C2Y: Discussions on Child and Youth Care

Characteristics of Child and Youth Care Work

I recently attended the South African National Association of Child Care Workers’ 20^th Biennial Conference, celebrating 40 years of NACCW. Over the coming months CYC Podcast will be posting different presentations from this conference. This month’s podcast will be a talk by Dr. Thom Garfat on the Characteristics of Child and Youth Care (CYC). It is an informative and succinct introduction to some key characteristics of CYC.

You can read more about these characteristics by going to:

http://cycnetpress.cyc-net.org/samples/CYCiP.pdf

 

I have historically posted videos during the July podcast. Below you can find some videos with a focus on South Africa. This country has a tremendous amount to teach the rest of the world about CYC practice. I encourage you to check out the NACCW website at http://www.naccw.org.za. In particular look at the Isibindi project, a paradigm changing approach to child and youth care.

Two videos on Isibindi

The Path of Courage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MriK1u_ij_w (12 Min.)

The Isibindi Project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1D2DUFbzhc (25 Min)

 

An animated video about the Code of Ethics in child care work in South Africa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hteI4StqlKY (10 Min.)

 

Finally, here is a panel discussion that was presented on the last day of the conference. There are 5 panelists (including Thom Garfat). There is about an hour of video before the presentation. Skip to 58:00 minutes, the panel starts then.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i_BBUZ8qiY (90 Min.)

Your Right to Speak with Sammy D’Agostino

Starting in August 2015 CYC Podcast will be starting a new segment on the second Wednesday of each month. The show, called “Your Right To Speak”, will focus on child and youth rights and will be hosted by Sammy D’Agostino. Today’s podcast is a short introduction to Sammy. In the interview Sammy talks about his work on youth rights and why he thinks this is an important topic to discuss. To see a little of his work check out this short public service announcement he made about the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbvIpIeO4fU

…But Names Will Really Hurt Me, The Impact of Language with Jaymie Mitchell

Jaymie Mitchell talks about her thesis “Breaking the Silence: Child and youth care practitioners’ reflections on the organizational silence that surrounds deficit-based language being used in the residential milieu”. Drawing on her own 15 years of experience as a practitioner and her research findings she talks about the impact of language, trauma in organizations, and some thoughts on how to shift the way we talk.

You can now subscribe to CYC Podcast from iTunes. Receive every episode directly to your iTunes library.

Restraints in Residences, with Erika van der Grinten

This podcast is a conversation with Erika van der Grinten about her research into restraints in residential care. She discusses the rationale for restraints, the impact of restraints on young people and caregivers, and offers some suggestions for how to minimize negative impacts.

A reminder that we have become CYC podcast. Currently both CYC Podcast and C2Y podcast are functioning, but they will not be indefinitely. I encourage you to start following us through www.cycpodcast.org, or subscribe on iTunes.

Peer Relationships in Residential Care, with Kelly Capewell

Over the next month I will be featuring a series of interviews with recent graduates of the Humber College Bachelor of Child and Youth Care program. These students will be discussing their theses. This episode is with Kelly Capewell. She looks at peer relationships in residential care and specifically the impact on treatment outcomes. She discusses some very interesting findings regarding how staff perceives peer relationships.

Emerging Theories and Practices in Child and Youth Care with Kiaras Gharabaghi

In this broad reaching conversation Dr. Kiaras Gharabaghi discusses theories and practices in child and youth care. He touches on relational practice, caring, education of CYCs, engagement, and self, among other topics. This conversation comes out of the recently published book With Children and Youth: Emerging Theories and Practices in Child and Youth Care.

Dr. Gharabaghi is co-editor of Journal of Child and Youth Services, has a monthly column in CYC-Online, regularly contributes to Relational Child and Youth Care Practice, has written or edited five books, and is an Associate Professor in the school of Child and Youth Care at Ryerson University in Toronto.

 

Intimacy and Safety in Residential Care Relationships, with Phil Coady

In this conversation, Phil Coady discusses relationships with young people & their families, boundaries, working in residential care, and maintaining contact long after people have “emancipated”. It is a wonderful and enlightening exploration of what relational practice is, in contemporary residential care.

Phil Coady works in residential care. He has recently completed a practitioner research study regarding boundaries in residential care with children and youth. He lives and works in Musselburgh, Scotland (just outside of Edinburgh).

Culturally Relevant Arts Education with Mary Stone Hanley- a Re-Cast

This podcast is a do-over. In April of 2014 I had a wonderful conversation with Dr. Mary Stone Hanley. Unfortunately, the sound quality made it difficult to hear. Mary contacted me several months ago and asked about re-doing the interview, which I thought was a great idea, this podcast is a new conversation based upon the same topics as the first one. In the podcast Dr. Hanley discusses arts as a social justice practice, culturally relevant arts education, and the value of arts to children and youth.

Dr. Hanley is a performer, poet, educator, playwright and artivist. She is the author of numerous articles and co-editor of a new book. For more information about Dr. Hanley please visit Hanley Arts at MaryStoneHanley.com

Kevin Pyle Exposes the War on Fun

Author and illustrator Kevin Pyle talks about his book (co-authored with Scott Cunningham) Bad For You: Exposing The War On Fun! A very brief introduction explains the book. “This is the history of stuff that is supposed to be bad for you. To find out why most of it isn’t, keep reading.” During this interview Kevin discusses the long history of trying to stop young people from doing things they enjoy. Dangerous things like reading, playing, and thinking, among others. To learn more about Kevin Pyle and the book go to BadForYouBook.com/.

Being an Adult Advocate with Heather Sago and Aurrora De Monte

This interview with Heather Sago and Aurrora De Monte explores being an advocate for, being an advocate against, and being an advocate with. What is the role of adults in advocating? How does one advocate when to do so puts one’s own career at risk? What are the consequences of not advocating? How does one advocate? Heather and Aurrora are the founders of the CYC Advocacy Project and both teach in the Child and Youth Work program at sir Sandford Fleming College in Peterborough, Ontario.

Supporting Young Males with Dr. Siegi Schuler

This podcast is posted at the end of a year with a great deal of discussion about violence: violence against women, violence from police, violence towards police, torture, and war. A common factor in all these cases is that men have been responsible for most of this violence. We’ve long been aware that males are the most frequent perpetuators of violence. We also know that violence is not inevitable. Today we are discussing how to support young male children grow into emotionally healthy men.

This podcast is with a return guest, Dr. Siegi Schuler (you can listen to his last interview, on adolescents who sexual offend, from November 2013). Dr. Schuler is a Ph.D and registered clinical Social Worker. He has a particular focus and interest in men’s emotional health and well-being (from adolescence to adulthood), addressing such areas as childhood trauma, sexual violence, mental health, chemical dependency and pornography addictions, relationship and intimacy concerns, father-son/daughter –dynamics, and fathering. You can learn more about Dr Schuler at http://www.drschulercounselling.com/

Gay and in Care, One Person’s Story

This podcast returns listeners to the voices of young people who have direct experience in the youth social service system. Julian is a young man who went into Children’s Aid during his adolescence. His time in care coincided with his coming out process. Julian speaks about the support, and lack thereof, he received from those around him. He offers suggestions on how to help young people coming out and makes several recommendation for ways to improve the system for young lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) children and youth in care.

Julian is a former trainer with Connect to Youth a program that delivers workshops to service providers. All the trainers are young people with direct experience in the youth social service system. Julian was instrumental in developing our workshops for supporting LGBTQ youth in care, which we continue to deliver at Children’s Aid Societies.

Death and Dying Pt. 2: The Death of a Child with Dr. Mary Vachon

This is part two of a special two-part discussion examining the topic of death. In this second episode Dr. Mary Vachon talks about the death of children. She discusses about how to work with children who are dying, how to support caregivers whose children are dying, and suggestions on caring for ourselves as we work in this very difficult area.

Dr. Vachon is a Registered Nurse/Ph. D. psychotherapist in private practice with a focus on death and dying. She has been working in this area since the late 1960s and has published over 170 scientific articles and book chapters in the areas of bereavement, occupational stress in health care professionals, dealing with life-threatening illnesses, and spirituality; among other related topics.

Death and Dying Pt. 1: Death of a Caregiver with Dr. Mary Vachon

In a special two-part discussion over the September and October episodes, C2YPodcast will be examining the topic of death with Dr. Mary Vachon. This first episode will deal with the death of a caregiver. Dr. Vachon offers suggestions on preparing a young person for the death of a parent, what responses one might see after the death, and how to support the child/youth/young adult as they grow up without that parent. 

Dr. Vachon is a Registered Nurse/Ph. D. psychotherapist in private practice with a focus on death and dying. She has been working in this area since the late 1960s and has published over 170 scientific articles and book chapters in the areas of bereavement, occupational stress in health care professionals, dealing with life-threatening illnesses, and spirituality; among other related topics.

Looked after Children in Scotland: A conversation with John Paul Fitzpatrick

16,000 children are in care in Scotland. What works for their care and what doesn’t? John Paul Fitzpatrick discusses the results of his research looking at young people in care under “home supervision”. He discusses efficacious processes for supporting young people, educational outcomes for young people in care, and models of youth participation. Mr. Fitzpatrick is the Knowledge Exchange Lead of the Centre for Excellence for Looked After Children, and is an Associate Dean at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland.

During the interview Mr. Fitzpatrick mentions a program that successfully uses youth participation. The program is called Who Cares Scotland, here is the website: http://www.whocaresscotland.org