‘REACHING OUT TO OTHERS’ with Intensive Interaction in 2019.

It occurred to me recently that, over the last 15 years there has clearly developed a strong (albeit geographically diffuse) community of practice around Intensive Interaction, as well as there now being many different (although sometimes overlapping) local and service based communities of Intensive Interaction practitioners. These local, national and increasingly international communities of practice collectively have many members; some members still novice or peripheral (i.e. those at the start of their Intensive Interaction journeys), some others being longstanding and core members of their groups. It has been a real joy to see these self-supporting communities develop over the years.

But in line with the theme we had for our 2018 Intensive Interaction Week i.e. 'Reaching Out to Others’, my mind has started to move ahead into 2019 (not before time!) … and I think we, as a genuinely strong and stable (where have I heard that before!) community need to look with more vigour outside what could be seen as a potentially comfortable and self-referencing ‘echo-chamber’. I think that we need to more actively 'Reach Out' and embrace others, be they individuals, groups, services or even entire disciplines, and get our Intensive Interaction message more and more ‘out there’.

But how should we go about doing this (I hear you ask) ... well I think we need to actively set out to make links with those who might metaphorically and/or literally open the door for us. So rather than us just speaking to each other (which we will still continue to do), we should also be looking to get ourselves invited into other people’s meetings, their various networking events, get-togethers, away-days, conferences, on-line groups, webinars, etc. 

In our Intensive Interaction community we have parents, siblings and other family members, foster carers, teachers, teaching assistants, residential care staff, respite care staff, day service staff, support staff, speech & language therapists, nurses, doctors, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, other therapists (e.g. music and drama), counsellors, clinical and educational psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, service managers, personal assistants, care managers, directors and trustees, and many more besides. So I think that we should all be making resolutions that 2019 will be the Intensive Interaction year of 'Reaching Out to Others’. Lets get our Intensive Interaction story to be the socially interactive 'cuckoo in the nest’ of all these other groups and professional disciplines who desperately need to hear what we have to say (even if they don't realise that just yet).

So perhaps these might be some useful questions to ask ourselves: 

1. Outside of Intensive Interaction, which other groups am I a member of, or work with? 

2. What kind of training, information or networking events or media do they use? 

3. Who organises these, and how might I contact them? 

4. Can I draft a short presentation proposal about Intensive Interaction? (Yes you can!) 

5. What is stopping me doing this? (Nothing!) 

So, let’s get Intensive Interaction out there ... Let’s all 'Reach Out to Others' in 2019!