Results of the Cultivating Bach Education Forum - 2. - 3. June 2016 at the Bach Centre

Discussion group: Why join forces? Why network? Why collaborate?

- to create synergy
- to work on unified criteria and standards
- to create a sense of belonging, be within a community with like-minded people
- to increase motivation
- offer peer support
- to benefit from lessons learned and best practice
- explore business possibilities / difficulties as self-employed people; offer help starting up as a BFRP or trainer
- to utilise the following resources as a group
     -    information
     -    competencies
     -    one another’s networks (schools, sports clubs, children’s groups)
     -    share financial burdens, create a shared website, share flyers, visit trade fairs together

But also to have FUN and experience inspiration!

How can one meet?

-    meetings, BFGs, practitioner days
-    BC-ACE events
-    BFRP networks (see www.bachblütenberater.de/berater for the south-west Germany network of 14 self-organising BFRPs)
-    trainer networks: eg. the 2 French organisations: www.iffacb.fr and www.lapetiteecoledesfleursdebach.com the Swiss network, the German-Austrian network.
-    give informal talks, themed events: pregnancy / birthing / infants / seniors / kids
-    via word of mouth
-    internal local and / or global congresses (self-funding)

- online possibilities:

- Skype
- Facebook - for example: BC open group and Bach Flower Remedies Worked for Me or the German-Austrian Trainers Network
- www.gotomeeting.com
- LinkedIn (the group is called “International Bach Foundation Registered Practitioners and Trainers” but is not v. active)
- WhatsApp (question and answer group?)
- online newsletters
- website blogs

Regarding congresses: Location can be financed by participants, price similar to Level 1 in Brasil. For the agenda, invite trainers from this network

What resources do we have?

 - Speakers with content / information to make it general
(we need a list of resources, lectures, topics! This would be something for the Cultivating Bach education Facebook group that Stefan has set up.)
- do an active exercise “Heal Thy Self”
- practise consultations, increase competencies
- offer peer support
- give space for BFRPs to talk about their accomplishments
- during event leave enough space for contacts and networking! 1,5 hrs with no agenda. Open Space!

* Publicize the date a year ahead to make sure enough registrations come in.
Join people up actively, bring people together.

A VISION for 2020: A Cromer conference. An int. conference took place there in 2006.
Target: at least 500 BFRPs come together, Nicola and Veronique will be investigating the idea of planning this.

In the group were Veronique, Carmen, Marielena, Angela, Nicola. Report: Nicola

THE NEW NEW THING, David Mattin
We live in societies of once undrempt of affluence and possibility...(...)
What happens in this kind of environment? We've all read Maslow: when basic needs and material desires are met, people turn to the ultimate goal - self-actualisation. That is, the endless search to become the people we dream of being. For many, health and wellness are at the heart of that search. Not the "I need a new asthma inhaler" kind of health, but the quest for physical and mental well peak performance, and emotional wellbeing. Trouble is, aquiring those virtues is for most people a journey full of good intentions and little action. Getting better is hard.
These truths provide the background to a larger truth about consumerism in 2016. These days, whatever you're selling, you'd better be selling self-actualisation. The signs that smart brands already understand this are everywhere. One of the most notable is the trend for ambient wellness: innovative new technologies embedded into the environment that offer a (typically effortless) health boost. (...examples follow - Starbucks + special lamps emitting energy-boosting light etc. etc.)

Of course, there's more than an element of the playful about these examples. But they tap into deep-seated expectations about the role that brands should play in making real our dreams of a perfect self. Self-actualisation is the only future for consumer culture. (...) Whatever you sell, you'd better be selling self-actualisation. Increasingly, brands that fail to understand that powerful truth will find themselves sailing into oblivion.

David Mattin is head of trend and insights at trendwatching.com

 (Please ignore the stuff below, don't know why it turns up!)