Patrick Tomlinson’s Blog – Professional and Personal Development

Patrick Tomlinson says of this blog:

“This will be the first of a series of blogs on Development. It is especially relevant to those who work with traumatized children and young people, but also more widely. My 30 or so years of work in services for traumatized children and young people has always had a focus on development. I think of this as broadly meaning growth, expansion and advancement. Development means learning from experience. This can be exciting and also scary. It means change, leaving the familiar territory and going into the unknown. All of which we might understandably resist, but which are essential for evolution and survival. As Charles Darwin said it is not the strongest that survive but those most responsive to change. It could be argued that in our fast changing world the ability to respond to change and adapt is increasingly important.

This blog is on our own development as a worker. What often gets referred to as professional development, but I think it is far more than that. I include workers at all levels who are involved with traumatized children. Carers, therapists, supervisors, managers and directors, among others. The next blogs in this series will focus on the development of: the child/young person; our colleagues and teams; the organization as a whole; and those we are connected with, such as a child’s family, other professionals and local community. I am starting with the worker, simply because for me, my choice to work with traumatized children was my beginning.”
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