Reflections from the first BTN conference

It has been a weird time in the world, 2023.

As I write this, an attack continues in the on the Palestinian people, oppression, displacement, tragedy, fear and continuous loss. It almost feels like we have only have anger, sadness and fear within the world.

However something magical happened in a small corner of the internet on October 22nd 2023.

Members of the BTN community came together to share knowledge and learn. The whole event was joyful, deep and engaging. The event itself was driven by members of BTN that believed in the power of the collective, at a time when the world felt (and continues to feel) so divided.

Each speaker thoughtfully curated a space that allowed for reflection on topics that are often not discussed in mainstream training courses. This was what we wanted to challenge and to raise the voice of minority.

What we have learnt from creating the event was that things can happen quickly, we can continue to evolve and learn and that we of course will continue to make mistakes. Technical issues did happen, we did run over time and we tried to pack in a lot of information in a small amount of time. We have come together to share our thoughts on what we would do differently and this is our next endevour.

Most importantly, we want to keep the spirit and enthusiasm of the BTN values alive.

For me, I could not fathom finally experiencing and being part of such an event. I feel emotional thinking about how far we come. We established in 2021, post pandemic with the idea to grow organically with love. And here we are, 2023 with a community of wonderful dedicated professionals who want to see BTN thrive.

My final note on this is that, we are a collective of voices, cultures and ideas. Despite the differences and the challenges we will continue to face in the world BTN will continue to hold space for the hurt, the pain, with the hope for healing and growth.

Dr Tina Mistry, founder of BTN