A bitterly British cold wind came to greet us as we stepped off the plane at Heathrow. Tired yet exhilarated from our time on the DBYN Step 3 Training for Trainers course in Malta, we had spent the journey reminiscing on our highlights of the last seven days. It had been quite a week.

It had begun the previous Sunday when the 23 participants came together in Malta from 11 different countries across Europe. Old friends and new talked excitedly about what had been described to them as an "intense" course would hold for them. And the work began straight away with sessions over the first couple of days on different learning techniques, the various roles in a group, styles of leadership and how to design a course, at the same time as preparing our own good mornings and goodnights. The coffee was in high demand during the session breaks!

Then, it was our turn. After a day looking at safeguarding issues and conflict management, we were divided into groups and given an evening to prepare our own presentations on the topics for the next day. Having come through those unscathed, we barely had a moment's breather before we were challenged once again. This time we had just a few hours to design 90min sessions for actual forthcoming DBYN events which we then had to simulate with the rest of the group. Phew!

As if that wasn't enough, also squeezed into the week were an intercultural evening, a couple of evenings out in Malta and a party to round off the week. Thanks go to the host team SPYS who did a fantastic job looking after us all. Some of the games, dancing and singing in the evenings will undoubtedly last long in the memory.

Throughout the course, the participants were given loads of support by the trainers not only courtesy of three one-to-one mentoring sessions but also in the group and individual feedback from the sessions that we led.

All in all, it was a packed week's introduction to life as DBYN trainer, but ultimately an inspiring and rewarding one. Having returned to our respective countries we can reflect on our experience and look forward to our first opportunity to step into the shoes of our trainers!