Your Role: Programme Lead, Systemic Practice and Psychotherapy at the Unversity of Derby
Your connection to the course: Connected to course since 2001, a student then tutor.
Systemic training in Derbyshire: tree of life
I began to crochet whilst recovering from illness during lockdown. I returned to the skill, having been initially taught by my great aunt when I was a child, and have found it calming and therapeutic during my recovery. On seeing a crochet pattern for a tree of life I was reminded of the richness of this metaphor and an exercise we have used on the course adapted from Ncube (2006). I decided to crochet a tree of life as an image for my patch. As I worked the stitches together, I considered what the different elements of the tree represented in relation to the courses. There were a few times where it did not go as planned and I had to pull back rows and start again to make the pattern work. There was one moment of great frustration, where I had misread the pattern and I had to put it away for a few days, seek help, and return with a new perspective. This experience mirrors some of the process of working on the courses.
The roots of the course are the systemic community and AFT, and colleagues, both clinical and administrative, in Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust who supported the systemic training in Derbyshire.
Handbooks from the first courses
Within the trunk I see Hilary Howell and Gary Robinson. They were my tutors on the Foundation and Intermediate course 2001-2002 when the courses began within the University of Derby, strongly supported by Wendy Wood.
I have fond memories of the Mickleover Campus and the context created for learning together. Workshops would move from the classrooms to lunch together in the canteen, with the sound of the drums from the music technology courses in the background.
As a result of this strong beginning, I was inspired to continue my systemic journey and to undertake the MSc training in Leeds, influencing everything that was to follow.
The support of DAFT (Derbyshire Association for Family Therapy and Systemic Practice) is also entwined in the trunk. The strong partnership between the courses and legacy for the courses and all who supported them. My crochet is now complete but it’s not the end of the story. I am left contemplating what a new dawn will bring for our tree. this group has created many opportunities for growth.
The branches represent the different systemic courses: Foundation; Intermediate; MSc; CYPIAPT Supervision and the modules within these. Each has its own character and purpose. There are twigs for all the events we have held in collaboration with DAFT and AFT and all the wonderful practitioners, trainers from across the UK and people with lived experience who have supported us in delivering these.
The leaves represent the students, floating to the ground as they progress to new things and providing nourishment to help the tree grow.
The fruits represent all the brilliant achievements of the students and the seeds are the knowledge, skills and ideas they take away to plant and grow elsewhere.
This tree has been tended and pruned by Lesley Novelle, Programme Leader (2005-2019), Module Leaders Clare Nichols and Gary Robinson, and all the staff who have taught on the courses. It has been supported by our systemic consultants and external examiners, AFT and CRED.
The tree has weathered many storms, the Covid 19 pandemic being the most recent of these, when staff and students worked together to discover what we could achieve in the online environment.
I truly value the relationships that I have formed and that have grown over my years in the tree. This tree is not going to continue to grow in the University of Derby but even without the University it has strong roots and sound branches. The values, knowledge and skills represented by the tree are now rooted in other places, representing a lasting legacy for the courses and all who supported them. My crochet is now complete but it’s not the end of the story. I am left contemplating what a new dawn will bring for our tree.
Derbyshire sunrise
Ncube, N. (2006) The tree of life project. International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work, 2006(1),3-16
Pattern for Tree of life cabled pillow copyright LillaBjornCrochet. www.lillabjorncrochet.com