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From left: Edwina Poynton, Coura Niang, Christine Gaitens, Joanne Fraser, Jessica Hadley and Martin Stabrey
Child and Youth Care folks have an amazing way of being able to nurture deep and lasting connections. And not only when working with kids. Whether it’s working in daily practice or teaching CYC, meeting up again after a time apart always feels like we’re one big family. And so it was when we gathered again in Dublin, Ireland for the Unity 2023 conference at the beginning of November. The last time the conference was held was in 2019, and for the next few years, Covid and its after-effects kept our family apart. We’d kept in touch online, but we know that’s not the same.
Opening Keynote presenter, Dr Sami Timimi
For two days of conference days (and two days of post-conference discussions) it was like we’d never been away from each other. Unity regulars were again (mostly) in attendance, along with many new faces – the leaders of future generations. It’s been said many times before on these pages that CYC conferences and gatherings, local or international, is the tie that binds us. After being away from my Unity family for three years, all it took was a few days together to once again feel reinvigorated and inspired. And it’s a time to meet the family members you didn’t even know you had!
Caitlin Dow
One of the conference highlights was the workshop by Caitlin Dow, Accidental Damage: An Exploration of Educational Trauma in Students with SENDs, at the of hands people who were just trying to help. Caitlin is a 17-year-old neurodivergent student who is working to improve the lived experience of SEND students by educating the adults that work with them and bringing their voices into Education and Council processes and service design. It was Caitlin’s first-ever presentation, although we would never have known (you can see it here). She was truly inspirational. As Jack Phelan observed, Caitlin should be offering lessons on how to run a CYC workshop! Look out for Caitlin’s webinar we will be hosting in 2024. But first she needs to complete her A-Levels.
And it begs the question, why aren’t more youth presenting at our events? We seem to be great at talking about kids: so why are we apparently so reticent in having them speak to us? It’s not like we don’t know how to find them. Or is it that they’re just not being invited? Or is it, as I suspect, that we think they’re somehow not “good enough”? The NACCW in South Africa make it their business to involve children and youth at their events. At their biennial conferences there are often as many kids present as adults. And they’re not just hanging about: they participate fully. How often does this happen elsewhere? We’re great at inserting ourselves into kids lives – how about we offer them the same opportunity. Caitlin’s inspiring presentation at Unity is a salutary reminder to all of us that there should be Nihil de nobis, sine nobis - Nothing About Us Without Us.
