The complete set of 198 Hints are available in paperback from the CYC-Net Press store.
Listen
We may spend hours in team meetings hypothesising about what might be the issues in a young person’s life. And so we should. We do need to spend time in our efforts to understand, to make sense of the confusion and disarray which he or she may be living through.
But we are well advised to pack away all but the broad brush strokes of our theories and plans when we walk on to the floor to be with the kids. Our best point of contact is always in the shared human minutiae rather than the instrumental technical interventions.
Robert Kydd tells of his first meeting with a distressed girl ...
When the doorbell rang I met a white and trembling child care officer gripping a tearful and scowling eight-year-old, who was clad in a ragged pink satin party frock and whose fuzzy hair, grey from lack of brushing, stood out in all directions. She had fought, scratched, bitten and kicked for the whole five-mile trip. I said, 'Hello, Delia, come and see what's for dinner', and she took my hand and came without a backward glance.
Imagine the heightened tension and lost opportunity if he had focussed on the wrong things at that point. In our practice today, no matter how complex are the underlying issues, our first efforts are best directed towards the common currency that welcomes, encourages and bonds.
Go normative.
