Allan Wade workshop EXTREMELY SUCCESSFUL!

100 people squeezed into a conference room at SMC Conference Centre, in the city of Sydney, for two days early last December, to hear Dr Allan Wade. Allan's workshop, "Small Acts of Living: Violence, Resistance and the Power of Language" was widely praised as informative, entertaining and extremely useful.

In his irreverent, but simultaneously profoundly respectful style, Allan took people on a journey through philosophy, the mechanics of language and its constructive power and the practicalities of having MEANINGFUL conversations with people who have experienced violence.

Allan's major thesis is that the language we use — in talking with our clients — but ALSO in talking with colleagues and other professionals, in writing reports, and so on — has a profound effect on people's experience and perspective.

In particular, Allan demonstrated how a focus on "the effects of the violence" or "the impact of the violence" is profoundly different from a focus on "responses to the violence".

If we kick a football, the football flies through the air. The movement of the football is an EFFECT of the kicking. Thus, the kicking CAUSED the movement through the air of the football and the football did not exercise any active AGENCY. Thus, if we describe the movement as an effect of the kicking, that language constructs the football as a passive recipient of the action. Thus, it does not lead us to be at all curious about the football.

If it rains, many people reach for their umbrellas. However, the appearance of the umbrellas is NOT an effect of the rain. Rain does not CAUSE umbrellas! Rather, people who experience rain RESPOND to it in some way — they may open their umbrella, they may run, they may decide to ignore it ... Thus, considering RESPONSE, rather than effect, places our focus squarely on the person rather than on the rain. The person is an active agent in the process, and we might be curious about their response.

Thus, if we consider the effects of violence and abuse, our language constructs the person who endured the violence as a passive "thing". However, if we consider how the person RESPONDED to the violence, we are curious about what the person DID and, in particular, about the ways in which they showed RESISTANCE to the violence ... and our language is constructing them as an agent, which is a much more helpful perspective.

Further, Allan and his colleagues suggest that Resistance is ubiquitous — if we explore carefully, we will always discover that people who experience violence have resisted in some way. This focus may lead to the possibility of ways in which the person has maintained her or his dignity even in the face of the perpetrator's efforts to remove it.

Allan showed video of actual interviews with people who had experienced violence or oppression in which the story of being a victim of the effects of the violence was transformed into a story of being someone who took action, resisted and maintained (at least internally) some dignity. Participants saw how such stories became empowering for the people involved.

Allan also examined the ways in which the language we use to describe violent acts conveys a great deal of assumption about the nature if the acts. For example, he contrasted the descriptions "... and he kissed her." with "... and he forced his mouth onto her lips and forced his tongue into her mouth." In the first description, the verb "kissed" refers to a mutual, sexual action. In the second, the verb "forced" refers to a unilateral, violent action.

This is only one example of the way that the descriptions we use affect the implicit understanding of the action we are seeking to describe.

Participants' feedback

Workshop participants were asked for feedback on the two days.

On two scales, they rated the workshop highly. "Overall, how helpful was this workshop?" — mean rating was 9.3. "How much do you think the ideas discussed in the workshop will make a difference in your work?" mean rating was 8.9.

Participants were asked: "In what ways was the workshop helpful? How has the workshop made a difference to you (or how will it make a difference?) What was the MOST useful part of the workshop?" Here are just a few of the responses.

“The workshop has provided me with a new way to consider the situations of certain people I am working with, and has provided me with some very practical tools/language (the "how-to") to use when working with these people. I also gained big-picture evidence (individuals, groups of people, all of the stories) that this approach is invaluable in so many situation.”

“The workshop has highlighted the absolute importance of being mindful about the impact which the language we use in therapy can have on our client's healing process.”

“The workshop reframed my thinking about acts of violence and opened my eyes to the ways in which I can approach my work in a more ethical way. I could not say that any part was better or more useful — the entire workshop was excellent and was structured so that each part led to the next in a logical way and built on the previous information.”

“Allan's personality and presentation style was very warm and inviting and created an great atmosphere for learning The facilities and food were very good. I really appreciated the case studies and will reflect on them with future work with families.”

“It was very informative and presented in an entertaining way. The workshop will influence the way in which I work with violent young people.”

“The workshop was fantastic. Great use of humour which always captivates me and keeps me interested. I can definately see how the information presented on language use would benefit me not only in my report writing but also when talking with my clients about their experiences. It opened my eyes so much regarding the importance of my language use and how it can be such a detriment to my clients when not used appropriately, but also when used appropriately can be so therapeutic. I would love for there to be a follow-up workshop or a course to complete so that I have time to implement this new found knowledge into my work and continue to build on it. COME BACK ALLAN WADE, you're a legend!!!!!”

More from Allan

More information about Allan's work is available on the website of The Centre for Response-Based Practice — http://responsebasedpractice.com

Plans are under way for Allan to return to Sydney later in 2012 and present again. We will keep you posted!