In this, Chapter Three of the Prologue, I will outline why the website is laid out the way it is, how it came about, a note on values and the more important aspects, and what and who my influences were and are.
This Chapter is divided into five Sub-Chapters:
1.3.1 THE TITLE
1.3.2 ORIGINS
1.3.3 VALUES AND SHARING POWER
The title that I choose is The Natural World of Child Protection, and, as I promised in Chapter One of the Prologue, I will now explain the reason why I use the terms Natural World and Child Protection in the title.
Most of us are enthralled by nature programmes (I certainly am) so when I refer to the natural world you may think of plants, animals, wildlife, (flora and fauna, as they are called), mountains, rivers, the mysteries of the seas and deep oceans, in other words, the wonderful worlds of people like David Attenborough and Jacques Cousteau.
And, of course, they are the natural world.
Also, when I use the term natural world I am reminded of the current focus on ecological matters, manifest in such disciplines as eco-psychotherapy and similar. That is, when we think of healing the self we also need to think of healing our Planet. Such emphasis, is, of course is very welcome and necessary.
In fact, being aware of the planet’s needs is a vital (in fact one could say the most important) aspect of child protection. Because if we don’t look after our Planet there may be no children to protect!
Which brings me to the second half of the title. Why child protection? Why not protection of vulnerable members of society in general?
I think it it will become clear as the website is read that, in respect of society, I am more interested in solutions than problems. And I believe that if we protect children – effectively – we will be moving towards solutions to some of the most difficult and intractable problems that beset society.
These include addiction, crime, homelessness, mental illness, and overall health and wellbeing, most of which are inter-related anyway.
In my experience all of the above problems occur downstream of the child that, despite the best efforts of everyone concerned, was hurt and often misunderstood.
Naturally enough we all feel that children are the most vulnerable members of our communities. And indeed they are – so, of course, that is a good reason to protect them.
But there is a financial reason too. Children that are troubled often grow up to be troubled adults. Troubled adults can cost our state an incalculable amount of money. And there is no need – I am sure – to spell out the reasons why.
On the other hand, healthy, vigorous, creative and emotionally intelligent adults make major contributions to society through entrepreneurial spirit, self-confidence etc. which has an obvious, immediate financial benefit.
And this has a multiplier effect – improving morale, self-efficacy, and how we view ourselves at large. (This will be expanded upon in the Chapter on Systems Theory).
And, emotionally intelligent adults generally tend to be concerned about the degradation of our planet.
People might not think that this is important – but, because I think holistically, I believe it is.
Talking about our Planet brings me back to the Natural World. While the term is linked to nature as we know it (i.e. flora and fauna) and protection of our planet, it will, in this website, have a slightly different meaning.
That is, the environment in which we live our lives from conception to death.
Because I will often refer to the physical (as well as the emotional, cognitive/knowledge and spiritual environments) I will, from time to time, be dipping into the world of physics.
Now, if you have not studied physics or science before; please do not be turned off.
Physics is full of practicality, and in keeping with my commitment to common sense, I will describe only those principles or theories that I feel are relevant to the subject matter.
I don’t think that physics is a subject that is studied in courses on social work, social care, psychotherapy, counselling or addiction. Yet it is all around us, within us, at all times and in all places, from conception to death. It is ubiquitous.
(For which I recently discovered, the correct pronunciation is you-b-quish-us with a shortened ‘b’ sound)!
I mentioned in the previous post that I’d be dipping into the world of physics now and again. Physics is concerned with the laws of nature, and the physical environment that we experience every day is governed by such laws.
A law of nature can be defined as an event that we confidently predict will happen time and time again under the same conditions. The simplest one that I can think of, and that, I am sure, everyone is familiar with, is what goes up must come down! This happens on Earth because of gravity but it will not happen in outer space because the conditions are not the same; that is, there is no gravity.
Another law of nature would be Boyle’s Law (which I will mention again in the Chapter on Cause and Effect when I discuss reductionist thinking). Simply put, this law states that if we double the pressure on a gas in an enclosed container, its volume decreases by half. (Think bicycle pump here)!
Yet another says that every action has an equal and opposite reaction – which is Newton’s Third Law that applies in the natural world and usually holds true in family and society too! (Isaac Newton was one of the world’s greatest physicists – I will be mentioning him a few times).
A law that is, these days, very important in respect of Planet Earth is the Law Of Conservation Of Energy. This law states that energy cannot be created or destroyed – it can only change from one form to another. An important implication of this law is that we cannot take more energy out of a system than we put into it. Yet this is what we have been doing for thousands of years. But now, with more than seven billion of us on the planet, and using vast amounts of precious irreplaceable energy every day, the chickens, as we say, are coming home to roost.
In the Chapter on Energy I will explore how this law applies to individuals and groups of humans – i.e. how to conserve energy so we work more effectively.
Now, a different kind of law of nature – this time not usually associated with physics, but with economics – would be that the price of something in demand goes up as it gets scarce.
Finally, there is a law of nature that we are all familiar with that points out that we get what we deserve. That is what goes around comes around. or, to use an agricultural metaphor, we reap what we sow. And William Shakespeare warns us – if we do wrong – evil deeds return to plague the inventor.
For our purposes a law of nature arises from human experience, and is explained using a theory.
In my experience, the natural world, (and the laws of nature through which we become aware of our physical environment), are generally ignored when it comes to protection of children. Yet I believe that that they are hugely influential. That is because they are, like physics itself, ubiquitous!
The natural world is ever-present in our lives. That is, as I said in Chapter One of the Prologue, it has high impact-low noticeability.
IMPORTANT NOTE: I will distinguish a law of nature from a natural law which is more to do with the rights of humans in society. Natural laws are, of course, very important in respect of work with vulnerable populations, and I will be referring to them if and when appropriate.
In the Chapter entitled Universal Theory of Change (Section Three) I refer to what I call the root foundations of emergence, identity, relationship, integration, affect, time, love and consciousness.
These, I propose, are part of the natural world that are mostly in the feeling and emotional (and even spiritual) dimensions.
The Concepts and Propositions in Section Four are also part of the natural world – many of them straddle the cognitive/knowledge and the emotional/spiritual.
But there is another reason why the word natural appeals to me when I talk about child protection.
That is, whether we are parents, uncles/aunts, teachers, grandparents, youth club leaders, social care workers, therapists etc. I really don’t believe that we have to learn an awful lot when attending to the well-being of children who are in our company. I believe that all humans have, to a greater or lesser extent depending on our personality, these skills naturally.
If we look at child protection in the context of 40,000 generations of evolution it is clear that we would not have evolved into what we are today without an abundance of characteristics such as presence, warmth, empathy, love, boundaries, common-sense, patience, genuine care etc. (We will revisit this theme in the Chapter on Anthropology).
However, in order to allow them to emerge and then flourish, we may have to unlearn some behaviours that originate in prejudices, beliefs, or attitudes that we have absorbed into our bodies and minds and informed our value system over many years or even decades.
Much of the website is concerned with raising our awareness that will, in turn, assist this unlearning.
Bedford Row Family Project supports families affected by imprisonment. I was Project Leader of the Project for over 13 years, and I now work there in a sessional, part-time capacity. It is a training centre as well as a Family Support Project. In 2008 we designed (and in 2009 delivered) the first two-year course in what we called Family Support and Crisis Intervention, its aim being to upskill enthusiastic people in communities who wanted to make a difference.
It was towards the end of the first Course in 2011 that I first thought that I’d do a bit of writing! At that time the idea that I had was to write a working manual to be used as a guide by practitioners who would wish, (following suitable and thorough training) to be involved in the facilitation of that Course within Bedford Row or similar agency.
I intended that the proposed manual would be used by students or any interested practitioner, to gain a greater understanding of the origin and intended impact of the Course. This manual – presently a work in progress, as we say – would be based largely on the Sub-Chapter on the principal elements in the Chapter on Training later in the blog.
Co-facilitating the courses and learning a lot from my colleagues Martin O’Sullivan and Ray Wallace and students – all of whom were very grounded in the realities of life – I began to have ideas about how elements in what I already described as the natural world influence our efforts to support people in distress. I then pondered on how I’d include them in different courses, training etc. as I believed that more knowledge and awareness of them would help us to do our job better.
I also believe that they are accessible (that is, relatively easy for most people to understand), and, they seem like common sense – always important in community work!
Also, as I stated in a previous post when I mentioned physics, they are not covered (in any great detail anyway) on mainstream social work, social care, youth and community, psychology, psychotherapy, management or leadership courses or training.
However as I began to write the manual I found myself more interested in writing a book on the theories, concepts and propositions that serve to inform design of organisations (and programmes) within the context of the power structures within which good work can take place than a manual describing how to deliver a course.
Writing a manual would be a different task to writing a book – and of the two I felt that the book was more important. The reason for this is that the book could inform design in any organisation that aspires to work in a holistic and inclusive way with children and families that are in the Focus Group. (This is the term I use to refer to a very hurt and isolated section of society. This link is a summary, the full description is in Section Two, Setting The Scene).
Training, and therefore any manual, would be a natural follow on from that.
Also, while I had come across many books about all aspects of community, crime prevention, desistance [1] and related topics, I had not come across any that covered the topics that I intended to include.
Over the time that I was doing the writing using the internet became popular. As I am generally a bit behind everyone else it took me a while to realise that on-line can be far more interactive than a book, and a website would lean far more towards two-way knowledge flow – the very thing I’m trying to promote!
With a bit of encouragement from people more knowledgeable than myself, I decided I’d take a dip in the internet pool and see if I could stay afloat.
So, for better or
worse, that is what I decided!
[1]. Desistance, in probation/youth justice lingo, is a term that is used to describe the extent by which how young people resist the temptation to get involved in criminal behaviour.
My first experience in the area of helping people in acute distress was doing streetwork in the suburb of Southill in Limerick City. I began this work in 1990.
(Shortly after I began working on the street I wrote a song, Every Way You Turn, which even though a little downbeat in some ways, focused my mind on the circumstances of the young people that we were supporting).
I wasn’t long at streetwork when I realised that the people who need the holistic approach most have little or no access to it. Also, I wondered if anyone had ever actually listened to members of families in the Focus Group.
I soon began to cop on to something.
The teenagers who we were set up to help, and who were in our group (and most of their parents) had been excluded from school – and much of society – at a young age. Well, certainly, one way of being seen and heard, and get attention, was to behave in a way that society disapproved of.
Moreover, some community leaders (including myself) had, (from my observations anyway) unwittingly taken on what Paulo Friere referred to as the values of the oppressor [1]. (I will refer to Paulo, one of my major influences, from time to time).
Despite my lack of experience at that time, I was reasonably familiar (at a theoretical level anyway) with the holistic way of working and how it differed from the traditional medical model. I had a fair understanding of the difference (which might not be very apparent to the layman) between psychiatry, psychology, psychotherapy, psychoanalysis – different modalities – as they are called.
My reading, coupled with a two-year course in counselling, had opened my senses and helped me greatly in my understanding.
Because it is a bit harsh to state that the values that currently prevail in community work in Ireland are those of an oppressor – the term used by Paulo Friere in Brazil where he was working at that time – I will substitute the word mainstream. And it is true to state that, despite the best of intentions, mainstream values often do hold a dominant place in our work.
And this is no surprise – really, because virtually all community leaders and workers (once again – including myself) have been educated in our mainstream education system.
Now when I refer to the values of the mainstream, I link them to the values of the corporate world, and I will describe later how the values of the corporate world filter almost unnoticed into systems that we set up to educate and protect children. Such systems always have struggled, (and still struggle) to include those children who end up isolated, alone, and whose needs are usually ignored.
For example, in the Section on Setting the Scene (in a Chapter entitled Important Descriptions) I will critique the suitability of our mainstream education system in respect of our support work with very vulnerable families.
It is important to be aware of our values because they are linked to our education, and they are formed by our exposure to diverse experiences, (in particular, deeply emotional experiences around approval and acceptance) and influenced by the lens through which we view different situations.
[1]. My opinions came, at that time, from the book Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Friere (1921-1997). Paulo was a Brazilian sociologist who worked with oppressed peoples in that country, encouraging them to help themselves rather than wait for the Government to help them – recognising that what Governments set up almost always (often unwittingly) disempower rather than empower people. It is well worth a read.
As I already said, much of this website is about how phenomena in the natural world are relevant in our efforts to ease the distress of children that suffer needlessly due to imprisonment and related factors.
But also, implicit in the writing – which will become obvious as it is read – is that better outcomes will be achieved through sharing power with people in families, some of whose members may have suffered trauma, and have experienced powerlessness in the sense that they may never have had a real say in their own destiny.
In fact, the substantial difference between this website and a lot of material, both historical and contemporary, written on and about supporting families in distress is that the theories, propositions etc. which are promoted are based on this fundamental principle, i.e. sharing power [1].
It will be mentioned from time to time because of its importance.
Now I am aware that sharing power is not for everyone – I believe that a practitioner whose life experience and education is predominantly mainstream needs to have a lot of openness to the process, be in a position to do it, have willingness to do it, have patience, and be prepared to support themselves through it.
Most of you will have heard of compassion fatigue (which is similar to, but also slightly different to burnout). There is also a fatigue that arises from continually walking in someone else’s shoes – in some senses, sharing their burden. This is where the support oneself through it bit comes in.
(Though I will offer a challenge to practitioners later on in respect of sharing burdens).
We can do enormous good in the world and give great help to very vulnerable people without sharing power, and (I believe anyway) it would be very wrong of those of us who enjoy sharing power to impose it on other very competent, compassionate and hardworking practitioners who don’t choose to do it. Or, perhaps, to put it another way, who passionately feel that their professional practice would be somehow or another diminished by sharing power – and fear that.
I have learned from experience that a kind of forced or coercive sharing power can put people off and ultimately lead to burnout.
As I said, I do it firstly because I like it, and also I believe it enables the joy of discovery.
On a final note on sharing power, if you are not open to it then this website may be far less useful to you, and make far less sense than if you are – but I invite you to read some of it anyway …………………. and offer your views.
That’s because diverse views always enrich learning!
[1]. In my experience true sharing of power is rare, despite many recommendations of good practice that promote the desirability of including people in distress in the decisions that will determine their and their families’ future.
The reason that I am writing this post is to offer a rationale for including an entire Chapter entitled Trauma And Related Topics later on.
Doing streetwork in the early 1990’s alerted me, at first hand, to how difficult the challenges were for young people growing up in families where many members suffer from trauma. I also realised how little I and my fellow community workers knew about the origins of trauma and its effects.
Just for now, what I mean by the effects of trauma is its systemic nature.
(I will be devoting an entire Chapter in Section Three on Systems Theory, but until then, when I use the term systemic I simply mean how everything affects everything else).
That is, is how trauma affects the individual who is suffering, and then shows itself within the family, the extended family, the community, society at large and indeed globally. And, as a general comment, it became clear to me that people, even generous and responsible people who want to make a positive difference, have no idea or understanding what alienation does to people who have already suffered trauma – and, more importantly – how inclusion and a genuine felt sense of belonging ameliorates it.
This is why I include what I consider to be important Chapters on both Systems Theory and Trauma And Related Topics. These Chapters are longish but I believe that appreciation of both is vital to understanding why supporting very distressed children and young people in families affected by imprisonment to effect substantial reduction of crime always appear to be beyond us as a society.
We often say that such young people fall through the cracks.[1]. Now that oft-used expression has always intrigued me! I am reminded of Leonard Cohen encouraging us to be grateful for cracks because, as he says in his song ‘Anthem’ – that’s how the light gets in.
And, indeed, he’s right, the light does get in.
Because, from trauma might emerge wonderful creativity, original thought, outside the box thinking and understanding of the essence of life, common sense, and indeed profound reflection on the meaning of life all of which can be harnessed, and used for healing distress.
Since recorded history began, and probably before it, emotional problems (including criminal behaviour, which I deem to be rooted in emotional problems) have defied quick-fix solutions employed to resolve them [2]. (I will be revisiting quick-fix solutions in later Chapters).
All the quick-fixes have one thing in common – they are efforts by humans to techno fix emotional problems in other humans. This undoubtedly reflects the desperation of humanity to do something tangible about emotional difficulties and behaviours that we observe in loved ones and/or experience ourselves.
But despite a lot of false dawns there is not much evidence that the fast-tracking of emotional healing has ever had long-term success in individuals and families in deep distress.
For myself, I have come to the conclusion that, because of the existence of trauma and related phenomena that arise from trauma, any resolution of emotional problems will be slow and painstaking, and, indeed, rushing solutions often does more harm than good.
I believe this to be true both at a personal and societal level.
Nowadays, trauma, at long last, is becoming recognised as a causative factor in young people choosing to drop out of school and get involved in destructive behaviours.
My fervent hope is that this new-found interest doesn’t result in the initiation of another fast-tracked quick-fix which will be rolled out but which will, in the long term, have as much success as the methods referred to in footnote [2]!
[1]. I often wonder if I had grown up in an environment where a majority of families were affected by trauma, would I have been resilient enough to stay in school, get a job, steer clear of drugs etc. And that, of course, is a circular question, because I suppose much of my resilience was laid down in my early years and fashioned by the environment that I grew up in!
[2]. Prisons, exorcisms, blood leaching, invocation of spirits, threat of going to hell, laying on of hands, drowning of witches, exclusion in asylums, mood altering drugs, lobotomies, the death penalty, banishment and transportation, excommunication, even the (once upon a time) much publicised zero-tolerance.
References are used in books, websites, blogs etc. so we can do further study on the subject if interested, and/or afford credit (or offer critical comment) to the person who wrote it originally.
I would like to acknowledge my indebtedness to many sources of knowledge and wisdom.
On the subject of credit I am somewhat taken by what I believe is the Eastern attitude to intellectual property rights, copyright etc. (or was, before the East became influenced by the West). That is, we do not actually own originality – it is given to us by a higher power (some might say that it is God-given) and we are the conduit through which the new ideas, original material etc. flows to the world.
This implies that we are meant to share it with the world if it is of benefit – and not to use it to garner wealth, fame, notoriety etc. I also believe that most of what is original is a synthesis of what went before, and I accept that this website (and the ideas within it) is just that.
Please feel free to use content for the benefit of people in distress anywhere. I would appreciate, however, if, when mentioning theories, topics, propositions or ideas that you read about and that you have not seen elsewhere, to respect the norms and practices of referencing etc.
This is, however, up to you!
While I have copyright on songs, poems etc. there is no copyright, in the traditional sense, on the content itself. Also, I’d like to receive feedback whether it is favourable or not and referencing the website would facilitate that.
It is my intention to write in an informal style and mostly explore ideas and concepts born out of my thirty plus years’ experience in supporting families in deep distress, and observing what works and what does not work. I augment theoretical concepts with many years of both formal and non-formal learning.
In addition to the links as you read the website, I will refer to publications, journals, books, songs, blogs, films, websites, etc. in alphabetical order in a Bibliography And Sources Section which you can look up if you are interested. I will update the Bibliography/Sources as new material is referenced.
When I reference a line from a song, or a quote from a film, and it can be searched for and found on the Internet there is not much point in over-referencing it – but I will always give a link.
If it cannot be found on the Internet I will give it a proper reference so that you can identify it. After all that, if you wish to enquire about any sources please contact me, and I will do my best to point you in the right direction.
I also include, and refer to, non-formal, non-academic sources, because for me they are often as wise (sometimes a lot wiser) than the formal, and the fact that they are often uncensored gives them high value.
Sometimes I interpret (and perhaps reframe) wise or meaningful comments or beliefs gleaned from both families and other concerned workers with whom I worked with, and continue to work with, over the years.
I hope, in my interpretation, that I am faithful to their wisdom.
I also try and write in a way that will be generally accessible. Sometimes, for clarity, I need to use words that may be a little unfamiliar or scientific, but I have endeavoured to keep the website jargon-free.
I learn an immense amount from all the families who I have the privilege of meeting and who allow me to be part of their lives.
It is their honesty and courage, and also their sense of joy, wonder and wisdom that motivates me to address these issues so that more effective services may evolve as time goes on – that is the principal purpose of the website.
I would like if this website contributed to the evolution of the model of helping families which I refer to as the Focus Group, and who I will describe in more detail in the next Section.
I had to start somewhere – and I hope that all those workers who accompanied (and accompany) me on my journey will forgive me if I pick out three mentors who were very influential both in my early days in community work and as I matured (so to speak) into the job.
They are two sincere and committed men who believe in the goodness of human beings, and a woman of remarkable foresight who was not afraid to take a risk!
Firstly – the men: They were the Chairman of our Board in Southill Outreach in the 1990’s, John Hannafin, and the Treasurer, Senior Probation and Welfare Officer Vincent Byrne.
John taught me much of what I know about the essence of community, and modeled compassion, concern for wider family, warmth and common sense. Vincent was the human (and humane) face of the Probation Service who moved mountains and who approached the task of squeezing both money and goodwill from the Service with a unique mixture of reality and empathy.
While John’s and Vincent’s opinions were often at variance with the norms of the establishment, they were able to pick the best of what it had to offer so that maximum benefit was derived for our work at all times.
Their common-sense, below the radar challenging of the traditional model of top down helping was not only a great support to me in the early 1990’s, but gave me direction in developing my own style of working and leadership. I believe that we were very lucky to have these two men involved in our nascent streetwork project.
The woman was a Sister of Mercy Sr. Peggy Collins.
Peggy is a woman who, through her mixture of compassion, farsightedness and sound leadership laid the foundation for what the Chapter that I entitle The Universal Theory of Change is all about.
Firstly, she has an amazing capacity to allow people to be empowered and be themselves, allowing their growth to happen naturally. And secondly she had the perseverance, determination and tenacity to build a bridge across the divide between the community and the prison that was easy for both to traverse.
Outside the above I would like to acknowledge all those colleagues, community workers, teachers, leaders, academics, clergymen and women, politicians, public/civil servants, researchers and media people, and any others who have put their heads above the parapet and not only encouraged and facilitated, but in some cases driven change over that time.
You have probably guessed by now that I struggle a bit with the model that I observe (and have observed over the past 30 years) of protecting children who are very hurt in our society. But models are always evolving – and it’s not as if nothing has changed over that time. Shirley Ward my supervisor firstly was able to see the value of the model that I often described and explored, and then encouraged me to believe in myself enough to put my ideas in writing.
I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my co-conspirators Adrian de Cléir (Blockworx) and John O’Brien (V-Motion) who, with great patience, deciphered my ideas and cohered my work into an actual website that looks attractive and – most important – is easy to use!
The website focuses on family as the principal foundation of society.
I’d like to thank all the families that I have journeyed with for opening my eyes to gifts and strengths that are not always shown to the outside, and for allowing me to be part of their world. It has always been (and still is) inspiring – and a rare privilege. I refer, a number of times, to what I lave learned – and am still learning – from the trust and openness afforded me over many years.
And in respect of my own family of origin, I wish to thank my (late) parents and siblings for granting me a safe, nurturing, loving childhood where, amidst all the inevitable challenges of family life, we had time to have fun. Life was secure, imperfection was accepted and the excitement that curiosity and discovery brings was highly esteemed.
I mention (and give a fair bit of importance to) two-way knowledge flow.
I wish to thank my children for introducing me to this concept – and even though I was often resistant to it eventually the penny dropped. In the Chapter on Energy I describe what a myth is, and of course children are champion-myth-debunkers! The gift of whole truth is the greatest one that my children offered me, and still offer me. My grandchildren are now topping up my education in this respect.
Away from the world of work, in terms of learning about life in general, and the subtle, barely noticeable way that power, privilege, wealth and status is distributed, used and misused in society, my wife’s wisdom has been my greatest influence. Her deep perception (and intuitive knowledge) lays the foundation for much of what I learn elsewhere on my journey. In that respect I consider myself most fortunate to have ever met her.
She is the embodiment of the statement by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. ‘It’s always the right time to do the right thing’…………….