SUE VALENTINE
FOOD SCIENTIST / CONSULTANT / WRITER / MARKETER / PHOTOGRAPHER
CURRICULUM VITAE
PERSONALAGE: 45
STATUS: married since 1987
CHILDREN: two, aged four and six
COUNTRIES OF RESIDENCE: born in California, moved to Virginia in 1988 with husband's work then to Norway in 1993, first to Oslo, then in 1994 to Stavanger.
NUMBER OF MOBILE YEARS: 8
WORK
ORIGINAL CAREER: Specialist in child protective services (child abuse), outpatient psychiatric care for children in adolescence, clinical psychiatric work, program development and providing professional training workshops.
CURRENT EARNING POTENTIAL: A minimum of £5 per delegate per hour in a workshop environment
BRIEF EMPLOYMENT DETAILS ABROAD: Set up network for professional businesswomen in Oslo in 1993, did the same in Stavanger in 1994. Began developing courses psycho-educational courses for expatriates in transition in 1994.
CAREER PATH
FURTHER EDUCATION: High School Diploma
HIGHER EDUCATION: Sociology Degree (four years) followed by Masters Degree (two years) then 3,000 hours over two years for Clinical Licence for California/Virginia.
INTERVIEW CONDUCTED BY JOANNA PARFITT
JP: So, why did you not simply find clinical work here in Norway? I know that many of the residents speak good English.KP: Unfortunately I needed total fluency in Norwegian in order to be able to work here in my usual profession. I also needed approval from the local education authority for which I would have had to submit all my college and other course work as well as the certificates so they could ascertain whether they were compatible. Although I could have provided the paperwork, I would never have been fluent in the language.
JP: Would any person looking for clinical work, say nurses, physiotherapists and so on, also have this problem?
KP: Yes. I had really underestimated the effect of coming to a country where I didn't know the language. I am so glad that I had other hats to wear.
JP: You mean, the program development and workshops?
KP: Absolutely.
JP: How easy was it to get that going?
KP: When I first arrived in Oslo I started to talk to people, to assess the needs of the expatriate community, particularly within NATO, where my husband was working. I also spoke to people in the fields of mental health and social work. In fact, it was while I was talking to Karen Justice in a car park that the idea for WIN was born.
JP: Tell me more about WIN.
KP: It began as the Association for International Professional Business Women (AIPBW). The name was later altered to the IAPBW, then in mid 1996 we decided, here in Stavanger, to become the Women's International Network, known as WIN.
JP: And what exactly does WIN do?
KP: provides a forum for women to network, share and improve their skills, to grow professionally and to listen to monthly speakers too. I had belonged to a similar organisation in Washington DC, known as the Military Spouses Business and Professional Organisation. This group now has about six chapters throughout the US. I helped to set that up too, back in 1988.
JP: How is the Oslo group doing without you?
KP: There are 90 members, many of whom are permanent residents of Oslo.
JP: Running WIN must be a full-time job, what prompted you to run your workshops?
KP: When I first spoke to someone here about running the courses she told me flatly 'The spirit of the community is such that one gives ones services for free.' I refused to comply with that. I believe that the power to earn money helps self esteem enormously. I was the first NATO spouse ever to receive a self-employment work permit in Stavanger from the Police Department Alien Office.
JP: So how did you manage to secure your first contract?
KP: First I networked. That is so important. I talked to the key women in the town, the Presidents of the Petroleum Wives Club and other similar organisations. I talked to key people in the English speaking schools. All the time I was assessing the need. I was looking for problem areas. Where there's a problem there's always a job. One of the key thoughts to emerge from these conversations was that women are always worried about having to move again. They want to manage their children's transition as successfully as possible, as well as their own.
JP: So that was the birth of 'Moving Successfully with Children'?
KP: It was not quite as simple as that. Fate stepped in too. While I was thinking about the course, Kathy Hewitt, an Australian in Stavanger for five years, rang me up out of the blue and introduced herself. She was a licensed clinical social worker. I had found the ideal partner for the venture.
JP: So then you ran the first course?
KP: There were many hurdles to overcome before that. I wrote to people who had now left Stavanger but had run similar courses, to find out what worked for them. In an expatriate community people are away during all the holidays. That cut out June to September, Easter and Christmas. Kathy and I met in the May. We scheduled our first course for the October. We rented a room at a local arts centre and ran a course, once a week for six weeks. We had eight delegates.
JP: How easy has it been to run the courses regularly in the community?
KP: It is quite a challenge to interest organisations when their employees are so transient. Ideally we would like to be invited by companies to run the courses for their employees, and we are having some success in that area. We have run one in conjunction with the British School. That was partly funded by the parents' association. We ran another in association with SPIN, the Stavanger Partner Information Network.
JP: Quite a challenge then?
KP: Yes. Fortunately I have a lot of determination. I keep on talking to the population, assessing the needs, and we also evaluate all the courses afterwards, talk to delegates and ask them to complete questionnaires. That can be so valuable. JP: What sort of things to the questionnaires tell you?
KP: Things concerning timing and location of course. We now run evening courses for people in work and fathers. We include a section on moving home as well as moving abroad and tailor courses to parents of children of differing ages.
JP: What other courses do you run?
KP: When Kathy became pregnant and returned to Australia during our busy winter season. So I teamed up with Marilyn Fife and produced another course, entitled 'Women on the Move'. That too has been very successful.
JP: What sort of topics do you cover in that one?
KP: We first called it 'Creating and Enriching your life' and encouraged discussion on the significant issues faced by the trailing spouse, such as identity, time management, change, interpersonal relationships and friendship skills.
JP: Do you have any other projects up your sleeve?
KP: There is a wonderful course known as the Meyers-Briggs, dealing with personal inventory. During the one week course you evaluate your personal strengths and look at them in the contexts of career, family and committee work. I hope first to take the course and then develop my own workshops. The technique is used a lot in therapy and also in large companies. It is not only fun but really energises people. I know it can work well in an expatriate environment. I am also interested in becoming involved.
Contact Jo Parfitt: Generaal Spoorlaan 24, 2252 TA, Voorschoten, Netherlands - Tel: +31 (0)71 561 6857 - www.expatrollercoaster.com