4 APRIL 2008

NO 1281

Passion

Many a participant in the profession of child and youth work has pointed to the necessity of something other than ‘skill’ in the repertoire of tools used by child and youth workers to engage with children and youth. Trieschman (1982) referred to it as ‘the twinkle in your eye,’ Carol Stewart (2007) calls it ‘values and habits,’ and Mark Krueger (2000, 2004) has repeatedly made reference to the need for passion and commitment. In his refreshingly offensive editorial in the Journal of Child and Youth Care, Fewster (2007) laments the disappearance of ‘our wild ambition to change the world.’ Garfat (2002) tried to figure out what ‘it’ is by simply asking practitioners in the field for their ‘secret.’ Ernie Nightingale (2000) suggests that what is required is a ‘spiritual depth’ and recognizing one’s ‘inner need for strength,’ while Thomas Linton and Michael Forster (2002) listed amongst requirements idealism, pragmatism, intelligence, empathy, commitment, and courage. James Anglin (2002) encourages us to use our ‘talents, energy and passion to the full,’ happily omitting references to skills, knowledge, or experience.

There is, in this field, a clear understanding that working with vulnerable children, youth, and families requires more than understanding the theories, concepts, and approaches listed and explained in text books or journal articles. Some presence of personal connection, commitment, attitude, and enthusiasm is required to bring those theories to life on a day-to-day basis. And yet, notwithstanding our clarity about the need for ‘something else,’ the best we have been able to do so far is to produce a list of words and phrases that exude positive values and connotations, but that lack, rather profoundly, any content and substance.

All too often, we appear to be presuming that if someone is actively in the role of child and youth worker, they must have these attributes. We shouldn’t be surprised that this is where we have ended up, given that we have done nothing to explain what the attributes of commitment, dedication, enthusiasm, and much less passion, actually mean. Given that these are often cited as ‘requirements’ or as ‘essential characteristics’ of child and youth workers, perhaps it is time that we examine some of these terms more closely, and contemplate their place and their meaning in the practice of child and youth work. For the purpose of this paper, I will concentrate specifically on the term ‘passion,’ as this term is all too often cited as an umbrella term for all the other good words and concepts that apparently exist in our profession in such great abundance.

KIARIS GHARABAGH

Gharabagh, K. (2007). The Vagrancies of Passion and the Dance of Arrogance. Relational Child and Youth Care Practice, Vol.20 No.4., pp. 23-29

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