C2Y: Discussions on Child and Youth Care

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.

This episode is a conversation with Helen Jones, a parent who speaks about her experiences with child welfare and the support she found with other parents facing similar struggles. Helen Jones is a founder, past president of and spokesperson for The Association of Parent Support Groups in Ontario Inc. (www.APSGO.ca). In this interview, she discusses the challenges she and her husband had with their daughters and what led her to start APSGO. She offers practical ideas for parents facing similar challenges and suggestions for professionals who work with parents. Helen Jones has two of her own television shows for parents “Helen, Help Us!” and “Teenzilla”, which can be seen on ichannel.

This episode is a discussion with Dr. Vajra Watson author, educator, youth worker and social activist. Dr. Watson talks about her new book Learning to Liberate: Community-Based Solutions to the Crises in Urban Education. Learning To Liberate presents ethnographic portraits of four community based educators in the SF Bay area. She shows us what they do, why it is effective, and lessons we can learn from them. Her book is an inspiring and motivating call to those of us who work with youth. Dr. Watson also discusses her own community educator practice with Sacramento Area Youth Speaks (SAYS).

Dr. Watson and Rutledge have generously allowed any listener who wants to purchase Learning To Liberate to use a 20% off coupon. Go to http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415898379/ and enter the code “ERJ60″ at checkout.

A note on sound quality: Unfortunately, there is a great deal of breath noise and plosives (sounds like lisping) recorded in this episode. I have minimized it to the best of my technical ability. I hope you do not find it too distracting.

This episode's discussion is with Kai’enne Tymerik. Kai’enne identifies herself as an advocate for the rights of trans people, survivors of the mental health system, and drug users. Embodying the concept of the wounded healer, she discusses her journey from a young person who accessed services to an adult who now works with young people. Kai’enne shares her experiences of being gender-fluid while accessing youth social services and how workers can support trans youth.

Dr. Carol Stuart discusses her new book, co-authored with Kiaras Gharabaghi, “Right Here, Right Now: Exploring Life-Space Interventions For Children And Youth”. The book outlines a new theoretical construct of life-space intervention and looks at ways to apply this in working with young people. Dr. Stuart has worked within residential and community-based child and youth care organizations. She has taught at both undergraduate and graduate levels and is currently the Dean of Health and Human Services at Vancouver Island University. Dr. Stuart is the managing editor of Relational Child and Youth Care Practice.

Welcome to the inaugural C2Y Podcast: Discussions on child and youth care. For this first podcast Wolfgang, the host of C2Y Podcast, discusses Connect To Youth (C2Y) with two of the youth trainers. Nadiya and Mo each talk about what C2Y does, why they are part of it and some of their experiences as a young person involved in the youth social service system. Both discuss what makes for a good youth worker and how they think workers can effectively engage with young people.