This month, Fiona Cook PTSTA, one of the Directors of Physis Scotland reflects on the beauty of Autumn, with a focus on change and new beginnings.
I looked up the meaning of Autumn when I was thinking about writing this blog hoping for a bit of inspiration if I am being honest, as I am not overly fond of this season. The definition Google provided for me was ‘the season after summer and before winter’! Well I could have just about defined it myself! That’s a no brainer and perhaps not really a definition? Just a fact! Reality! An inevitability.
Pondering over what I am not fond of at this time of year, I know it is the beginning of the 
longer and darker evenings which I hate, having to put more clothes on and start wearing socks and tights as it is becoming colder! And those are just for starters! However, I do have to concede that the colours of autumn are absolutely stunning and I am blown away every day as I see incredible tones and hues of red, yellow, orange and brown on trees and bushes as they prepare to ‘die’ for a season before the wonder of nature brings them to life again. Apparently in literature autumn can refer to ripeness, change, maturity, beauty, sadness, or preparing for an end or decline. Such a range of meaning and interpretation. And thinking about ripening, maturity or ending, how amazing that the final burst of life, or the beginning of nature’s death results in such exquisite beauty and where trees can show us how lovely it can be to let things go.
The season following summer is also a time when there is change and new beginnings, all of which we are experiencing at Physis Scotland. We continue to be thankful for our beautiful, well equipped and warm home where students can learn and thrive – it is nearly a year since we signed the lease for Drumsheugh and we continue to love working there! We have a new Foundation Year group of 18 students who have already started with us and a Senior Training Group (STG) of 16 students whose first weekend of the new academic year was held recently too. We welcome Susie Hewitt to the Physis Scotland team who is the new trainer for the STG and it is wonderful to have Susie on board with us. We also welcome Carol Remfrey-Foote who is our new Academic Student Support Advisor as she begins to work alongside us this new academic year. We are about to start a Diploma in Counselling Supervision which our friends and colleagues Bev Gibbons and Ronen Stilman will be teaching on our behalf. The final piece of good news is the return of Deirdre Gillespie! Deirdre was a wonder in her previous role with Physis Training Ltd as many of us can remember. There was not much she did not know about all the systems and processes and we are thrilled that she has agreed to join the team again in a very part time capacity starting soon!
We feel surrounded by friends and colleagues as we build a team of experienced and knowledgeable professionals in a wonderful way. It feels safe and strong. We feel we are building on a solid foundation. In our rooms are many pieces of art work which not only have been chosen because of their beauty and significance to us, but they also represent us being surrounded by people we value who are in the room with us and who we have perhaps introjected into Physis Scotland. So, for example, we have a few paintings on our walls which the lovely Alison Ayres has painted! They are beautiful and inspiring and remind us of the many years of her life she has given, and continues to give, to the TA community in Scotland and beyond. There is also a beautiful print of a wild woman standing bare back on a galloping horse which Barbara Clarkson gave us when she stepped down from Physis Training. Their presence is in the room with us. Not in a ghoulish way at all, we feel our predecessors with us and this stirs us with courage and determination as we grow Physis Scotland and hold our breath and our nerve at times!
So. Autumn. A time for change. A time of beauty. A time of decline? Yes to the first two – a time 
of change and beauty, but certainly not of decline in Physis Scotland. We are on the up and thriving! And long may that continue……
