from St John's, Newfoundland

Happy days to all of you from The Rock, that part of North America that sticks out into the Atlantic Ocean, a narrow harbour often blocked by icebergs. St John's was the site of the 2002 “From Sea to Sea" conference of the Canadian Association of Child and Youth Care Workers – held in the third week of October as reported on the internet as a high quality event, not worth missing.

From Sea to Sea: St John's Harbour at Sunrise

The highlights of the St John's Sea to Sea Conference were the ways in which the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Child and Youth Care workers organized and cared for everyone who attended that conference, working through St Francis' child and youth services agency led by Heather Modlin. Delegates came from across Canada and the world! Heather and her team of hard-working and dedicated colleagues extended the art of caring to the extent of presenting each contributor with a sweatshirt sponsoring Newfoundland, each sweatshirt handpicked! Mine is blue, with a zip to hold back the biting winds of Spring or Autumn. Thanks Newfoundland and Labrador for hosting a 5/5 Star conference! Kia ora new friends, and to re-unions with old friends, swapping stories about life journeys and learning experiences!

Nova Scotia Delegates and Others at the Dinner

I was left pondering about the importance of Child and Youth Care workers coming together at regular periods for reflection, to take stock of what’s happening in this chosen career. It is about attending to “best practices" in the field – offering benchmark comparisons between ourselves, between agencies, between provinces and communities, as well as between countries. The pursuit of “best practices" in Child and Youth Care follow a parallel process to that of engagement with carers reviewing their performance at least annually with children or young people and their families. Such end-of-year reviews offer families and their young people opportunities to “benchmark" personal experiences with services designed to help them, and to reflect on these at the end of their year, during annual times of family reflection at Hari Raya, Hanukkah, Depa Vali, Christmas, Hogmanay or when preparing to leave the Chinese Year of the Horse to begin the Year of the Sheep. There is much to celebrate in coming together as Child and Youth Care workers re-focus their attentions around the critical tasks and heart of daily practices with kids. Both Keynote Speakers reinforced these themes. Both offered welcomed and thoughtful words of note.

Seasons Greetings for the New Year of the Sheep

Changing tack, some may not know (or care) about the international Grand Prix of super yacht racing “The Americas” Cup Regatta “being sailed off New Zealand's Auckland Harbour in February. Semi-finals for the Louis Vuitton Cup where either the Seattle-based OneWorld team or the Swiss team Alinghi will challenge Team New Zealand in the best of 7-race final!

I wish you and your family the very best during your annual family holiday activities at this time of year. Don’t forget to build in “Buddy Stops" in 2003, for your families, colleagues, and the children, young people or families with whom you work!