Here at PROMIS Hay Farm we’re celebrating the arrival of 4 moorhen chicks. The chicks are, tiny black bundles of fluff no bigger than golf balls, they’re very quick to tumble into the water, where they swim around behind their parents at an incredible speed for their size, like little torpedoes. We have been witnessing many firsts with them, including their first, very careful steps into the pond. Mum and dad are looking after them well, along with helping hands from our patients who are ensuring they get plenty to eat and nothing tries to eat them, like the resident cat!

Moorhens are known for being very territorial especially when they have young, I’ve even heard of Moorhens seeing off hedgehogs, one in particular marched an intruding hedgehog off the premises as if he was some gamekeeper. During breeding season Moorhens can be heard literally screaming at their uninvited quests, but our Moorhens are happy for us to look out for them.

Moorhens are medium-sized, ground dwelling birds usually found near water, our resid

ent hens live in the Hay Farm pond and spend the night nestled on the central island safe from any prey.

Dedicated moorhen parents will raise two or three broods of offspring every season. Their families are unusual, in the bird kingdom; in that young ‘teenagers’ from earlier broods will stick around to help their parents feed and guard their subsequent hatchlings. They truly are the epitome of teamwork!

For more pictures, please check our Facebook page.

Working with horses and professional therapists, people discover new ways of dealing with addiction problems. Many times patients receive an invaluable insight into their own behaviours through interacting with these magnificent creatures.

A relationship developed with a horse can offer challenges to help overcome fears, build up trust, respect, compassion, develop communication skills, problem solving and coping techniques as well as self confidence and self esteem. These skills are transferable to many other areas of ordinary day to day life.

People learn about themselves and others by participating in activities with the horses. Horses are very intelligent animals and they are deeply perceptive to human behaviour which makes them a great companion in therapy. They are extremely open to building trustful relationships if the trust is mutual. They can sense any kind of stress that we may be experiencing and react according to the signals they receive from us. What’s most fascinating about them is that they can neither lie nor judge but they can surely help us discover new things about ourselves and open doors to a new found confidence, joy of life, understanding, free us from our resentments and provide us with a wider perspectives of ourselves.

Once you get to form a bond with your horse, you will realise how the subtle changes in the way you feel further impact your relationship with your horse and consequently with your  family members and your social circle. Moreover, they can also assist you in building natural leadership skills or they can help you tone down those compulsive behaviours that end up restricting your life.

Recent applications of EAP transcend beyond the treatment of addiction and mood disorders as it is now widely recognised to be a very powerful tool in treating trauma and other mental illnesses. In fact, so powerful that we have seen the EAP turn many skeptics into firm believers just after a couple of sessions!

What better way to take in the beautiful Kent countryside than on horseback!

Horse riding offers a great workout for both the mind and body, physically boosting the cardiovascular system and mentally easing stresses on the mind.

Horse riding is recognised as having excellent therapeutic qualities. The psychological benefits can be of equal importance to riders as the physical benefits.

Simply being outdoors and enjoying the countryside will boost your general well-being and act as a great stress buster. There is a real sense of exhalation and freedom when you ride, a feeling that is second to none.

Furthermore, developing a relationship and sense of trust between yourself and your horse is highly rewarding. Learning to control and care for an animal much larger than yourself can have a profound affect on your confidence and is a great feeling.

One of our patients, who went horse riding yesterday exclaimed that he felt ¨at peace riding through the beautiful countryside¨.

All PROMIS patients can book horse riding treks through their focal counsellor as well as taking it a step forward with EAP (Equine Assisted Psychotherapy).

The word ‘tipi’ comes from the Lakota language and is made up of two elements: thi, which means ‘to dwell in’ and pi, which means ‘they dwell’.

No temporary structure is more beautiful, more comfortable, more robust or more practical. The tipi is strong enough to withstand fierce storms and is capable of being a comfortable home all year round and we will definitely be making it a permanent spring/summer structure, so that our patients can truly enjoy the beauty of our surroundings.

We have our very own tipi here at PROMIS Hay Farm, situated next to our camp fire; patients can relax by the evening fire and take shelter in the relaxing tipi complete with comfy cushions.

Patients will also be enjoying the tipi for relaxing sessions of acupuncture, shiatsu massage and hot stones, making the whole experience completely tranquil.

Brits set to consume 774 billion calories in snacks, 95 billion calories in drinks and almost 3 billion units of alcohol during the World Cup 2010.

A research by AXA PPP health-care has revealed that millions of football supporters in the UK could be putting their health at risk, with alcohol and calorie consumption and time spent on the sofa set to soar for the duration of the World Cup.

Health threats to overindulgent World Cup TV viewers´include hangovers and consequent liver damage in addition to the increased risk of developing diabetes and heart disease as a result of the increased calorie intake. Moreover, for fans with underlying coronary heart disease, there is an elevated risk of heart attacks, especially during the stressful crunch matches.

Whilst we won’t be drinking, here at PROMIS, we will still have all the fun the World Cup has to offer watching it from the comfort of our patient lounge on our 40 inch plasma TV, accompanied by a variety of healthy snacks!

Catheryn Kemp describes her brave battle to come of pain killers in an article she has written for the Sun newspaper.

Read this fascinating account here:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/woman/health/health/2953600/Rehab-diary-of-a-painkiller-addict.html

On Saturday afternoon half a dozen of us went out to learn to shoot clay pigeons. We were given some excellent tuition from Peter who helped us get on target.

Recovery should also be about having fun, we have a busy therapeutic schedule at PROMIS, learning new skills, but it is also just as important to learn how to enjoy free time without our addictions. Whether it’s horse riding, climbing or shooting, we will help our patients find their recovery fun as well as uplifting.

There are calls again this morning for the urgent reclassification of mephedrone.

This is a very interesting problem because it sits right on the fault line of a crucial addiction debate. Read the rest of this entry »

I listened to a very interesting talk last night by the author Will Self. He has discussed his recovery from addiction in many interviews but last night he gave an excellent talk to Doctors and Psychiatrists to try and help them understand how they can help others with this problem. He made the very good point that when addicts are presenting in front of doctors and psychiatrsist they are often in denial of their own addictions and, even if not, will tend to keep them a secret because to admit them would mean accepting the need to stop. He pointed out that without this crucial piece of information Doctors and Psychiatrists will often make plenty of other diagnosis and, more worrying, prescribe plenty of psychiatric medication.

Read the rest of this entry »