Hello! I'm really excited to promote this great oppotunity! :) ❤️ Valentine’s Day Special Training — Understanding & Preventing Coercive Control @Christopher Whitehead-Baines is hosting @Serena DAfree for two tailored sessions — one for trauma survivors and one for therapists/counselors and coaches related to this topic. *****Please check out this post for more information!**** free-training-events-understanding-preventing-coercive-control

Posted with permission from @Georgiana D ❤️ Valentine’s Day Special Training — Understanding & Preventing Coercive Control Valentine’s Day often highlights love and connection. We’re choosing to also look honestly at how control, coercion, and harm can hide inside relationships. Love should never require fear, compliance, or self-erasure ❤️ On Saturday 14th February, we are honoured to host the brilliant @Serena DAfree from DAfree Awareness Movement for two tailored sessions — one for trauma survivors and one for therapists/counsellor and coaches. Duration 1 hour, and will be recorded. Live attendance is open to all members. 💜 Trauma Survivor / Peer Support Community Join for free here: Trauma Healing Community VTT 🕑 2pm UK time (check your calendar for local time) Understanding & Preventing Coercive Control We will explore: • what coercive control is and why it can be invisible • how patterns of control create trauma over time• how it appears beyond romantic relationships • the impact on the nervous system, identity & safety• red flags and gentle awareness By the end, you’ll: • recognise coercive control as a pattern, not a single event • understand how harm can exist without physical violence • gain language for experiences that are often hard to name• leave with a more compassionate lens for yourself and others 🌿 Therapist Community (for therapists, counsellors and coaches) Join for free here: Therapist Community TPS 🕓 4pm UK time (check your calendar for local time) Coercive Control Explained for Therapists: Why it Matters We will explore: • foundations of domestic abuse & coercive control • historical, legal & human rights perspectives • impacts on survivors • how coercive control presents in therapeutic work

The OODA Loop I first heard about this acronym when taking a self defense class and it's something that's stuck with me--I may not always remember the acronym, but I do remember it in practice. Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. That's it. It has some drawbacks but it's used in business, military, sports, self defense and other areas of decision making. OODA describes a cylcle where we observe what’s happening, orient by filtering it through experience and context, decide on a response, and act (then the loop repeats). Most missteps happen in the Orient phase. We have the tendency to rationalize red flags, freeze under social pressure, or default to familiar scripts. Type 1 thinking. Under stress, the brain narrows attention, distorts time, and favors habit over reason. If our orientation is off, every decision downstream is flawed and in some situations this can lead to not so great outcomes. In typical decision-making, improving OODA means challenging assumptions, noticing emotional reactions, and updating mental models instead of defending them. Better choices come from clearer perception. In high-stress contexts (self-defense, emergencies),threats exploit hesitation and confusion. Early recognition and decisive action (even something as simple as creating distance or leaving) can interrupt another person’s OODA loop and collapse their plan before it turns physical. When we encounter someone acting/planning to act with bad intent, they've already moved through parts of their OODA cycle and they are in the preaction phase. Our job is to be aware of potentials and interrupt this process. (vigilance/awareness is different than hypervigilance though--more on this below). OODA isn’t about being fearless or fast. It’s about being harder to manipulate, surprise, or trap psychologically. Whoever adapts first has better control of a moment. *******(A quick note: observation/orientation is NOT the same as hypervigilance)******** Awareness and hypervigilance can look similar as they both involve noticing what’s happening around us. Psychologically, though, they come from very different places and lead to very different outcomes. This is important because how we end up acting as a result matters.

You are invited to a Zoom meeting with @Bruno Militz on February 4, 2026, from 7pm to 8pm EST, featuring a guest speaker, Eric Martin, discussing the importance of relationships, consistency, and patience for achieving freedom. Eric has been Bruno's mentor for the past 8 years, has been running his own business for over 15 years, and is someone he deeply respects both professionally and personally. I don't know Eric personally, however, I respect Bruno and I trust that his recommendation is solid. :) On the call, Eric will be touching on • Playing the long game in business and life • How relationships compound over time • Staying consistent when results are not immediate • Why freedom is built slowly, not suddenly • Keeping an open mind and remaining a great student as you grow 🕖 02/04 (Wednesday) at 7 pm EST. 🔗 https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5614515373?omn=85017240292 For those of you who have not met Bruno, he has amazing energy, is driven, and he is passionate about helping others grow--while also leading by example! I've appreciated our interactions and love how he shows up in the world. :) I absolutely have been appreciating his Monday Motivation videos/posts too :) You can find his group here :Personal Growth Skool

In the past few days we spoke about the first 9 principles of success as described in "The Rhythm of Life" by Matthew Kelly (more here : day-1-purpose; day-2-priorities; day-3-balance; day-4-discipline; day-5-growth;-day-6-faith; -day-7-relationships; day-8-generosity; day-9-integrity)Today we delve into the tenth and last principle: Reflection. And then we're done!!!!!! (Just a small but important note, the term success here can be applied to many areas of life, and ultimately, it's really just about intentionally becoming the best version of yourself.) PRINCIPLE 10: REFLECTION “Without reflection, life loses its rhythm.” In the book, this step of the process is where everything else that's been talked about it either integrated or lost or just becomes performative. Meaning...discipline turns into rigidity, generosity into depletion, relationships into neglect, integrity into image managing, faith into performance, etc, etc. It ends up being the opposite of success. The author describes the act of reflecting as essential to learning, course-correcting and gratitude. It's yet another way to help us live intentionally rather than reactively or on auto pilot.