STEPS Experience

Would you like to know how the course looks like? Below James shares his impressions of the programme. Read along, contact us for more information and of course expected the unexpected.

STEPS Experience

A few years ago I got an invitation to attend a presentation event at Tralee IT.  I don’t know why I was invited, but never one to turn down an opportunity to learn or see something new, I went along without really knowing too much about what I was going into.

To say I was surprised would be an understatement.  I met a group of people, a few of whom I knew, who had come from varied backgrounds, difficulties and circumstances that were heartbreaking, unfortunate, self afflicted and any other combination of all three.  There was addiction of all kinds, there was serious and life changing illness, there was bankruptcy, there was separation, there was deprivation – in short, there was every sad and harrowing story you could ever imagine, and worse.

However, above all else, there was Hope.

Each and every one shared their story, sometimes with the most brutal honesty.  Some had thought they had hit rock bottom, and found there were yet deeper depths to fall.  However, in the words of Oscar Wilde,

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars”.  

Each had individually realised that they needed help, support, encouragement and where better to get that then from people who were also facing their own challenges and difficulties.  A non-judgmental support group, but with a structure that could lead to better times, better choices, and a better future.

This was my first experience of a STEPS group.  There were a number of Guest Speakers, such as Joanne O’Riordan and Kieran Donaghy, who shared their stories of beating what seemed like unsurpassable odds, all very impressive and inspiring, but I kept coming back to the local group.  What was the connection that had made such a difference to their lives?

The facilitator was a lady called Dee Keogh, a determined force of nature who had rampant enthusiasm and a “can-do” attitude that had been obviously forged from events and experience.  She ran a course that encouraged and supported a level of structured Self Development and Improvement that had had a profound and positive effect on the lives of these attendees. Naturally I was intrigued and curious.

Last January, I finally had the opportunity to experience this course for myself.   I came into a group of about thirty people, again from varied backgrounds and experiences, again some of whom I knew from other events and organisations.  

For three days of solid and demanding work, this was a group who shared their experiences, worked together and helped and supported each other.  A collective team ethos was quickly established, with formal learning through Video and often quite searching self reflection. We had to test our personal trusted beliefs and assumptions and then be open to alternative viewpoints and conclusions.  It was a course where “Outside the Box” thinking was not only encouraged, but was expected. It followed a formal structure, but the informal learning between exercises was at least as important and informative. 

This course had a dramatic effect on the attendees, some of whom made radical and far reaching changes to their personal and professional lives even as the course was ongoing, let alone what changes will have occurred since.  I cannot wait to find out what their futures hold.

James Finnegan