Hi all,
We had another fantastic course in the Salthill Hotel in Galway as 18 new students took their first step in their recovery on this wonderful programme.
15 of the new students were from Ireland, one from Denmark, Sweden and United Kingdom.
Wednesday evening’s video session showed a 50/50 overt/covert.
Michael Rohan was our CI for this course and he gave a brief introduction on what the following three days would entail for both new students and graduates.

Thursday morning about 40 graduates joined us for our first session at 8.30am.
This consisted of explanations of costal and crural breathing, locations of blocking and remedy. Very simple stuff but very effective.
Throughout the day more and more graduates arrived to help out and of course to work on their own speech. There were split sessions on discipline/reality check/how to move forward in recovery for graduates. Michael decided to get the new students speaking as quickly as possible and as often as possible so all sessions had an element of drilling as opposed to sitting and listening.

Thursday night all new students did fantastically well in giving their name, address and phone number to a group of 70 people. ‘Pausing’ was a required element throughout this course and this played a vital part in making this course really special.

Early morning phone calls were followed by a recap session followed by an Irish dose of bacon/sausage/fried egg/and all the extras. Friday saw more and more sessions being presented by graduates on different aspects of the techniques and mentality and all 18 new students decided to enrol on the programme.
Although the weather was not kind to us on Friday, most of the graduates managed to clock up their 100 contacts and 10 disclosures.

Saturday’s Harrison workshops were headed by the infamous Padraic Hamrogue who got the group into the letting go and feel good mode.

And so we headed off to Galway city centre for the contacts and public speaking.
18 students took to the streets and their technique became stronger and more confident with each contact they made.
Public speaking was held in Shop Street and despite the drizzle; a large group stopped and listened to the very powerful speeches from the new students and graduates.

Back to the hotel for the remaining evening sessions. Like the previous few courses, we had a family session presented by Ann Hamrogue, Monica O Shea and Nadine Ward-Walsh. Well done ladies.

The farewell speeches were short, crisp and concise and Michael and I decided that 2 minutes per student was ample. Quite a few family members joined us for this session and all the new students spoke with great technique.

A huge thank you to all of the graduates who took time out of their busy lives to attend and help out. Thanks to all the graduates who did presentations and split sessions. You all worked so hard before and during the course. You are the backbone of this great programme.

To Emmet O Connell who helped out in working behind the scenes that very few know about. Thanks Emmet.

To Dave, who made himself available to call up and speak to each new student during the course and not forgetting his courage and vision and perseverance to start up and keep going this fantastic programme. Thanks Dave.

To the 18 new students who took a chance on us. I hope your recovery will be ‘fast and full’. Thanks lads.

Finally to Michael Rohan for his ‘Fields of Athenry’ rendition. Gareth Gates…watch out. Michael ran a simple and crisp 3 days. Every aspect was understandable which made it easier to retain. Like all instructors, Michael put a lot of time and effort to make this course a special one. He’s also a very good friend to me personally and to many graduates. Excellent work Michael.

So, that’s it, we’re heading north of the border to Belfast in October (3rd-6th).
I hope to see many of you there.

Joe O Donnell
Regional Director

Originally posted 2008-11-11 21:41:24. Republished by Blog Post Promoter