Posted by John on 18/9/2016, 7:58 pm

Hi all Not long got back from the beginners workshop today and wanted to post this while the experience is fresh in the mind. Firstly, I just want to say thanks to Andrew and Ian for volunteering their time this weekend. They were great at putting a room of anxious men - all of us of varying ages and descriptions - at ease and created a safe space where we could discuss and learn about AP. Before the workshop I’d never told anyone about my AP, so even just being in a room where we could talk about and admit to our AP felt like a wall coming down in outwardly accepting that it’s something I suffer with. I’ve suffered with AP since sometime in my early teens (I’m now 24) but it took me until the start of this year to even bring myself to Google why I couldn’t pee in public…and a few more months of reading posts on this message board to pluck up the courage to email about coming to a workshop, but I'm glad I did! Before the workshop urinals were totally out of the question and I would struggle with cubicles in certain situations but over the course of the workshop I was able to work up to peeing urinals with strangers present. This is leaps and bounds above what I would’ve thought I’d achieve but I know now that the challenge lies in transferring my progress to my everyday life. Thankfully I now have a set of tools and knowledge to pull from to help on that journey! If you’re hesitant about going to a workshop, as I was, all I can do is to urge you to go. The anxiety of booking and making your way to the workshop isn’t something you can get away from but I can safely say that it very quickly leaves after you arrive and the positives soon outweigh those initial anxious feelings. Hopefully you have got something out of this if you’re thinking about booking on a workshop and thanks to everyone who attended with me for being so welcoming! John

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