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5 October

No 1226

Context

Child and youth care interventions may be enhanced when workers have a way of understanding context, such that they can situate their experiences and actions inside that understanding

Bateson (1980) has suggested that the meaning of an action is determined by the context within which it is situated. Each context is itself unique from any other context as it is known by those who experience it. In the context of the interaction which is the Child and Youth Care intervention, all of the participants bring to the interaction their own values, beliefs, history, and ways of perceiving and experiencing (Garfat & Newcomen, 1992). Phenomenologically, if one accepts that context is created through the process of experience, one accepts that each context is unique to the person who is experiencing it.

There are, however, elements of context that exist regardless of how we create our experience of them. The fact that there were other girls in the house when TC intervened with JY, the fact that TY was removed from her home when she reported the abuse that was occurring, the fact that JC and LY were in the car together, the fact that the interactions between these youth and Child and Youth Care workers was mandated by the Youth Protection Act of Quebec, these elements of context all existed independent of anyone's construction of experience. How they were experienced and therefore the way in which they impacted on the interactions was individual.

Regardless of the beliefs one holds about context and the creation of individual experience, the reality is that Child and Youth Care workers need to have a way of understanding and incorporating the elements of context into their work with youth.

THOM GARFAT

This feature: Garfat, T. (1998). Effective Child and Youth Care Intervention. Journal of Child and Youth Care, 12 (1-2), pp. 155-168.

REFERENCES

Bateson, G. (1980). Mind and nature: A necessary unity. New York. Macmillan.

Garfat, T. and Newcomen, T. (1992). AS*IF: A model for Child and Youth Care interventions. Child and Youth Care Forum, 21 (4), pp. 227-285.

The International Child and Youth Care Network
THE INTERNATIONAL CHILD AND YOUTH CARE NETWORK (CYC-Net)

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