C2Y: Discussions on Child and Youth Care

This conversation identifies “invitations” that may suggest a child or youth is considering suicide, this is followed by direction on what, and what not, to say to the young person. Wolfgang interviews Sonia McDonald, a child and youth worker (CYW) in Ontario and a certified trainer with Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) created by LivingWorks. LivingWorks was started in Canada in the mid 1970s. Since then they have helped develop and deliver suicide training in multiple continents for close to a million caregivers. For more information about ASIST see LivingWorks.net, and for training in Ontario you can email Sonia directly at soniamc@rogers.com.

Thank you to Francis Felice for help with editing and technical support.

In this podcast Sylvia Holthoff of ThemPra talks about Social Pedagogy, explaining how this approach of working across the lifespan is used in Europe. We also discuss what child and youth care practitioners outside of Europe can learn from Social Pedagogy and where there is overlap between this approach and various other ways of working with young people. For more information about Sylvia and Social Pedagogy please visit ThemPra.org.

After her son was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, Nancy Getty was herself assessed. Nancy shares what it is like to live on the autism spectrum and to raise twins who have both been diagnosed having Aspergers Syndrome. Nancy invites us into the culture of Autism and shares insights into how she sees and navigates the world. Nancy also offers specific and concrete suggestions on how to work with children and families on the autism spectrum. A rare opportunity to hear what works and what does not from one wise person’s perspective. For more information about Nancy Getty you can visit http://www.aspergerrus.com.

A special thank you to Francis Felice for help with this episode’s production.

Today’s podcast is with Faisal Abu Aiheja of The Freedom Theatre located within the Jenin Refugee Camp in the West Bank. The Freedom Theatre is cultural centre that works with children, youth and adults "in which they are free to express themselves, to explore their creativity and emotions through culture and arts” (http://www.thefreedomtheatre.org). Faisal speaks about the experiences of young people growing up in Palestine and the work that the freedom theatre does to support these children and youth.

This episode is a conversation about Play Therapy with Theresa Fraser. Theresa is a Child and Youth Worker, a certified Canadian Child Psychotherapist, a Play Therapist, and is the current president of the Canadian Association for Child and Play Therapy. Theresa talks about how play therapy is used with children, adolescents, families, and other caregivers.

This episode is a conversation with Sally Doulis about developing attachment between children and caregivers. She outlines what attachment is, discusses ways for caregivers to foster it and how to work with families that need support building attachment. Sally Doulis is a registered Social Worker. She has served as President of the Toronto Child Psychoanalytic Programme where she continues to be on Faculty and is a Supervisor. Sally has worked in the field of children’s mental health as a therapist, supervisor and teacher for thirty-five years. She has a private practice providing individual (child, adolescent and adult) psychotherapy, infant-parent psychotherapy with the under fives and their families, marital therapy, counseling to divorcing families, family therapy for reconnecting a child with a parent, and custody/access assessment through the Office of the Children’s Lawyer.