Bonus Episode - The Team's Connections

In this bonus episode, I asked my colleagues to tell me what connected them to Conductive Education. I also shared my own connection, and reflect a bit over the last week.

To find out more - 

About Conductive Education and the Professional Conductors' Association:
https://pca-ce.org/about-conductive-education/

About Megan Baker House:
https://www.meganbakerhouse.org.uk/

Don't forget to follow us on social media:
https://www.facebook.com/meganbakerhouse/?locale=en_GB
https://www.instagram.com/meganbakerhouse/?hl=en

If you have any questions, you can also write to me at:
kelly@meganbakerhouse.org.uk

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hello and welcome back to MPH and Connections the podcast. I'm your host, Kelly, and I work for a Herefordshire-based charity called Megan Baker House, which provides conductive education sessions for children and adults with neurological movement disorders. And I'll bet you didn't expect to be hearing from me so soon, because I did say last time that the fifth episode was going to be our last in the mini-series, but I'm back for a bit of a bonus episode. In the last week I basically learned how to produce and edit a podcast, which was a massive learning curve for me, because I've never done anything like that before in my life. And obviously, I'm still no expert, I've got a lot to learn in that department, but I could really see my own development from the first to the fifth episode. And that's progress, not perfection, is what it's all about, isn't it? And now that I have learned a little bit about podcasting, I'm not gonna lie, I've officially added podcaster to my CV, and a girl can't stay away from a microphone. So here I am bringing you a little extra episode along that same theme of connections, and again I'm changing things up a little bit. We focused this week on other people, like our participants, their families, and other professionals about what connects them to CE. But this time I wanted to turn inwards and I asked my colleagues about what connects them to CE, because for us it's never just a job. Let's have a listen to what some of them had to say.

SPEAKER_03 1:26

Hello, my name is Sue, and I'm the head of client services at Megan Baker House. My connection with conductive education began in 1993 when my daughter and I attended a parent and child group together. Through that experience, we discovered that conductive education was the best approach for us. It had a profound impact on our lives and truly changed our family's journey. That experience inspired me to learn more and eventually train as a conductor so I could help and support other people living with neurological conditions. I went on to study for my degree in conductive education, which is a three-year degree, and the story continues today through my work supporting the amazing clients and families at Megan Baker House.

SPEAKER_08 2:23

Hi, I'm Becky. The reason I love conductive education is they can do positive attitude and always giving clients and families hope.

SPEAKER_07 2:34

Hi, my name is Sarah. I'm a conductive assistant. I am connected to conductive education because I worked as a teaching assistant for many years, in which I worked with many different children with whom had different special educational needs. I have a great interest in inclusive education. I value how conductive education helps people with routine movement and building their independence so they can learn new skills. It is great to see how people progress.

SPEAKER_02 3:02

I'm Chloe, a senior conductive education specialist. My journey into conductive education started over 20 years ago when I first discovered MBH and went and did work experience at just 17 years old. I immediately fell in love with it and a year later went off to Uni to train to become a conductor. During the three-year degree course, I carried out two of my placements at MBH, and upon graduating, I was wanting to move back to Herefordshire and was successful in securing a job at MBH. 18 years on, and I'm still here, very much enjoying the role and feel very privileged to play a small part in the journey of our participants and their quest to independence.

SPEAKER_05 3:44

Hi, my name's Izzy, and what I love about CE is the focus on helping people become more independent and confident. Being part of their progress and seeing what they can achieve is really rewarding.

SPEAKER_04 3:59

Hi, my name's Amanda, and the reason why I love being a conductive educational specialist is helping to be the guiding force that transforms lives on a daily basis, helping people reach their best potential and getting their dreams to come true.

SPEAKER_06 4:16

Hi, my name's Courtney, and I've recently joined the team at Megan Baker House. My connection to conductive education is that I've spent over 10 years caring for vulnerable people within their own homes. I've been aware of the benefits of conductive education for many years, and I jumped at the opportunity to become a conductive assistant when the opportunity arose. I'm really passionate about enabling people to reach their full potential and live life to the full, maintaining and regaining their independence regardless of any physical or psychological barriers. And conductive education helps both adults and children to do exactly that, and I'm really proud to be a part of their journey.

SPEAKER_01 5:00

Hello, my name is Marianne, and what connected me to CE is the meaningful impact that conductive education brings in others' lives.

SPEAKER_00 5:10

And it's lovely to hear those responses from my colleagues which are all connected and yet varied at the same time. For me, what connected me to conductive education was a very dear friend of mine who has cerebral palsy. We'd been friends since we were teenagers, and I knew she attended this place called Megan Baker House, which is a place that helps her with her movements and stuff. Literally that's all I thought. Now a few years ago my friend got married, and I knew her goal was to walk down the aisle independently on her wedding day. She posted her progress over the months on social media, of her sessions at Megan Baker House, and her practice in her walking outside of the sessions too. And as somebody who's known her for several years I could see a huge difference as time went on. Fast forward to her wedding day, and she walked independently down the aisle, with me as one of her bridesmaids following close behind her, and honestly, that is one of the proudest moments of my life seeing her achieve this. A few months after the wedding, I saw a job advert at Megan Baker House and decided to apply. I was in the process of changing my career and I'd had previous experience of working with people with disabilities. I got the job and the rest is history. Looking back at that now, a career in CE was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I've always felt that people with disabilities are very often capable of far more than society often gives them credit for, and I've always placed a lot of value on making a difference. I'm now way steep in CE, since as soon as I started I was keen to learn more, and it wasn't long before I started studying to become a conductor. For me, that's going to allow me to make an even bigger difference to people's lives, helping them to become their best selves. For me, what's the point in anything if you can't make a difference? I strive to make a positive difference every day in our participants' lives, and I'm so proud to be a part of their journeys. You may have heard me say this week that conductive education is a lifestyle, and I've learned through being at MBH that it's not just the participants that experience this. I've also experienced it myself as a member of the team. As you've heard from some of our conversations this week, the impact we have is not just physical, it's psychological as well. Our sessions are designed to light our participants up, increasing their motivation to learn through our structured environment, and therefore improving their body image, self-esteem and confidence in the process. We aim to develop that positive can-do attitude in our participants, as Becky says, and in order to bring that out in our participants, we have to embody that ourselves. This has inevitably made a difference to me personally, as I feel I have way more of a can-do attitude in myself now than I did before in my career in CE. A prime example of this being that I've just learned to podcast and produced five podcast episodes in a week, and would I have had the confidence to try and tackle that before? The honest answer is probably not. I have a huge amount of respect for them for that, and I also feel that my understanding of them has deepened. I hope I can bring this deeper understanding into my practice when I'm leading sessions with them. So I want to say a special thank you to Marshall and Debbie, Sarah and Dave for coming on the podcast, and not only that, for touching my life in the same way that I hope I touch yours. On that note, I think I really am ending this series now. I hope you've all enjoyed listening. If you want to find out more about Megan Baker House or Conductive Education, I've put the usual links in the show notes. And another great way to find out more about us is by connecting with us on social media. Our Facebook and Instagram accounts are both at Megan Baker House. And if you can, please also rate and review this episode to help us be seen by more people and help spread that awareness of conductive education. I'll see you when I see you. Bye.