WHO WE ARE, WHAT WE DO, AND WHY

WHO WE ARE

PODS was set up by Carolyn Spring in 2010 and became a charity (called START) in 2011. Carolyn developed dissociative identity disorder as a result of extreme childhood abuse and you can read more about her here.

The very original focus of PODS was to support partners of dissociative survivors (the original meaning of the acronym PODS) but once we started delivering training in October 2010, we realised that we were being contacted by far more survivors and professionals than by partners of supporters. We therefore changed our name to Positive Outcomes for Dissociative Survivors in 2011 to reflect our principal focus and added a tagline of making recovery from dissociative disorders a reality through training, informing and supporting.

We have evolved over the last few years into a team of three:

  • Carolyn Spring, as the director, delivers all of our training and writes our publications.
  • Andy Stephens, as operations manager, is the man who makes things happen – office management, graphic design and overall logistics.
  • Elisabeth Allan, as client services manager, runs the helpline, support service and counselling centre.

We are also supported one afternoon a week by Ania Anderson and outside of university terms by a couple of students.

WHAT WE DO

Our work falls into three main areas, in line with our tagline:

TRAINING

We have delivered over 100 training days since 2010, welcoming over 10,000 delegates in that time. Our courses have evolved to be primarily aimed at counsellors and psychotherapists, although many cater for other professionals and some are also appropriate for survivors to attend. From 2018 we will be delivering a package of online training alongside our live days. Find out more here.

INFORMING

Our website contains a wealth of information and articles about trauma and dissociation. In addition, we have published a large number of resources, including books, booklets, leaflets, posters, and grounding resources such as mantra cards. We also produce a magazine, Multiple Parts, three times a year, which goes out free to Friends of PODS, but can also be purchased separately. Back issues are available as free PDFs. We actively promote knowledge about dissociative disorders within the NHS and elsewhere by sending out our Information Leaflet for Professionals and other materials.

SUPPORTING

For survivors we run a helpline and support service, provide a ‘find-a-therapist’ service, offer free screening assessments, and run an online peer-support forum.