BAPCA is able to offer members bursaries for conferences from the Mary Kilborn Trust.

THE MARY KILBORN MEMORIAL FUND

The Mary Kilborn Memorial Fund is for people who may have such thoughts when reading about international person-centred events and bursaries. The holders of the Fund are keen to emphasize that these funds are accessible to any member of PCT Scotland or BAPCA who wishes to attend an international event and needs financial help to do so. We encourage applications from all members, whatever the level of support required. If there is something you dare to dream of doing, we are open to discussing with you the process of application. You may wish to give one of us a ring or simply go ahead and make a written application.

The funds are available to assist people to attend international person-centred gatherings, workshops, conferences and other events - events that take place in a country other than their country of residence ( eg for UK members, outside the UK).

MARY KILBORN

This fund is dedicated to the memory of Mary Kilborn who died at the end of June 2000. Mary was well known in the person-centred community as a therapist, supervisor, trainer and communicator of her own reflections on working in a person-centred way.

Mary saw person-centred therapy as aiming to create a loving mutual relationship where both client and therapist feel prized and loved. She strongly believed that it is only through ongoing personal exploration that person-centred therapists can learn to be open with self, love self, and thus be available for their clients. She believed that an important part of this ongoing exploration required certain settings - good quality training, large group experiences, conferences - that should be accessible to all. She put an enormous amount of time and energy into organising such openings for person-centred therapists in Scotland at a price that enabled all who wished to partake.

She also encouraged and helped people to go to events abroad, feeling it important to experience and contribute to the person-centred world at large and also feeling that, no matter how fearful it might FEEL to venture into the big person-centred world, the experience would be deeply enriching and nourishing, even if you did not speak the language. (Mary could and did counsel, teach and supervise in three different languages, gave lectures in five and was learning a sixth language.)

It is this particular international aspect of Mary's work and life that is reflected by the Mary Kilborn Memorial Fund, which has been set up to assist attendance at person-centred events outwith one's country of residence. The Fund is open for distribution to all members of BAPCA and PCT Scotland, not just those with a counselling qualification. This reflects Mary's valuing of the Person - Centred Approach in the many settings in which it finds expression.

The initial finance for the Fund comes from the unexpected surplus generated by the PC Forum held in Glasgow in 1999. Mary's warm energy and hard work as one of the organisers contributed to the Forum being such a success, and both BAPCA and PCT Scotland agreed to use their equal shares of the surplus to start this Fund.

The Fund

No fixed life is envisaged for this Fund - it will last as long as there is money to distribute. Donations to the Fund are welcomed from anyone who wishes to support its aims and commemorate Mary Kilborn.

The aim is to reflect a person centred way of working in the processes of applying to and distributing from the fund.  To help people with this the  following sections have been written. The overall sum is not large and yet it is the intention of the holders of the Fund to try to make application open to the broadest possible range of requests for support.

After much discussion by the holding group of the issues inherent in the process of making an application, we would like to share briefly some of our thoughts.

1    Enquiries prior to application are encouraged. The fund is there to be used and we encourage any person with a wish to find out more to ring and discuss the matter further with any member of the holding group.

2    The holding group exercises responsibility on behalf of all the membership of the two Associations.

3     The  personal development needs and perception of how attendance at the particular event will enrich and develop a person's appreciation and ability to live more effectively in a person centred way is of great value and yet it is accepted that this is possibly extremely difficult to quantify, so therefore we will not be making decisions simply on financial grounds.

4      It is hoped attendance will enable the person to contribute to the person centred movement. How this could be achieved may be reflected in statements which echo those about Mary's interests and hopes given above.

To aid the process of making an appropriate response the holding group would wish initial enquiries and applications to be made in plenty of time. This will allow due consideration and dialogue to take place between the members of the holding group and the applicant as necessary. The holding group will need a supporting letter from another member of either Association, so spreading the responsibility a little wider. The process of making a request for financial support is seen as of value in itself. The next section endeavours to cover the necessary and sufficient conditions for consideration of a request for financial support.

How to apply

Within the context of the process outlined in the previous section the following information is requested:-

1     Confirmation that an applicant is a member of BAPCA or PCT Scotland.

2     A statement responding to the aim of the Fund, which is to enable attendance at international events, which otherwise would be beyond an individual's means.

3      Details of the proposed event and the expected cost of attendance.

4      The amount of financial support requested.

5      An indication of what the event represents to the applicant in terms of value to their training and personal development needs.

6       An indication of how the event would enable the applicant to contribute to the person centred movement and development of its wider appreciation.

7        A letter in support of the application addressing in the widest terms the issues raised above. This would be from a member of PCT/BAPCA.

It is expected that people who receive support from the Fund will write something about their experience of the event they have attended for publication in the BAPCA/PCT Newsletters. Should applicants feel unconfident at the thought of writing for publication in the newsletters, the holding group can put you in touch with people who have offered to assist, if required.

There will be a statement in the annual reports of BAPCA and PCT Scotland indicating the recipients, the events attended and the amounts disbursed. The written reports and the accounts will provide vehicles for feedback to both organisations about how the fund is being used and keep it visible to the membership.

The holding group look forward to your enquiries and applications.

The present holders are :-