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News Rab Erskine
| Rab Erskine |
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It was January 2008 when Rab Erskine first made contact with the SoulPad offices, he held our attention immediately. "I'm a self-employed person-centred therapist...I have a large amount of outdoor activity and therapeutic residential experience...for the last fourteen years I have been developing a way of working with specific client-groups within a ‘wider than normal’ therapeutic context." Rab describes his programme as "a way of working with individuals and groups that has absolute attention to detail. It consists of nourishing, enriching, and elementally anchoring experiences that invite individuals to re-connect with relationships in a fundamental way. It uses a high degree of therapist congruence, alongside a broad spectrum of sensory experiencing, reflection and articulation, all as a way of supporting the growth or re-connection of the individual’s relationship to the here and now experience." Rab needed a SoulPad 5000-lite, Blaze stove and Blaze-flue to enhance the experiences of his clients.  The old shepherd's cottage: Glengaber Cottage The cottage is set on it's own in a 'horse-shoe' shaped valley in the Tweedsmuir Hills, South of the village of Traquair in Peebleshire, Scotland. The nearest public road is two miles away in any direction. Rab has access to two small native woodlands as well as to the open moor land surrounding the cottage. The cottage sits in an acre of land within which a programme of native tree re-planting has been introduced. The cottage is small and basically equipped. It consists of a large stone-floored living/dining room, heated by a wood-burning stove. This stove also heats the water. There is a small kitchen and separate toilet, with shower. Sleeping space consists of one large bedroom, one small bedroom, and a large piece of fenced in ground around the cottage for tents and tipi. There is a Calor Gas supply to run the cooker. Lighting and energy to run the stereo or re-charge batteries comes from a solar panel system. There are a number of outhouses out to one side that are presently un-used (apart from by the barn owl). Although not all the work takes place in this setting it offers a basis for the context of this way of working. It engages the clients with nature, wilderness, a more basic form of day to day living, connection to the senses, elements of nurture, homestead, safety, isolation, trust, exposure, hardship, physical struggle while a perceived experience of danger it offers a level of safety and protection within which the therapeutic work can be provided. Rab and his clients almost always journey some of the way by foot, carrying their own clothing and equipment in order to feed and refresh themselves (stove, mugs, tea, coffee, frying pan, veggie sausages, rolls, etc) however, due to the limited physical fitness of most of the clients (not to mention the very limited levels of emotional energy and enthusiasm) there are always one of two ‘four wheel drive’ vehicles on hand. Rab's plans for the future include using native ponies as supply vehicles where possible rather than four wheel drives. It is not unknown for Rab and his clients to spend most of the time available journeying through the terrain on the way out to the cottage, stopping for cups of tea and egg rolls cooked by a stream side, chatting, learning about each other and exploring the natural environment, leaving only enough time for a quick toilet break and a return overland by landrover to the start point. At the time of writing, Rab awaits news of his funding application for the programme (which is clearly worthy of some serious cash injection). But Rab is not the sort to hang around, he is continuing with his plans despite the funding delays. We at SoulPad would like to wish Rab every success for the future. We will continue to support Rab in any way we can. To contact Rab Erskine please call 07767 480132. Or send Rab an email. |
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