'Coming Home' two-day therapeutic workshop for ex-pupils of boarding school February 12, 2011

WEBSITE: http://bit.ly/fuy6o4 -
Boarding school survivors are characterized by many positive qualities. Often there is an individuality and a creativity, an ability to tough things out, and a capacity to endure privations with good humour. But there are costs too. The humour sometimes covers profound emotional and spiritual wounds. In order to survive our schooling we may have sought to amputate an important part of ourselves, a part that isn’t necessarily a “winner” or successful, but loving and vulnerable. Our partners may be aware of a certain subtle absence, a lack of trust or intimacy that has become second nature to us. It is as if we were taught only too well how to be private, self-reliant, coping individuals. Boarding school made us a master of disguises. When it comes to adult, intimate relationships, we need to recover spontaneity, self-expression, a willingness to risk all and be hurt – or be loved. Our caution and calculation are then a huge obstacle.