The workshops are all done and the feedback has been amazing. I could easily just run these forever – people have expressed a want to do more, or do them regularly anyway. I found covering more subjects in each session worked ok but that actually I think it’s better to try and steer the conversation back to a main theme and then have more sessions overall. The use of art worked great and people really responded to the imagery. I have some great ideas and thoughts on what could come next in terms of creating a resource or what kinds of interventions can grow from these ones. Women explained a bit about what their partners would or wouldn’t want in terms of accessing info and/or sharing in a similar way and I think I might be able to hustle a group of dads together to try and talk to them. I find their lack of participation frustrating and there seemed to be, from the viewpoint of the wives at least, a sense of just dealing with it in the moment when confronted with it kind of attitude that I find equally complacent and annoying!! But I realise that if I’m, or we’re, ever going to break down patriarchy then I am going to have to try and engage men in these conversations – it’s integral – and the difficulty will be finding those who are willing to participate without it just being preaching to the choir, so to speak.
But the bottom line here for these interventions at the end of an exhausting week (four workshops with a perforated eardrum wasn’t easy!) is that they work as a format, the desire and participation is there in spades, I am a little rusty at facilitation but I can hold space well and it felt good to do so again and that I have lots of good stuff to contemplate and explore moving forward. I made a survey for the participant and the responses are coming in which also helps me formulate some future plans and helps me have some concrete evidence of stuff too. I am really pleased to have done them and to have somewhere to go with it all now for the next phase.