Heavy duty

Today and yesterday was spent attending child protection training. Day 1 involved policy, procedure and legislation. Day 2 involved assessing a disturbing case study. It didn't feature really horrific material but depressing nonetheless.
What was good was the opportunity to meet with professionals from other agencies; health, police, housing, social work and the voluntary sector. We all shared a common concern for the care and welfare of children but our approaches and systems were often different. It was really helpful to share experiences. The most useful information I learned came from the informal discussion sessions.

Most of us were really tired by the end of each day.

Thankfully there were moments of levity in the training. The trainer duo were approachable but a little disorganised. The female presenter knew her stuff but suffered from bossy ex teacher syndrome. She had a tendency to overtalk when we had got the gist of the task long ago. I was somewhat distracted by her attire. On both days she wore little tops which didn't quite cover her midriff. I couldn't decide if this was a deliberate 'I'm proud of my stretch marks' statement or simply a wardrobe malfunction. She kept tugging at the hems but both tops were adamant that they weren't heading south. Oh no, they were avoiding the grey stripey flesh and heading north to consort with her earrings [which seemed, by contrast, to be hellbent on seeing the stretchmarks for themselves]

The male trainer was a former police officer and had a Dixon of Dock Green warmth about him that was very appealing. He seemed immune to the anti gravity hem situation but I suppose in his line of work he's had to deal with far worse. He did however indicate in his non verbal communication [SEE... I WAS paying attention to the course content!]that his partner's 'death by explanation' delivery might be a tad irksome. Generally though they were effective in their roles.

It did make me wonder, in all the training I've delivered, what my audience were making of my input. I have wads of positive evaluations but I bet there were times somebody was focused on something other than the course materials.

I'm SO glad we haven't yet developed the ability to read minds.