P4 Puzzle Pieces - made by Kathy — P4 Puzzle Pieces! Made by Kathy!

Do you like those beautiful puzzle pieces?

These little puzzlers were introduced first at the P4² DID Conference.

What’s the NEXT P4 event?

P4 Retreat: MONTANA 2022

2 – 11 September 2022 (various date options available)

When the idea of creating a brand new DID Conference — educational explanations about dissociation and DID based on genuine and extensive clinical, real-life experience and not a boring repeat of academic literature — was first presented to me in January 2020, having our first conference in August 2020 felt soooo far away. Mind you, 2020 was a crazy year, for all of us. Same as 2021. In fact, for me, 2021 was more intense than 2020.

As wild as 2020 and 2021 has been, we are just a few days away from one of the most exciting weekends of the entire year. YES! We are doing this AGAIN!

We had our second P4 DID Conference in Chicago: P4² DID Conference

The original P4 DID Conference, held in Phoenix, in the middle of the pandemic, was a great success, despite all the odds against it. If you’d like to see a glimpse of the original 2020 P4 agenda, click HERE.

P4², in 2021, will be in CHICAGO at the gorgeous Royal Sonesta Chicago Downtown at the Riverwalk. What a wonderful venue we have this year! Click here, to check it out.

Those Little Puzzlers

Did you notice the puzzle pieces in the image?

Those PUZZLE PIECES are important.

Those exact puzzle pieces have been handmade specifically for the P4 DID Conference. These exact puzzle pieces will be in Chicago, the same as they were in Phoenix. Everyone who attends the conference will get to see these exact puzzle pieces up close and personal, and select one of their very own to keep, of course.

Making these little beauties was originally my idea, and they are one of my contributions to the ART side of P4. Thankfully, I’ve had lots of help making them (thank you, Caden’s crew) — there are dozens and dozens of them — but I feel very connected to each one of these little shiny bitsy things. Since I have had important plans for these little puzzlers, they’ve become important to me, and I have carried them around to many different places. (Oh yeah… I’ve become the weird puzzle lady, ha. That’s me now.) As I share more and more of the photos, over time, you’ll see how many different places these little puzzlers have been! They have been travelling all over town, and soon, they’ll be going across the country, and even the world.

Yes, my piano music will be there as an Art to share, but also, these lovely little puzzle pieces will be there as a treasured art form as well.

WHY?

Puzzle pieces are an important metaphor to show the way DID looks and feels to me.

Every single piece of the puzzle is important. To ever have a chance of seeing the whole picture, you need every single puzzle piece, and none is more important than the other. They are all equally important, and equally needed.

Each piece has a colorful story of its own. The bigger context may be confusing, but each piece has something to say, unique to itself. Each puzzle piece can stand alone, and tell the stories, truths, experiences that it knows. This puzzle piece is the only one that looks like that. It is the only one who can tell THOSE stories.

At the same time, when puzzle pieces are separated from the others, especially when there is a missing piece for a puzzle, those single pieces of the puzzle can feel alone and disconnected and even incomplete by itself. You can sense a sense of loss, loneliness, isolation, separation, abandonment when a puzzle piece is separated from its puzzle.

But when together, and tucked safely into its place, every single puzzle piece has a grouping close to itself, and some neighboring parts who hold an important, close connection with that piece. There is a peaceful bond and connection between them. Not just any ol’ piece can be connected there. Specific, and designated connections are required.

And then…. the pieces, when put together, combine tell an even bigger story — a story that no ONE of the pieces could tell by themselves. The individual pieces, when connected together, become something greater than themselves. They can become a picture of many pictures. Or… they tell the stories of many lives within the life.

For that matter, if the truth be told, puzzles can be quite hard and difficult to put together. The complexities can be confusing. When trying to make sense of the whole, there can be many frustrating moments along the way. You might want to stop if it feels too hard. You might want to give up. It’s not always obvious who fits with who, or who sits beside who. And if you accidentally drop a puzzle piece or two, or forget one, or leave one sitting over there forgotten in the kitchen, then things can stay confusing for the longest of times….

Completing a puzzle takes a lot of determination, willingness, patience, and perseverance.

When putting a puzzle together, combining all the individual pieces means there are layers of stories. Layers of experiences. Layers of truth.

Sounds like a DID system to me!

The P4 Puzzle Pieces

Do you see how these P4 Puzzle Pieces have interesting little mystery bits INSIDE the puzzle piece? What is that stuff? What’s inside those puzzle pieces?? (I’m not telling you — you’ll have to come to Phoenix to see THAT!)

Yes, the P4 Puzzle Pieces can fit together to make a larger puzzle, but these individual puzzle pieces were made for a different purpose. Their significance is what is inside. These puzzle pieces have an inside world. They have internal parts. They are little puzzle pieces who are filled with layers and hidden treasures.

For me, THESE puzzle pieces represent Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). They each have an outside “body” and a variety of inside parts.

Being handmade (by ME!), these P4 Puzzle Pieces are each unique. Every single one of the pieces is different. They may have similarities, but they are each a one-of-a-kind. None of them are the same.

Just like people, and just like DID systems.

These puzzle pieces have many different colors. They have dark spots, light spots, sparkly spots, hidden spots. They come in a variety of shapes. Inside the puzzle pieces are different shapes. Big shapes, little shapes. Shapes of one color. Shapes of another color.

Some of the puzzle pieces are more clear and transparent. Some of them are harder to see through. Some of them have an outer layer that prevents you from seeing through at all.

Again — think how each of these different puzzle pieces can represent a DID system. With layers and groupings of insiders, some closer together internally, and some separate from each other, internally.

Is the metaphor becoming more obvious now? Wouldn’t you like to SEE these puzzle pieces?!! Don’t you want to just hold one in your hands, turn it all around, and have a good long look inside to see it all?

At the P4 DID Conferences, we speak and teach about Dissociative Identity Disorder in lots of unique ways. We will be teaching about trauma, the effects of trauma on the brain, and ways to address trauma effectively. Of course, P4 will be all about “trauma-informed practices”. BUT… the P4 way will be as unique as these puzzle pieces!

Do you need to learn more about how to live with DID?

Do you need to learn more about how to work with folks who have DID?

Do you need to learn how to support someone you know and love who has DID?

Are you tired of being confused about how to manage DID?

Do you have questions that you wish SOMEONE could answer?

The P4² conference will do more than show you super cute puzzle pieces. All the P4 conference will have legitimate information. Genuine answers. Potentially, a few best guesses, but educated guesses based on years and years of direct experience. But in all honesty, MOST of the questions asked at P4 WILL get an answer. Not just any answer. A good answer.

You will not learn this stuff in books!

Wanna join us?

Click HERE to REGISTER for P4²

Registration Information for P4 Retreat: MONTANA coming soon.

Even if you cannot make it TO CHICAGO 2021 — and yes, of course, you are invited to come TO CHICAGO — we are providing an online live-streaming version available using Zoom, that is HIPAA Compliant. Join us from the comfort of your home, from anywhere in the world.

OH! Speaking from anywhere in the world….. Check this out. For the original P4 in 2020, we had people attending P4 from ALL over the world. We had attendees from the USA, Canada, Australia, the UK, Europe, and Africa! I’m sure that the P4² version will ALSO be a fantastic and interesting experience to join together with people from all over the world to learn about DID.

What if someone on the other side of the world can relate to YOUR feelings about DID?

Will you feel less alone, less isolated or less weird?

What if others have the same questions as you?

How will you feel to be connected with people who can genuinely teach you about DID?

How will you feel to get some real answers and some real explanations to explain what is really happening with your system?

How long have you been waiting to get answers?

At the P4² DID Conference, we’re going to have a good close look at DID. The surface stuff can be answered quickly, and then we’ll be able to get into more details. Dissociative Identity Disorder is a very complex subject. There are many unique situations, and many intricacies for every single dissociative trauma survivor. There is MUCH to learn.

I guarantee, at P4² you’ll see and learn something new that you have not heard before.

No doubt in my mind about that.

Click HERE to Register.

You’ll be glad you did.

Are you coming to Montana? September 2022!

I hope to see you soon.

Warmly,

Kathy

What’s the NEXT P4 event? P4 Retreat: MONTANA 2022