury Awareness Day) on 1st March :)