Listen to thisSo, I am sitting in the lounge of the Kelvin House Hotel in Glenluce, Wigtown, Scotland (I have come here to seek family roots). I am talking with the hosts Ian and Chris when the talk turns to what I do. After explaining to them a little about Child and Youth Care Work, we end up talking about their friend who is currently struggling with the behaviour of their child. Ian and Chris tell me about the doctors, the diagnosis and all the traditional responses to problems and then we talk about the difference between Child and Youth Care and a traditional medical-model approach. We connect through our concern for the issues of children and parents. They phone their friends, who are pleased to learn that there may be a different form of help, an active, hands-on form of help that they can seek out. I tell them about CYC-Net. They are amazed that such a resource exists.
I am staying in Scotland for a week and I have the opportunity to do a workshop at the Kibble program with Leon Fulcher. As we talk with the staff, from there and from Ireland, it becomes obvious that whether we are in Canada, or Scotland, we are dealing with the same issues. Struggles to understand, attempts to be helpful in a meaningful way, people doing their best to fulfill the Child and Youth Care mandate. We connect through a common commitment to this work.
I attend the conference of the Scottish Institute of Residential Child Care in Edinburgh (which was my reason for being here). As I review the content of the various workshops, I am impressed by the similarity to other conferences: standards, rights, culture, effective interventions, and other issues which one might find at other Child and Youth Care conferences. I talk with the people on the breaks. We talk about common issues and struggles. We connect through our work and our interest in being effective.
Later Niall McElwee and I visit Social Care students from AIT on placement in community programs in Galway, Ireland. The students show me how the issues they deal with are the same issues students deal with in Canada. We connect through the sharing of common experiences. Later we talk with some other people about possible important areas of content for the Voices in Child and Youth Care conference planned by EirCan for Galway in 2005. They identify topics of concern and interest that are similar to those raised in Canada, Scotland and regularly, internationally, on CYC-NET. We will connect through common issues, and a desire to support the voices to be heard.
Now, before this begins to sound a little too much like one of Leon's Postcards, here is my point: It doesn’t really seem to matter where you go, there is a huge network of friends, professional colleagues, and common issues out there. We are all part of something more extensive than we might normally imagine. So, the next time you are feeling alone, or isolated in your profession, throw a dart at a wall map of the world. Chances are it will land near a Child and Youth Care Worker (although perhaps called by a different name). And if it doesn’t fall by a Child and Youth Care Worker, it will probably fall by someone who could use one, or could just simply use a connection.
And if you have ever hesitated to make a comment on the CYC-NET discussion group, don’t hesitate. Those are your friends on-line. Wherever they live. CYC-Net is one way to connect with your field.
Thom
