Another Successful CPD Day

Heading back to Manchester train station after running the CPD course, ‘Working with Children’, I walked through Piccadilly Park. My timing coincided with the end of Manchester ComicCon, a convention for superheroes, fantasy and comic books. The sunny day and recent release of the Pokemon Go game meant that the park was filled with over 300 people, mainly adults, sitting around in various costumes, from wizards to Batman, all playing a game together. It linked well with the end of the CPD day, where a group of adults also let go of their grown up personas to take turns being their own versions of children.

At the beginning of the day, there was some trepidation. A new venue, group and tutor. But most of all it was the assumed difference in the subject matter to what had been studied before; working with children. One of the first topics we covered was what differences the students assumed there would be between working with adults compared to children, and what there actually are. There are, of course, some differences; ask an adult to lie down and relax for an hour with their eyes closed and you’ll probably have a very happy adult. Say the same to a young child and you may have a lot of squirming and boredom on your hands. But essentially, you are dealing with a person, an individual with their own way of seeing things, and their own insights into their issues.

The group worked well together, soon getting over any nerves to join in helpful discussions and sharing memories of their own childhoods. When working with children it is important to reconnect with our youth; how we felt, the things we liked, the things that upset and hurt us, and those that made us happy. We can lose sight of our child-like states - our inner child - and reconnecting with them can help us to understand our clients better, and be therapeutic for ourselves.

Just like the people in the park, all playing a, dressed up and enjoying the sunshine together. They had taken a few moments out of their adult lives to just simply play. It was an interesting end to the day, coming from role-plays where the students took on the roles of care-giver, child-client and hypnotherapist, with each of them taking turns to be a child of different ages and with different issues. One played a particularly energetic six year old who just wouldn’t sit still! It was good to see that the child in us still exists and that, at the end of a long day, we can still sit down and play a game. I will admit, I joined them in the park for a while.