Name:       John Digney
Age:          41
Location:  Ireland

Biography
I was born in 1968 in the townland of Tyrella, in Northern Ireland (about 30miles from Belfast). I am led to believe that Tyrella comes from the old Irish words – Tír & Eile and translate as ‘other land’ or ‘other world’. Anyone acquainted with Celtic Mythology should be familiar with the most famous ‘otherworld’, Tír na nÓg or ‘The land of the young’. I when I was a kid I believed there was some relevance in this and being eternally young I now know what that is. See the following link for a very brief overview: http://www.aoh61.com/tir_na_nog/tirnanog_legend.htm.

I must admit that I wasn’t the world's most enthusiastic student, but did make a deal with myself that I would stay in education as long as the ‘system’ allowed. So, in 1987 I began my third level education. Began in the University of Ulster – I was a student there from 1987 until 1991, studying Psychology. Over the last number of years I have been a student at a number of colleges and universities, including University College Dublin, University of Limerick, Dublin Institute of Technology and Dundalk Institute of Technology, where I have completed various third level courses including diplomas in Management Studies, Training and Education, a Masters degree in Project Management, another in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis and am currently undertaking a PhD in Child & Youth Care. I am hoping the ‘system’ will have had enough of me very soon.

I have worked in Residential Care for almost 18 years. I was lucky to spend nine and a half years ‘cutting my teeth’ in Oberstown Boys School and work with an extraordinary team of professional people. I left there to take on a supervisory position with the Health Board, managing a ‘controlled therapeutic unit’ for extremely challenging kids. My next move was to a ‘High Support’ service, a new concept in Ireland (and if we’re honest, one which is still being defined). I have been Deputy Director in this service for just over 7 years now.

I have been married for just over fifteen years and currently have 3 kids, aged 14, 13 and 9 (we are expecting number 4 in June ’09).

How I came to be in this field
I often consider how I come to be in different places and seldom really ever figure it out. How I came to be ‘in the field’ pictured above is a more interesting story than how I came to be working in the field of child and youth care (for another day, eh?).

In the summer of 1991 following completion of my Degree I decided to take a couple of years away from college to gain some work experience, so I began working in a residential programme for adults and young people with learning disabilities (this was a summer replacement post and lasted all of three or four months). At this time in Ireland (both North and South) jobs were few and far between, so I spent the next while looking for work. One Friday I was visiting with a friend who had started working in a juvenile programme just outside Dublin. The plan was for me to collect him from work and then hit the town. I was sitting in the reception waiting for him when the Director came in and we started chatting. He asked if I was interested in seeing around the campus, of course I said I would. He gave me an application form to complete as they were in the process of recruiting and about three months later I was offered a job (of course having gone for interview in between times). So that was it, the following February ( Feb 2nd 1992) I commenced work as a Residential Social Worker in a juvenile justice program and there I stayed for almost ten years.

This is me again (far right and no hat this time) with Susan Cater, Joe Markey and Thom Garfat, at the Nova Scotia Child and Youth care Workers Association Conference in 2005.

My favourite saying (this morning)
In the work that we do we can achieve so much with kids and their families and yet this is seldom ‘recognized’. If a kid is viewed as ‘not doing well’ or ‘having a bad outcome’, we can be (and have been) described as ‘inept’ or ‘a waste of resources’. However, if a kid ‘is doing well’ or has ‘a good outcome’, then they ‘never needed out interventions anyway’. Because we do what we do for the kids and not for ourselves and because we must never seek or expect credit or reward, one of my favorite sayings, which is credited to Harry Truman (33rd President of United States) is:

‘It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit’.

A little closer to home, one of my favorite sayings is:
‘Maireann croí éadrom i bhfad’. ( A light heart lives longest).

A few thoughts about child and youth care
This is a fairly new discipline, we don’t have all the answers, we never will but we must keep looking and learning.

Keep it positive. As Eric Idle sang, ‘always look on the bright side of life’.

Last thing I read, watched, heard, which I would recommend to others
Authentic Happiness* by Martin Seligman (2002) written from the positive psychology discipline which focuses on strengths. Seligman encourages us to be happier through identifying and using many of the strengths and traits that we possess – including kindness, originality, humour, optimism, and generosity.

At all times I have 2-4 novels on the go, the one I finished this morning was Resurrection Men by Ian Rankin. Rankin is not relevant to the CYC field, but a nice diversion when I need to loose myself (in my mind) in my second favorite city (Edinburgh).

A few thoughts for those starting out

• Always remember we’re in it for the kids. As Thom Garfat reminds us all so often, ‘it is about ‘doing with’ the kids.

• Never get caught up in the behaviour – behaviour is the manifestation of the inner kid, a symptom.

• Help kids make sense of how they feel and how they think and point them in a more appropriate direction but never try to force them to go there.

• Find yourself a mentor, someone you respect, someone who will help you grow as a professional – no matter what new adventure we start out on, it’s better to have a guide.

• Never think you know it all, keep an open mind.

• Read, read and read. There is so much amazing stuff out there, college barely scrapes the skin.

• Write, write and write. It is important that everyone contributes to the ever growing body of knowledge in the field. CYC-NET makes this a realistic opportunity.

• Self-reflection is key – consider why you are going to response in a particular way, consider if it is working as it occurs and de-brief with yourself after.

• In the words of Douglas Adam, ‘Don’t Panic !’.

A recommended child and youth care reading link
http://www.reclaiming.com/content/about-circle-of-courage

A writing of my own
http://www.cyc-net.org/cyc-online/cycol-0507-digney.html

Influences on my work
This was a very interesting and introspective exercise. Initially I thought of some of the amazing and renowned influences in my career, such as (i) Sigmund Freud (it really is worth reading his books with an open mind, don’t listen to the ‘popular’ interpretations of his amazing work), (ii) Thom Garfat (my friend and mentor who has opened so many doors for me, who has shown me how to access a wealth of information, help me think more about how I am with youth and who has provided me with opportunities to contribute) and (iii) Larry Brendtro (who introduced me to the circle of courage and reclaiming youth network and who has brought me up to speed on positive psychology, resiliency approaches and most recently, brain research).

Realizing that these wonderful people are all relatively recent influences, I need also to ackknowledge my mum and dad. They made things better, made problems easier to cope with and were always there looking on in an unassuming, responsive and non-judgmental way (and that can’t have been easy with seven kids). Parents. I salute you both! Finally, when considering how I think about being in relationship with kids, I must admit that I am influenced on a daily basis by my wife, Alison and my own kids, Leanne, Hannah and Jake – though they do remind me how difficult it can be to put theory into practice.

Closing comments
So long and thanks for all the fish (again the influence of Douglas Adams is shining through).

_______

* Authentic Happiness by Martin Seligman is in our bookstore:

 

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