Hello everyone. We held our final coffee and connection of the series on Monday March 10th. Feedback was generally positive with the wish for deeper engagement. We will continue to hold our drop in coffees to meet each other. But we hear you and are generating ideas for lively interesting discussions on PDA clinical work. We have even considered hosting an online community “chat”.

I remember how eager I was to compare “notes” when I organized the collaborative into a regular consultation group. I wish the same kind of space for all of you.

This work can feel lonely without colleagues but deeply connective when you have them.

Slowing down, and processing is a gift you can give yourself.

I’m a lot greyer than I used to be. I am at a strange age of energy and drive that is tempered with realism and attunement to the passage of time. I sense what’s at stake. If we don’t support ourselves with the elements that feed our work, it dies on the vine. We have a unique role we can play to elevate a message about PDA and contribute to future best practice.

Right now, however, our professional needs don’t appear to get much attention, and I hope we can change that for each other. Do any of you experience this too?

The following is feedback I am sharing with PDA North America after attending their annual conference. I support them whole heartedly, last year donating many hours a week organizing the collaborative and turning over the related fees. I find this hard to write but since it’s harder to keep to myself I will gently offer it here.

I’ll start first with gratitude. Real gratitude. I learned about PDA 4 years ago and it changed my family’s life.

Four years later my gratitude comes with growing pains. I wouldn’t be feeling them if PDA North America didn’t exist. I want them to thrive, but I want to thrive within them.

I notice professionals invited to be trained or be attendees and a vital collaboration and consultation is not fostered. Instead, books, social media marketing and nonprofessional support programs are elevated in ways that at times, create helpful messages, but can make my job harder, because two important issues as I see them, have gotten lost in the noise. One being:

How can you engage PDA professionals in a deeper collaboration many of whom are PDA parents and PDA adults. I hope that the PDA Therapy Collaborative can do this for some.

The second important issue lost in the noise:

What do we know about “good fit PDA therapy relationship, when and how is therapy helpful and under what conditions”?

Collaborating with us can reduce systemic barriers to good care and mitigate harms in multiple ways because we can cooperate in gathering data sets from our different communities, cultural groups and areas of the country. Proof of Efficacy is an important criterion for funding, program development and advocacy with professional bodies and systems.

Can our organizing body prioritize this and make this happen? If so, when? The role this can play in elevating PDA in the larger community is crucial.

I’ve been feeling for a while that PDA professionalism is second to a PDA “brand” cultivated in the social media marketing space.

Those outside the PDA community are waiting for a ground swell of confident clear practice interventions backed by programmatic data. Social media is not a vehicle to reach them or to build best practice.

I am also feeling that training is missing important elements which has been a frequent theme for me.

Mitigating harms is more than knowing good information. It also means developing active, engaged training through methods that grow practice such as mentoring, peer supervision, regular consulting and processing case work. As a result, our current PDA trainings are not enough to develop true competency so what do they measure?

Developing and deepening skill is already a practice method established in our helping fields. Is our organizing body interested in promoting this.

This is what I need. Do you?

I know I’m a nudge. Just ask my children and they’ll tell you. I hope those who read this also know that I don’t take myself all that seriously. I wear my heart on my sleeve, I make mistakes, need to lean on others, and sometimes don’t see what’s in front of me. But I’ve long ago realized I don’t think the way other people do. And that can be very powerful and at times special. If I voice something it may fall flat. At first. But I’ve learned that if I’m willing to say the same thing enough people will hear it, and my focus can quicken a change. I think I do it well. Nudging, I mean!

I am incredibly grateful to be at this time in my life doing what I love to do and meeting all of you. I’m also grateful PDA North America exists and that we have the opportunity to come together.

Thank you for reading.