Just being more aware

I promised myself, when I started this blog last year, that I wouldn’t let a week pass by without writing a post. Ocht well, it’s been a busy two weeks! And, bearing in mind that the main purpose of the blog was to encourage me to write, I’ll let myself off as I’ve spent some of that time writing other bits and pieces (which are now filed away in my ‘maybe I’ll submit this to something someday’ folder!)

Rather than do a ‘did this, did that’ run-down of the past fortnight, I’m just going to mention one thing that sort of made me feel good. It might sound a bit weird that this thing made me feel good, but I’ll try my best to explain why.

A sense of raised awareness about any topic, I think, is no bad thing; even when that topic is a particularly harrowing one. At last week’s Samaritans Branch Meeting, a representative from Open Secret – a charity that provides support for adult survivors of childhood abuse - gave a presentation which not only described the range of services that they offer, but also made me so much more aware of the range of issues that survivors of abuse have to cope with. She also brought along a DVD, filmed by and featuring survivors themselves, which was simply heart-breaking. However, the overall message - that both the support worker who came to our meeting and the survivors on the DVD portrayed - was one of hope, and acknowledgement of the strength that can be gained through being listened to, being believed and being supported.

Our branch often invites along speakers; it not only encourages more SAMS to come to (the sometimes otherwise mundane) branch meetings, but it also helps in our role as volunteers. Last month we had a visit from a local Consultant Psychiatrist, along with a nurse who specialises in new therapies for mental health disorders, such as Bipolar and the like, and a few months ago we had a talk from a recovering alcoholic. All have been interesting, some have been difficult to listen to, but all have raised my awareness of some of the issues that some of the people who call Samaritans are having to deal with. Now, I should make it clear that I don’t think it’s at all essential that I have in-depth knowledge of these issues. After all, as the old saying goes, “there is a great difference between knowing and understanding: you can know a lot about something but not really understand it!”

SAMS are on the end of the phones to - first and very much foremost - offer emotional support. But I’m glad that the organisation encourages its volunteers to listen carefully not only to its callers, but to other agencies and support networks too; not so that we can become armed with knowledge, but just so that we can become a wee bit more aware of some of the many issues that callers have experienced, or are experiencing, in their lives.

As I said at the beginning of this post, maybe it sounds a bit weird that having a raised awareness of some of the really awful things that folk have to contend with is something to feel ‘good’ about; but it’s the idea that that raised awareness can help in a supporting role; that's what makes me feel good, not the awful thing itself.

I hope that made some kind of sense – this post’s been written in a bit of a rush while I’m procrastinating over an assignment for my course that’s due in soon. Part of the assignment involves reflecting on things I’ve become more aware of about myself over this past year – so, thank you blog for finding me a starting point... “One of the things that I’ve become more aware of is how difficult I sometimes find it to express why something makes me feel good......”