dissociation help from PODS

83a High Street

HUNTINGDON

Cambridgeshire

PE29 3DP

01480 878409

0800 181 4420

07746 799221

info@pods-online.org.uk

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helpline:

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PODS provides:

training days/workshops to inform and educate about the reality of living with and recovering from dissociation, trauma and sexual abuse, suitable both for dissociative survivors, their supporters and professionals such as counsellors and psychotherapists
opportunities for survivors, partners and supporters to meet together and provide mutual support
a weekly telephone helpline
ongoing e-mail support
resources such as a the magazine Multiple Parts, Resource Guides and Emergency DID Information cards
signposting to other organisations

PODS is run by Rob and Carolyn Spring, along with a team of others, most of whom suffer from a dissociative disorder. Rob is training as a counsellor and Carolyn is a freelance writer, speaker and trainer who has DID as a result of organised abuse. Go to Meet the Team.

Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) may affect as much as 1.5% of the population (Johnson et al, 2006). That’s just under 1 million people in the UK. At least a further 3.5% of the population may suffer from another dissociative disorder, which equates to a further 2 million people (see here for details of statistics).

PODS exists to make recovery from dissociative disorders a reality through training, informing and supporting. Click here for a PDF about us.

PODS is a project run by START (Survivors Trauma and Abuse Recovery Trust), a registered charity number 1143737.

You are here: PODS > home

PODS runs a helpline on Tuesday evenings between 6 and 8 pm. If you cannot get through, please leave a message and we will phone you back ASAP. Appointments can also be made to speak at other times - please either leave a message or email. This is not a ‘crisis’ helpline (like the Samaritans) but we are happy to speak with DID survivors, partners and anyone who is living with or supporting someone with dissociation or DID, or professionals seeking advice.

Helpline Number

(freephone)

0800 181 4420

PODS provides a private online forum for dissociative survivors and their partners or supporters.

This is not an ‘open forum’ which is free for anyone to join as there are several of these available on the internet already. Instead, this is a ‘closed forum’ and access is only granted to people who have made contact with PODS either via the helpline, by email, or by having attended a training day. The other requirement is to be a ‘Friend of PODS’.

If you would like more information about joining the forum, including a copy of our guidelines, please email us: info@pods-online.org.uk.

For a comprehensive list of books relating to dissociation, please visit our bookstore.

PODS now has its own page on Facebook. Please visit it by clicking on the link below and ‘like’ it to receive updates and wall posts.

You can also sign up to our ‘Cause’ to raise awareness of DID. This is an app within Facebook.

And finally ... follow Carolyn (@CarolynSpring) on Twitter!

Please recycle your ink cartridges and help raise funds for PODS. Send off (via FREEPOST) your used inkjet cartridges for recycling. If they’re eligible, we will receive a small commission and you’ll be helping to save the environment!

Click here to download the FREEPOST label, with our unique barcode or contact us to request a stack of freepost envelopes.

PODS has recently produced a Dissociation Resource Guide. This A4, printed and comb bound publication contains over 50 pages and is stuffed full of facts, stats, definitions and articles relating to trauma, dissociation, DDNOS and DID.

Available for £6.00 inc P&P, this is an excellent resource for both survivors and professionals.

Click here for a sample Contents page. You can order and pay online or send in an order form with a cheque.

Would you like to support the work that PODS does? If so, become a ‘friend’!

Apart from training days, which are self-sustaining through charging an attendance fee, all of PODS’ other activities require the support of grants or donations.

Become a ‘friend of PODS’ for £20.00 a year (UK individual) and you will receive each of the 3 editions throughout the year of the printed version of Multiple Parts in the post as soon as it is published. You will also receive the last back copy as a PDF by email and will be entitled to a £5.00 discount on every PODS training day.

And more importantly, you will be helping us to continue to provide the services we do, which includes publishing Multiple Parts, providing resources such as the free Emergency DID Information Cards and Resource Guides, and providing the helpline which has so far supported over 200 people.

For more information on how to become a ‘Friend’, as well as organisational and overseas ‘Friendships’, please click here.

The latest edition (January 2013) of the PODS magazine Multiple Parts is now available for sale. Written for survivors by survivors, this resource is published three times a year in January, May and September and is available printed and comb-bound. It contains articles of interest to both survivors and professionals: click here for the Contents page.

Go to www.pods-online.org.uk/resources to purchase the latest edition. A free PDF version will be available in May (when the next edition is released). It is also posted free to ‘Friends’.

Dates for 2013 (more to follow in 2014):

Saturday 18 May 2013 in Huntingdon, Cambs

Saturday 30 November 2013 in Bradford, West Yorks

Saturday 7 December 2013 in Huntingdon, Cambs

Cost: £50.00 per person or £80.00 for a couple

(survivor plus supporter)

This workshop is suitable both for people suffering from a Dissociative Disorder and their partners, family members or other supporters, including professionals such as counsellors, psychotherapists, Community Mental Health Teams, psychologists and anyone else interested in finding out more about how dissociation is a creative and brilliant coping strategy for surviving otherwise unendurable trauma.

The day will be an information-based workshop looking at Understanding DID, What It’s Like Being DID, and Coping with and Recovering from Dissociative Disorders. It will run from 9.30 am to 5.30 pm.

Feedback from previous delegates:

“Before the day, I was really anxious about how I was going to cope as this felt like a huge step for me to take. However, the day was brilliant and I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. It was also very ‘safe’ and I actually enjoyed the day massively. Really recommended!”

“This was a fantastic workshop which has given me a wealth of insight in my work as a therapist. A wonderful blend of theory and personal insight from two very engaging speakers. 10 out of 10!”

The last session of the day from about 3.30 pm will be an open meeting for survivors and partners/supporters which is the opportunity for people to meet together, support one another and share their experiences, facilitated by Rob. There will be a separate Q&A session for counsellors, therapists and other professionals during the final session in a different room, facilitated by Carolyn.

For further information and a booking form

please go to our events page.

‘Working with Relational Trauma: Attachment and Healthy Relationships’ Workshop

Sexual trauma such as childhood sexual abuse is the ultimate violation of boundaries. Rather than growing up with a secure attachment where our personal, physical and psychological boundaries are respected, as trauma survivors we have often grown up in toxic relationships, where we have developed a shame-based sense of self, and consequently in adulthood we may struggle to maintain our own boundaries as well to respect other people’s.

This workshop will look at why all this happens, and most importantly what we can do about it.

Covering topics such as how to identify safe and unsafe people, what role mindfulness can play in the development of our interpersonal capacities, and how to develop a healthy relationship with both others and our self (or selves), this workshop is suitable for both trauma survivors and those working with them.

The workshop will be running as follows:

Huntingdon on 8 June 2013
Sutton Coldfield on 26 October 2013
Preston on 9 November 2013

For more information and to book, go to our events page.

Back copies of Multiple Parts are available for download at www.pods-online.org.uk/magazine as a free PDF where you can also sign up to our mailing list. Back copies are also available for sale as printed and comb bound versions for £5.00 each including P&P. Go to our resources page to order the printed versions.

We now have a number of resources available for free or to purchase, including DID Emergency Information Cards, our magazine Multiple Parts, a Child Sexual Abuse Resource Guide, a Grounding Poster, and the Mind booklet, as well as others. Go to our resources page for more information and to order.

‘Trauma and the Body - Somatisation and Dissociation’

Trauma doesn’t just affect the mind and the emotions. It profoundly affects the brain and the body too. Often ‘the body remembers’ what the mind cannot.

Why is it that so many trauma survivors not only suffer from ‘psychological’ disorders such as Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) but also from a whole raft of physical issues — chronic pain; frequent or recurrent infections; auto-immune disorders such as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (aka ME), fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis; and difficulty in both connecting with the body and living healthily? The body is both the medium through which often the original trauma was enacted, and the source of ongoing suffering and self-hatred.

Come and find out what long-term impact trauma has on the body, and most importantly what we can do about it! This day has run already run successfully on two occasions so far, in Huntingdon and Bradford. The workshop will be running as follows: