REPORT OF THE DEEPENING PRACTICE NETWORK
(formerly the Practitioner Support Programme)
Output from DPN: 1. Events: We planned four events this year:
March 2008– ‘Understanding your Comfort Zone’ was cancelled owing to insufficient bookings.
June 2008 – Four day Retreat in Suffolk with all 4 members of DPN jointly facilitating – a highly successful and joyful event with deep process for all fourteen participants.
September 2008 – ‘Setting up your Practice’ – where the informative and stimulating information given by David Balen was balanced by group sharing led by the DPN team, which enabled each participant to ensure that their next steps with Reiki were clear.
October 2008 – a one-hour session at the Gathering, focussing on ‘Share the wonder – exploring what it means to be a Reiki practitioner’.
2. A dedicated website:
Our website – www.reikipractice.org.uk was handed over for our control. We began sending out e-newsletters, 3 having been sent out so far this year. We have received a positive response to these messages, with feedback and enquiries about the themes that we are addressing.
3. Articles for TOUCH:
We have written articles for each issue of TOUCH on topics that members have asked us about, such as advertising. The question and answer column is also building interest.
Input to achieve this (how we work together as a team):
- We have held three management meetings, each over 3 days, after which we have sent minutes to TRAC to ensure good communication.
- We send update-reports to TRAC prior to their meetings, and have ‘held’ the possibility and made ourselves available to attend TRAC meetings as a team.
- We have a ‘Liaison Person’ whose job it is to liaise between DPN and TRAC, as a means of aiding communication through a clear channel.
- We keep an eye on our budgets – to be mindful of how much we are contributing to, or receiving support from the Association. Each of our events has made a profit this year, and to keep costs to a minimum we have shred travel and held meetings in our own homes and those of fellow Reiki folk.
Name Change:
In response to suggestions from previous council, it was felt that the time was right to change the name to reflect more clearly what we offer. The concern was that many people do not like the work ‘practitioner’ and do not associate with it, so people were not connecting with us. Deepening Practice Network more accurately reflects our intention – to enable all those initiated into Reiki to deepen their practise of Reiki. Have a look at our website www.reikipractice.org.uk for more information on our history.
Summary:
We understand that, with a backdrop to questions about the future of the Association, it has been a tough year for everyone. Council may be questioning the need for the team’s existence, yet as a team of 4 people dedicated and responding to the needs of members, we are happy to report that we are still here. From the feedback we have received in feedback forms and emails after our events, it is clear that our work is appreciated and valued by participants. It has given us great pleasure to offer these opportunities, and as a result of this service we have each Deepened our own Reiki Practice. We hope to be able to continue to offer members the opportunities to deepen their Reiki practice too.