and reach thousands of daily visitors
4 SEPTEMBER 2009
NO 1483
Equality
Rita's feelings about the inequality of life tied in very well with this stage of the group's development. Once the group had worked through its feelings about confidentiality and sensitivity, it then tested out whether the staff group really meant what they said about equality, whether that concept as presented at Tyn-y-Pwll was real or phoney. They questioned whether the staff actually believed that the young people were their equals or whether they just paid lip service to this. Indeed, on more than one occasion the staff were asked in the group meetings whether they were just humouring Edward on this point. The latter was often identified as, and sometimes criticised for, being too idealistic. Sometimes the staff would point out, quite fairly, that it was easier for him because he was not there all week.
The girls usually needed a lot of reassurance because they had, on far too many occasions, been told that they were inferior and that they should know their place. They would test out the system by being abusive or aggressive towards the staff in order to see what sort of punishment followed. When, in fact, they discovered that there were no punishments as such at Tyn-y-Pwll, but that all members of the groups, staff or girls, could bring their grievances to the group meeting and that the differences of opinion would be dealt with there, they began to relax and perhaps believe that what the staff said, they meant.
When one considers the environments from which most of the girls came, it is not surprising that they considered life was less than fair. Many of them were from sub-standard housing, most of them were from one parent families or broken homes, most of them had had bad experiences at schools and many found great difficulty in getting employment. Indeed, some of them came from families where there were large numbers of unemployed or delinquent elements. The problem with practising equality at Tyn-y-Pwll was that, of course, the girls would have to go back into a world where this is not yet an acceptable concept. Therefore, it was extremely important that this should be discussed at group meetings and that the girls should be enabled to see the difference between the system at Tyn-y-Pwll and the system which largely prevailed in the outside world. The example on Snowdon was a useful one for the group to consider because, although accompanied by the Deputy Director of Social Services, Rita was able to see that she was not punished for what, on the surface, appeared to be rather negative behaviour. It was very important to clarify with all the visitors to the group that the system of equality prevailed and that no matter who or what they were in the outside world, when they were staying at Tyn-y-Pwll they were regarded as equals to everyone else. For this reason only christian names were used and although a lot of criticism came from a few social workers about the dropping of Mr. or Mrs., it did, in fact, greatly assist the girls to more readily believe that they were considered as equally important. In any case, there is little truth in the belief that because one addresses someone as Sir or Madam, one is any more respectful towards them.
As the course wore on, Rita became a very positive member of the group and she was able to see that much of her aggressive noisy behaviour was related to anxiety. In consequence, she became less anxious and she became less noisy and aggressive and she did, on one occasion, tell us a very sobering story about the danger of snobbery.
EDWARD DONOHUE
Donohue, E. (1985). Echoes in the Hills.
Surbiton, Surrey. Social Care Association. pp. 34-35.
