Offpat Consultancy services

After a varied career involving public speaking, radio, T.V. and film work, community development, multi-agency meeting chairmanship, hospice visiting, social work, mental health crises and crisis management, training with, for, and by, a kaleidoscopic array of pleasant, often disempowered, and at other times powerful people, Patrick Graham decided, on semi-retirement, to return to freelance ways and set up
Offpat consultancy.

Among the general consultancy services on offer (ring 0845 224 1956 for an informal discussion) Offpat is delighted to put forward the following highlights:

We seek to work only with people that genuinely appreciate a service. We would also prefer to work with managers/course organisers/other training specialists, to put together a bespoke package that best suits the needs and resources of the particular people involved. That package could include:-

Engaging your fellow human beings,

How do you deliver your work? is it to the public? another audience?
Do you have the confidence of all your own workforce?
How do you develop stronger relationships with workers and community alike?
All these issues can be effectively addressed with the help of "honest conversation"; especially helpful are techniques for moving impersonal and dull relationships into deeper human understanding. Sessions are available that can benefit companies in their internal and external communication and this can in turn make for good PR, healthy staff retention and improved production (as witnessed with modern companies like Google and Ben&Jerry's). contact for further details.

Laughter workshop,

A morning or afternoon session (but not straight after lunch) exploring our attitudes towards laughter and fun in the workplace, creativity, productivity, and blocks to efficient individual and team working. The session will include elements designed to draw out participants' fears and worries in order to shape a subsequent sequence of exercises that will enliven and liberate all, through various types of laughter and communication tools.

This module would suit groups of up to thirty at a conference or team building away day but would also help groups of workers or people who want to just cheer up a bit.

Men only laughing + Stag nights,

Men's traditional approaches to group laughter tend to be spoiled by alcohol excess, Traditional Stag nights are a particular example of a ritual that may not be your idea of fun. There is another way. Laughter among a group of men need not depend on Mother-in-law and sexual boasting jokes, instead let Offpat consultancy arrange an evening where the seriousness of marriage is left unmocked - but nearly everything can be a celebratory laugh. Men need to celebrate what is best in them and laughter is a proven way of relieving tension and bringing people closer together. Typically combined with an activity that unites a group of friends away from their normal comfort zone, this session can be a fine way to build a lifestyle committed to enjoyment and healthy laughter.

The Calmer Self,

The laughter workshop module above can be extended to include "The calmer self" module (more suited to straight after lunch): powerful relaxation (mild physical exercise elements included) and stress reduction techniques based on NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming), assertiveness practices and guided meditation, that are adaptable to many home and work situations. "The calmer self" module will aid people to take on public speaking, that is, not just addressing a theatre style audience but also in speaking confidently and appropriately at meetings and in interviews. The assertiveness techniques are equally useful in relationships at work and home; participants will learn how and when best to use "fogging", "stuck record", "mirroring" and the difference between assertiveness and aggression.

The above modules can be adapted and added to in order to best suit a particular group of people in a particular setting. Negotiation on all aspects of such work requested is welcomed and details of venues to be used must be well established in order to achieve the best results.

*All bookings for a whole morning or afternoon session during the offer period are inclusive of both the above modules, bargain rates available for early bookers. After 2008, rates will be higher per individual module. A sliding scale operates according to the nature of the booking, numbers taking part and negotiated levels of intensity and associates involved.