Tartan Traınıng Presents ''Spıder In the Glass''
Tartan by Prickly Thistle
Illustrations © Laura Anne Middlemiss
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Spıder ın the Glass
The story so far.
Hello and welcome. My name is Myra Ross and I created the Spider In The Glass. I am a mother of two, poet and retired Police Officer. In policing, I specialised in Child Protection and Domestic Abuse. After an early retirement, I went on to work with care experienced young people in a variety of settings. Eventually moving to roles in education, where I found my vocation. I thrived in a classroom with the young people, the rest of the world, it seemed, had declared “disengaged”. My response: “Someone is not engaging, I am not sure it’s the bairns”. I value the audience and their contributions to our learning.
The priority at Tartan Training is to get the job of delivering quality training on abusive relationships done. I want to prevent harm and support recovery from abuse. I create learning, telling stories which draw together the various threads, which lead to people becoming trapped in abusive relationships. We make connections between abusive relationships, trauma and the impact of trauma. I have created characters to bring these stories to life. The characters help us, as professionals look at our bias conscious and otherwise and relate to life events, we ourselves may have no lived experience of. I believe if we create understanding in professionals, we can create understanding professionals. The feedback on the learning, from partners who have engaged in it is very positive . Every hour a professional spends in training is an hour away from frontline service. Our courses are high quality and dynamic. Time is precious and expensive and so we only say what needs to be said, to get the message across. Reflection on the learning we deliver, is what will deliver the change your organisation seeks. We send invitations to participants, to consider, to reconsider. We do not send instructions – real personal and organisational change is trauma informed and requires choice. We are keen to deliver what professionals need and happy to work collaboratively to create bespoke learning. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Myra Ross – Creator Spider In The Glass
Our Mission
We Are Here To Prevent Harm and Protect People
We deliver excellence in learning which
Reduces vulnerability to harmful relationships
Promotes recovery from the impact of harmful relationships
Supports professionals to provide a trauma informed response
By
- Explaining the nature of abusive relationships
- Describing the characteristics of abusive relationships
- Highlighting the impact of unconscious bias
What's the Poınt of a Poem?
The Spider In The Glass
In the Summer of 2023 Laura Anne Middlemiss (Artist and Illustrator) and I got together to create pictures and words which would tell the story of domestic abuse in a relationship. We would go on to use some of our work, this poem and a collection of images to introduce the story of The Spider In The Glass in a leaflet. The leaflet also included the contact details for agencies who offer support to those experience domestic abuse. The leaflet was created in collaboration with the Highland Violence Against Women Partnership.
Sex Crime
Crimes of sexual violence are often exacerbated by the cultural norms of victim blaming and shaming. Why do we not question the perpetrators behaviour and choices? Is this a sex crime?
Bold (Silver Jacket)
This poem was written in Edinburgh after watching a performance of a show called "Are you still watching?" at the Fringe Festival, by a lady called Sonia Wilson. Her one women show took the audience on a whirlwind tour of all the reasons why we humans, do not get on, with following our dreams. The main character always wanted to sew a silver jacket and so "Bold" was written. That same year after a very successful "Reclaim The Night March" a lady called Lorna Stanger ran overnight from Inverness to Thurso (110 miles). I read Bold to the gathering before Lorna set off, in her silver running jacket. It's become something of a tradition, whenever I see you Lorna, I read Bold for her. It's a reminder to us all to chase our dreams and be bold.
She - I wrote this poem to share with participants on my training and in a Scottish poster campaign. It is an invitation to reflect on victim focus, victim blame and victim shame.
The Untangling - Is simply a reflection of the value of a therapeutic journey. Particularly for those whose trust and boundaries have been violated.
.
Used - Is an invitation to consider the commodification of women and girls. It reflects how women are often degraded by language used to describe inferior commodities.
Unconscious Bias - I use storytelling to create understanding of lived experience. Our lived experience creates our unconscious bias. Every course contains a reference to bias and this poem. We cannot instruct people to change their bias but we can invite them to a higher level of awareness of it and the impact of it.
Spıder In the Glass Learnıng Packages
Training Sessions Overview
We currently offer five sessions which allow us to fully explore abusive relationships in a selection of scenarios through the lens of ~The Spider In The Glass. Bespoke packages can be arranged and priced in collaboration with partner agencies.
1. Introduction To The Spider In The Glass
Duration: 3 hours
Duration: 2.5 hours approx: This is a webinar session – The story explores the characteristics of domestic abuse in a relationship. This session can accommodate large numbers. The price is dependent on the number of attendees and supports required in terms of IT and wellbeing. The learning aims are:
• Create an understanding of domestic abuse
• Understand the impact of unconscious bias
and deconstruct Victim Blaming and Shaming
• Answer the question – “Why does she not just leave?"
2. The Spider In The Glass Part II – High Risk Domestic Abuse & MARAC
Duration: 3 hours
This session is designed to revisit domestic abuse and examine how to identify and respond to high risk cases and referral to MARAC. This session is suitable for smaller groups to allow more interaction or larger groups in a webinar – dependent on the partners need.
• How do we assess risk – The DASH RIC
• How do we identify escalation – The Spider In The Glass
• When do we refer to MARAC
• Safety planning
3. Suicide and The Spider
Duration: 2 hours
Description: This session addresses the connection between abusive relationships and suicide. It includes an overview of abusive relationships and The Spider Scenarios. Moving on to examine the connections between suicide and abuse.
4. Learning About Love – Inside The Glass
Duratıon:
This course is being refreshed. We will look at what we learn about love, inside the glass. How do we build our boundaries and maintain them?
• What do children learn?
• What do adults learn?
• How does this appear in Public Protection work?
5. Power Theft – Where are the scenes of this crime?
Duratıon:
This course is in development.
6. Bespoke Learning
Duratıon: Varıable
Customised to meet the needs of your organisation. Learning can be provided for small groups, leaders or supervisors. May be of value in performance management.
In addıtıon to our Standard Packages we can offer Specialist Bespoke Packages Including face to face delivery will be priced individually based on partner needs. However, we are about creating safety and preventing harm. Education is the way to achieve this. Our hope is that we can work in partnership to deliver learning to professionals and create learning materials to prevent abuse. Let’s work this out together.
Spıder In the Glass Testimonials
"The best training on this subject I have ever attended"
"I am a specialist in domestic abuse. Although this training taught me nothing new, it is by far the most effective and comprehensive training I have ever attended and would be of great value to those seeking to understand."
Excellent Course Materials
"The use of storytelling and poetry completely pulled me into the experience of "Myra""
Contact Us
Let us help!
If you are unsure about what type of training will work best for you, just tell us a little more about your needs. We will get back to you as soon as possible with the answers you need!
Spıder ın the Glass
myra@spıderıntheglass.com
