ReachOut Mod Workshop Recap

Hard to believe that a week ago I was over east gearing up for my second ReachOut Mod Workshop, recap down below :)

It was a given I was going to stay on to be a forum moderator for ReachOut for another year and in order to

be one it meant attending another workshop on the other side of the country. This year's workshop wasn't as anxiety induced compared to last years and I had loads of fun catching up with old friends and making some new ones.

As I lived the furthest away in a completely different time zone I was able to get a red eye flight on Qantas and fly out on Thursday night at 11.15pm. I had tried to have a quietish week leading up to it and made sure to get a decent sleep the night before. The flight was booked out which meant I got to sit in the middle of the middle row and I kept waking up every hour or so during the 4 hour flight. They also served us food at 12.00am which was random!

I arrived at 6.25am (3 hours time difference) and raced to the bathroom to wash my face and do my make up so I could look a bit more awake. I then caught a cab to the hostel I was staying at and was able to stash my luggage there until check in later that afternoon. I messaged the forum staff letting them know I had arrived safely and decided to grab breakfast and do some exploring. I was fortunate to be staying at the same hostel I stayed at when I was over for ReachOut's 20th so I knew the area a little. I ended up grabbing breakfast at a 24 hour pancake place, it wasn't super busy so I was able to take my time and read my book. I ordered a chocolate vanilla surprise which was a vanilla pancake, chocolate pancake with ice cream and chocolate sauce, along with a Sprite because if I was going to get through the day I would need the sugar! I spent the morning wandering the alleyways, exploring different shops and checking out the street markets. I allowed myself to buy one thing I really loved under $50 so I bought a leaf necklace. It was an actual eucalyptus leaf that had been stripped down (to the skeleton) then coated in copper then sterling silver and I loved how unique it was. I then stopped for lunch and had a chicken, cheese and spinach gozleme from a food stall and sat down under some umbrellas set up in an alley way to enjoy it. 

I was due at the ReachOut office to help them set up at 3.00pm and I realised that I could catch a ferry from the harbour followed by a 15 minute walk which seemed liked fun. For someone who is from a smallish city it was super confusing but I eventually figured it out (I think I drove the guy crazy with all my questions though as I did not want to get lost)! It was great trip over and then I had to work out how get from the ferry to the office and google maps was not giving me clear instructions, I did work it out and got there with 10 minutes to spare.
I helped set up and said hi to the staff, many of whom chatted to me about the talk I gave on behalf of ReachOut on the 27th and passed on their congratulations. At 3.30pm three other mods (B, L and N) arrived, I'm really close to these mods and we have a group chat on Facebook so it was great to see them and spend some one on one time :)
Afterwards we caught a taxi back to the hostel and checked in, we decided to head out for dinner and ended up back at the 24 hour pancake place (it had other things on the menu too). I ended up ordering potato pancakes, with Mexican mince, salsa, guacamole and sour cream, which were interesting and the pancakes tasted a bit sweet. I would love to recreate them at home because while everything was nice it could've been better.
We then spent the night at the hostel talking, catching up and laughing before going to bed.
The next day we had to be at the ReachOut office by 9.00am so we caught a taxi and helped finish setting up. The other mods arrived at 9.30am/10.00am and it was great to see some returning faces along with a few new ones.

We made name tags and then started on the house keeping side of things, because my prac booklet required me to demonstrate a WHS practice and I had chosen sitting at your desk correctly, I was asked if I could do it at the workshop (because despite being signed off on this semester it was deemed a great idea and something the other mods should know about). I was actually given access to the presentation to add it in and not knowing all the house keeping things, I decided to take it into my own hands and under in case of a fire I wrote: RUN FOR YOUR LIVES. The staff were able to edit these presentations and despite it being a joke they left it in followed by what to actually do in case of a fire, it got a laugh and lightened the mood.
Then we had various sessions about how the forums work, setting boundaries and the returning mods got to help understand how the triage system works.
Afterwards we caught taxis back to the hostel, got into our rooms and got refreshed. We worked out dinner plans, with many choosing to stay in and those who wanted to heading out to explore the area, I ended up going out to get burgers with 3 other mods (B and two others) which was really nice and it was great to chat to them.
After dinner we walked back to the hostel and B and I decided to go out onto the terrace to take
photos. B is a super talented photographer and I had asked her prior to the workshop if she would consider taking some new photos for my blog (coming soon!). We had so much fun and it was great to laugh and watch her work her magic.
The next day after breakfast we headed back to the office for more sessions. I was actually doing a session in the afternoon on self care (I was actually working on this presentation during G Team to add to the craziness of the week!), which was fun and everyone really enjoyed it.
That night a group of us met with the old forum staff member who had left and it was great catching up with him. After a while B and I left the group to grab some gelato and just spend some time hanging out and chatting as we wanted some space and time to relax. We then headed back to the hostel and chatted some more before going to bed.
The next day we packed up our things, checked out and headed to the office. I was doing that day's ice breaker game and I ended up taking an activity I use at Youth Ambassador workshops, which is where people match up captions to memes (it's a simpler version of the What Do You Meme game). This went down really well and a lot of laughter was to be had.
We then took a quiz about our strengths and put our top five up on the board with our names and ranking. My top one was spirituality, followed by bravery and love and I can't remember my other two. We then discussed how these would work in with our work as moderators, it was a really interesting session :)
This year instead of stopping at lunchtime the workshop didn't stop until later in the afternoon, which meant we got to have lunch with the staff. I loved chatting to them all and was thrilled to finally meet
the new CEO, who is lovely and I can't wait to see where he leads ReachOut.

After a couple more sessions, we all caught taxis to the airport. Most of the flights left around 6.00pm (I didn't leave until 7.00pm) we grabbed an early dinner and hung out a bit before saying our goodbyes.
I flew Virgin on the way back and it was my first time flying with them, I wasn't expecting to get a meal on the flight but I did so I had a second dinner of pumpkin ravioli.  I also got a window seat which was nice especially considering I was in the middle of a middle row on the trip over! It was actually a longer flight on the way back so I was able to watch 2.5 movies (Tag, Crazy Rich Asians and half of Life of The Party) and the trip flew by.
I had a great time at the workshop this year and I can't wait to continue being a moderator and see where it leads me next.