Peter Slattery

On the ‘About Peter Slattery’ page I have given a list of topics in which I conduct workshops and do training. The following gives you fuller descriptions of some of them. These workshops I have presented in all sorts of places both in Australia and overseas. Some are for young people, some are for parents and families, some have been part of projects for people of all ages, some are training programs for workers in the field. These descriptions are just to give you an idea of what is possible, so please contact me if you want to know more or if you want to talk about ideas that you don’t see here – Pete

General style

Workshops are always interactive and I will use anything at all to make them as stimulating, fun, relevant and useful as possible. Physical movement, storytelling, really simple and fast picture drawing and the world’s simplest theatre activities are likely to find a place, alongside pieces of video, lots of images, discussion, thinking and a lot of playing around; all with a respectful eye on what are often really serious topics.

FOR FAMILIES and COMMUNITIES

 

Young people and drug use

This workshop is not about drugs. It’s about people. And it’s about making sense of young people’s action, and why they might do something dangerous or even harmful to themselves. So as important as pharmacology is, this is not the focus of this workshop. The focus is on understanding why young people might do what they do, and importantly it’s about what parents can do to help their children be safe and how to help them grow healthily and happily.

Resilience, motivation and self-esteem

Is ‘resilience’ the new buzz word? Well yes, it probably is, which is a pity because it really is an important idea and it would be nice if it didn’t get lost. So this workshop will look at how parents can help their children become resilient, that is, how to help them grow strong as people and be able to bounce back from the hard times which they will inevitably encounter in life. Much of this is good common sense, and everyone will recognize ingredients like strong relationships and a strong sense of self as being important in developing resilience. Often a trickier ingredient is that of young people having some power, some control in their lives. When and where should they have it? How much? And how do parents be in charge as parents and still ensure their children have some personal power in their lives? And all this is what the workshop is about.

Discrimination and its opposite

What sort of school, community, society, and world do we want to live in? And how do we create it? What do we do with those things which we think are wrong with our school or community or world? How do we encounter the views of others in a respectful way and how do we work out whether we really disagree with another person’s view or values, or if they are simply different from our own? And what do we do next?

Being a parent today…being a teenager today

What does being a parent mean today? And what do young people expect of their parents? What do parents expect of their children? We hear a lot about the importance of boundaries, of clear communication and of the importance of listening, but what do parents do if the music is blaring, the world is beckoning and you feel kind of sidelined? And what do you do if as a young person you feel unheard or stifled? What do words like ‘communication’ and ‘boundaries’ mean at these times?

Forums

How do we bring very different people together, people of different ages, different cultures, of different values, for some common purpose, and make sure the process is respectful and productive?I have been lucky enough to facilitate a great number of these, from working in East Timor with the local community and with members of the international community to build strong relationships between the two groups; to co-working with an indigenous colleague in rural Australia looking at how indigenous and non-indigenous services in the area could better work together; to working in the inner west of Sydney with people from their teens to their nineties looking at intergenerational relationships. Each process needs some blend of creative strategies like simple pieces of drama to highlight certain points, or moments of individual reflection about important topics before launching into discussion, or careful use of ‘expert’ panels, or presenting the group with challenging and delicate questions and a process for productively exploring those questions.

FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

 

Gender, sex and sexuality

A fraught, volatile and interesting topic. How do boys/girls women/men want to be seen by members of their own sex? By members of the opposite sex? What is sexuality? What are the various ways sexuality can manifest itself in people’s lives? Where does sex belong? How do you decide what you want? What are others’ expectations of you? And what do you expect of yourself? Does love still exist and where do you find it? How do you know you have found it? What is a relationship anyway?

Alcohol and other drug use

How do you decide what you want to do with your body? What might encourage you to take a risk? To use alcohol or other drugs? Use them dangerously? If you started to get into trouble with use, how would you know? How would your friends know? What help might you need and where would you get it? What information do you think you want and where would you get this? What responsibility do people have for looking after each other? What would you do for a friend who seemed to be in trouble with substance use? Or in trouble with life generally?This workshop looks at use of alcohol and drugs from the perspective of the choices people make, why those choices might be made, the influences at work in the lives of young people, and how young people can keep themselves and those around them safe. Information on substances is set within this overall context.

Discrimination and its opposite

Just as a community might want to look at how to develop into the sort of place everyone would want to live, so too might a school look at how to become a welcoming and inspiring place. So this workshop looks at asking just what sort of school does everyone want? The students, the staff and the parents? And what are the core values the school wants to develop, and what is each person’s job in all this and how does this all translate into everyday practical action?

Peer education

A quite wonderful way for young people to care for each other, peer education has many shapes and forms, from more formal mentoring to casual conversation. This workshop looks at what young people can offer each other. It also looks at some of the stumbling blocks along the way like what to do if someone tells you a ’secret’, or you feel out of your depth, or how to be ‘friends’ with someone when you have another role to play? The workshop also looks at how to make sure you are doing a good job for both yourself and those you are coming into contact with.

Conflict. Troubles. Problems. They’re part of lifeWhat can you do about them?

This is an interactive workshop which presents an easy to understand, but really quite hard to do!… four step approach to sorting out conflict. We will also look at the stuff that gets in the way of us actually doing just that; things like anger, pride and hurt. We will also look at what can help us move in the right direction: things like knowing who we are, being confident and comfortable about ourselves, being in charge of ourselves and having good people in our lives who can help us out when times get tuff.

FOR WORKERS

 

Engaging with young people

Working with young people means catching their attention, firing their imaginations; doing something so they will connect with what is happening so they might just want to continue and be a part of whatever is going on. This process of engagement is about a young person feeling that what is being explored and how it is being explored has personal meaning for them. This must happen or nothing else will. And research about resilience tells us (not surprisingly) that young people grow stronger when they get to participate in the world around them and when they have some power to influence that world, so we need to make sure they have a real role in the process. So this practical and interactive workshop includes some physical movement, story telling, rating scales, drawings, some thinking and a little talking, and the world’s simplest theatre activities. All good fun! Another necessary ingredient of engagement.

Engaging disengaged young people

Everything that has been said in the preceeding workshop description applies here. But as this workshop is about working with those who for whatever reason are having a hard time of life and may well be mandated in some way to see us; there are often some extras to consider, such as the person in front of us perhaps being hostile or openly angry, sad or apathetic. And if a young person has not flourished at school we had better do something different to that. And we may need to do something for those who are imperfect at reading and writing, and for those who are either not good at talking, or simply do not want to talk to us. So we may start with a simple conversation but with the possibility of the person keeping some responses to themselves, or asking the person to draw something, or simply reflect on something while saying nothing to us, or offering them to ask us three questions about anything at all, or …whatever might just work! And all this is exactly what this workshop is about.

Mentoring

Mentoring can be a wonderfully uplifting and valuable process of one person supporting another, possibly guiding them or advising them. It is a process which requires wisdom, practical skills and a sense of playfulness. This workshop looks at the various roles a mentor might play, some of the pitfall of this process, what to do if you find yourself in the role of ‘accidental counsellor’, and how to check to make sure that the process is of value to both yourself and those you mentor.

Resilience. A new idea?

‘Resilience’ is an important idea that runs the risk, like many other good ideas, of getting lost through overuse of the word. And this would be a pity because research is finally giving us the evidence that what many people have always known, is actually true. That factors like having meaning in our lives, being in charge of ourselves, and having healthy relationships with others, will help us grow strong and bounce back from the tough times. So how do we meaningfully hang onto the essence of ‘resilience’ and make sure that the principles are enacted in our work? That’s what this workshop is about: presenting a framework of principles and demonstrating how these can be active in our face-to-face work, in the written materials we produce and in the community development projects we undertake.

Working with kids locked up

This workshop is about working with young people in the Juvenile Justice System and is presented from the perspective of one who enters this system as a guest to work within that system. While there are lots of reasons for not locking up young people, if they are locked up it can become an opportunity for them to bring about some changes. They are free of the tensions of daily life and some of the damaging aspects of their lives, and the new environment can paradoxically become an opportunity to explore new life possibilities. This workshop will look at:

• What topics to take up in Juvenile Justice settings
• Characteristics of programs which help them be successful
• Practical strategies
• Organisational factors which can really help or hinder such programs.

Working with men and boys

Sometimes there is a fine line between a stereotype and something which is true.
While there does seem to be something different about working with males, they do tend to be more physical, perhaps more direct, perhaps less verbal, not so emotional, I am also inclined to think that there is also an element of self-fulfilling prophecy to many of these ideas. So this workshop takes a look at the idea of working with men and boys and strategies for doing so, by exploring the following dynamics, and at the same time suggesting a general attitude and approach that help the less expected aspects of males to emerge:

• Power and aggression
• Feelings. Where do you get them and what do you do with them?
• Relationships: with lovers and partners, with friends and with family
• Sexuality
• Communication. What is it and what’s it for? And are males really so bad at it?
• What does becoming a good man mean? And being a good man in Australias in this day and age?

Drug use. Change and choice

This workshop is not about drugs, it’s about people. It’s about two things. Firstly it’s about human behaviour and understanding why people might do what they do. Secondly, it’s about looking at ways we might be helpful to a person who has got into trouble with their use of alcohol or any other drug. And it’s about how to get the tricky balance right of actively promoting change in a person’s life while respecting and encouraging the person’s right to choose, to be in charge of their life. So…It’s NOT about Information on drugs. This matters but this information is easy to access. Nor is it a first aid course. And it’s not about detecting signs of drug use. What it IS about is:

• Understanding drug use. A straightforward framework of principles which can act as a guide to working with people and drug use. This can be shared with clients and their families.
• Practical strategies that can be used with individuals, families and groups.
• The idea of ‘harm minimisation’ and why it is so controversial.
• How to have therapeutic conversations, whether in a group, a counselling room or over a cup of tea.

Lapse and relapse

If a person has been using alcohol or other drugs for some time, and they decide to try to get their use under control, they are almost certainly going to slip up, and then slip up again. We don’t have to applaud these slips but they are normal, and to be expected, and can be opportunities for some real learning. So this workshop will cover the following:

• How does human change come about? A framework of principles and practical strategies.
• Expectations and goals. Both our own and those of our clients. What are we aiming for? What is realistic?
• Abstaining or less-harmful use? What is likely to work best for this person? Now and in the future?
• Therapeutic conversations. How to make use of both formal and informal opportunities to have conversations which encourage choice and being in charge of life.
• Resilience. What does research tell us about what helps people grow strong and bounce back from the hard times? And how can we incorporate these ideas into our work?
• A framework of well-being as a way for both clients and workers to keep track of how life is going.

How to run a really fabulous group

How do you really present or facilitate a group which is something quite special? Something out-of-the-ordinary? We all know about stages of group development, about group leadership and the roles people play. And there is some truth in all this, but then again, lots of groups seem to be just a bit different from these standard ideas about groups work. So with all this in mind, we will take a look at the conventional wisdom about groups, and dump the things that aren’t useful and explore some other things which might be. This workshop is about thinking and lots of doing! It’s about using interactive activities, theatre techniques, images and story telling. It’s about actually doing things in the workshop itself so you can identify and strengthen your own talents and qualities as a group worker.

Advanced Group work

This workshop is for those of you who already have some experience in running groups. You decide whether you are ‘advanced’ or not. The workshop draws on theatre, cartoons, billboards, music and video for inspiration. There will be lots of chances to participate in activities and to have a go at developing and presenting new ones. Along the way we will take a look at:

• Differences in large and small group work.
• Ways of including the different styles that people have.
• Ways of working with those who prefer to not speak, and for those who are imperfect at English and/or at reading and writing.
• Combining therapeutic questions with interactive activities.
• Managing group process as a way of managing difficulties.

The theatre of change. The art of ‘looking at ourselves’

‘Theatre can help us build our future, rather than just waiting for it.’ It is ‘…the art of looking at ourselves.’ So says Augusto Boal, esteemed drama guru from Brazil. And I agree. It is this that makes it so powerful. Related to but different from role play (which some people just do not like), theatre can be simple or elaborate, verbal or non-verbal, a simple facial gesture, an observation, a story or simply walking across a room with attitude. And to be fair to the great art of theatre and drama, this approach is NOT about creating great theatre. It is about using a tool which can help people with their lives. It is theatre with a purpose for families and groups, and even perhaps surprisingly, with individuals. And this purpose is education or therapy, growth, change, dealing with disturbing feelings, managed problems, enhancing relationships or imagining a new future.

Frames. Four ways of helping people

For me, a frame is a simple way of making sense of what is in front of me. A kind of reminder to myself of what I have to do. A fundamental frame for me is the four E’s. Engage, elicit, explore and extend. This is what I need to be doing in an interaction with a single person, a family or a group. Namely, I need to:

• ENGAGE with the person (or persons) in front of me. That is, connect intellectually and emotionally with them. And I need to…
• ELICIT from them just what is going on in their lives so together we can then…
• EXPLORE what is important to them. We may think about these things, perhaps discuss them, raise some questions about them so that in some way at the end of our interaction we are able to…
• EXTEND the number of possibilities available to that person. Often this may mean helping a person identify more clearly and more usefully some of the choices they already have.

So that’s a frame. One of many that can serve as a useful guide to those of us who seek to be useful to others in our interactions with them. This workshop will look at a number of frames and practical strategies to go with them.

The art of asking a useful question

If I ask a person a question they have never heard before they may just come up with an answer they have never come up with before. And in so doing, a new option in life may well appear. Something to consider, to think about, to feel, possibly to act on. And the mark of a good question is that it is simply one which is of use to a person. One that generates new thoughts and feelings. Questions may be simple or complex; they may stand alone or be one of a series. They do not need to be clever, they only need to be useful to the person. This workshop is all about asking useful questions in as many interesting ways as possible.

Working with families. The good stuff and the tuff stuff

What promotes respect and cooperation in families? And what tends to encourage the horrible stuff? The anger and aggression, the meanness and disrespect? What are the ingredients you want and what are the conditions to avoid? And can these be chosen? And what can any of us do with families where the tuff stuff seems to be winning? Can it be turned around so that family members are more likely to be happy, content, fulfilled, and appreciative loving and respectful of each other? Well, research and common sense point to some of the ingredients which promote each of these sorts of lives and doing so can guide us as workers with families to help them get back on track. Research and common sense can also guide us as to what preventive measures we might take as well as looking at what ingredients need to be present in our own work with families and communities. So this workshop will look at both background principles as well as practical strategies for being useful to families, and perhaps particularly those ones having an especially tuff time.

Working with crisis, chaos, anger and aggression

This workshop is about three major things. Firstly about managing the ‘in-ya-face’ stuff; the anger and aggression. This means reading situations and assessing a person’s level of anger. It means assessing possible driving motives, and it means working out the best response. Secondly this workshop looks at understanding what might lie behind such behaviours; the frustration, pain, confusion, sadness or uncertainty. And the workshop looks at how you might get a person’s attention around these things so that together you can start to work on them. And thirdly it looks at how to create environments, processes, relationships where such behaviour is much less likely to occur.

Risk Assessment and management

This workshop provides both a discussion about the risks facing services and their clients, and it provides a clear framework for assessing possible risks and how they might be managed, It creates an opportunity to look at the clients your service aims to serve and what your service seeks to achieve, and asks what might go wrong and how you might make sure it doesn’t. This workshop will provide a clear framework for assessing risk and developing strategies to manage those risks, and secondly it will look at how this process can dove-tail with existing procedures within your service.