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St Luke's Innovative Resources
137 McCrae St
Bendigo 3550 Australia
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If
'why' is the question, then I have the answer:
for the blessing and not for the curse,
for satisfaction and not for hunger, for
life and not for death, for truth, compassion,
and justice.
 The
right questions at the right time can be doorways
to change and possibility. One of the tenets
of the strengths approach is that each of us
has the power to discover our own answers. The
role of the human service worker is not so much
to provide 'easy' answers but to help create
situations in which respectful conversations
and personal reflection can take place.
The
American novelist, James Baldwin, said,
'The purpose of art is to lay bare the questions
which have been hidden by the answers'. Innovative
Resources' newest release, Deep Speak,
attempts to do just that - to 'lay bare'
important questions for young people and
encourage the kinds of conversations that
can assist them to build the chapters of
their own life stories - to articulate the
events, thoughts and feelings that punctuate
their lives.
But
it's not just for young people. Read on
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'The
questions we ask ourself begin to illuminate
the world and become our key to the
experience of others.'
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Hot
off the press...
Deep
Speak
The
world according to you
 Questions
for opening up dynamic conversations with
young people
Some
questions take us by surprise, some questions
make us laugh and some questions challenge
our picture of who we are. Questions can act
as powerful doorways into conversations and
storytelling. Through sharing our stories,
thoughts and feelings we create connections
with others and engage with our own growth
and change.
Deep
Speak is a set of 120 cards, each with
its own question presented in an edgy, dynamic,
font-based design, plus a 24-page booklet
of suggestions. The cards are colour-coded
into six broad themes - openers, identity,
beliefs, emotions, values and relationships
- so that facilitators can easily make selections
of cards, if they wish.
While
Deep Speak is designed to appeal
to adolescents, adults also respond warmly
to the mix of questions. Teachers, counsellors,
therapists, social workers, chaplains, youth
workers, workshop facilitators and parents
can use Deep Speak to build rich
discussions about some of life’s big
questions … and some of the little quirky
ones as well.
'Two
of the most important things you can do to
enhance your relationship with someone is
to improve your communication and to create
opportunities to connect.'
Jo
Haythorpe
Residential
Care Program manager
St
Luke's Anglicare
View
this resource on our website
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‘When
people talk, listen completely. Most
people never listen.'
Ernest
Hemingway
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Making
sense of a complex world
The
following excerpt is from the foreword to
Deep Speak by St Luke's Residential
Care Program Manager, Jo Haythorpe. It was
inspired by this quote from Polish youth pioneer,
Janusz Korczak:
'We
fail to see the child, just as one time we
were unable to see the woman, the peasant,
the oppressed social strata and oppressed
peoples. We have arranged things for ourselves,
so that children should be in our way as little
as possible … A child's primary and irrefutable
right is the right to voice his thoughts,
to actively participate in our verdicts concerning
him.'
Changes
in the way an emerging and growing adolescent
thinks are almost invisible, yet they are
just as great as bodily changes. Guidance
is needed, though it may not always be welcomed.
An adolescent needs to test out their new
thinking skills and learn how to make sense
of a very complex world—a world of drugs,
sex, conflict, job-search, unemployment, love,
and a myriad of pressures and uncertainties—all
while trying to establish independence. Underpinning
this journey are the values and ideas passed
on by their parents, carers and peers, and
the search for their own ideas and values.
To do this successfully, they need to author
their own life story and be given opportunities
to reflect on and articulate the events, thoughts
and feelings that punctuate their lives. This
kind of reflection and articulation gives
meaning to their experiences.
Through
active curiosity one can gain valuable information
about what is important in young people's
lives. In his book From
Surviving to Thriving—promoting mental health
in young people
(ACER Press 1998), Australian author Andrew
Fuller notes:
It's
surprising the amount of information that
can be extracted out of a song lyric or
favourite
films. The art seems to be to use their own
diversion strategies as an entrée to
their world. Also, it allows them to educate
you about something, which often places them
in a different position from being misunderstood
or not listened to.
 Two
of the most important things you can do to
enhance your relationship with someone is
to improve your communication and to create
opportunities to connect. Within my field
of Residential Care for 'at risk' youth, young
people often write about their feelings in
quite moving poems. This is encouraged by
staff as the sharing of the poems opens up
avenues for conversation about their deeper
feelings or frustrations. The young people's
sense of self-worth is evident following these
closer encounters with staff.
To
really connect with a young person you need
to share some good times with them; find some
common interests, talk, share stories and
do things together regularly—whether it is
one-on-one or in a group. The
Deep Speak cards will provide the
opportunities to do just that. They will be
a valuable tool for parents, youth workers
and other carers of young people. But more
importantly, they will be a great resource
for young people themselves—giving them opportunities
to tell their stories and share their thoughts,
feelings and beliefs.
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‘I
live in that solitude which is painful
in youth, but delicious in the years
of maturity.'
Albert
Einstein
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Book
Review
A
Very Important Story
By
Julie Kingston
 Sometimes
the simplest of questions can lead to the
most unexpected and life-changing responses.
In
A
Very Important Story, Billy asks
his grandad, 'what is the most important
thing you've ever done?'
It's
a good question.
Billy
knows that his grandad has been a very important
person. He has the medals and trophies,
the certificates and photos to prove it.
It's been a life full of important moments.
Grandad has graduated from university, climbed
mountains, captained sporting teams, managed
large companies—he's
even had a book written about his life.
Could there be anything more important than
all of that?
Sitting
there on his grandad's knee, illuminated
by the beam of the reading lamp, Billy finds
out.
This
simply told and beautifully illustrated
picture book will affirm young children,
make them feel safe and loved, and remind
adults that our young people are our greatest
achievements of all.
Reviewed
by John
Holton
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‘Every
child must know that they are a miracle;
that since the beginning of the world
there hasn't been, and until the end
of the world there will not be, another
child like them.'
Pablo
Casals
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Positive
Relationships
The
Victorian Youth Mentoring Alliance
The
last three decades in Australia have witnessed
a dramatic change in the landscape of society.
The breakdown in traditional support systems
and a more complex society have led to social
problems for young people. This has become
apparent though such indicators as a growing
number of young people becoming disengaged
from school, increased substance abuse and
a growth in mental health issues.
The
Kirby Report (2000),
commissioned by the Bracks Government to review
post-compulsory education, stated that there
were a number of young people ‘falling through
the cracks'. Increasingly the community is
beginning to realize the benefits of early
intervention. Researchers
have identified protective factors for young
people to develop resilience. Andrew Fuller,
psychologist, researcher and author, identified
in his book Surviving
to Thriving
(1998) one of the most powerful protective
factors to be ‘a positive relationship with
an adult outside the family'. Establishing
formal mentoring programs is a way to address
that need for young people who do not have
it addressed naturally.
In
the last few years, mentoring has grown in
popularity in Australia as an intervention
to support and build resilience in young people.
Overseas experience indicates that positive
results come from the mentoring experience.
In 1995 in the US, Public/Private Ventures,
an independent social research agency, conducted
the first longitudinal evaluation of mentoring.
The cost of the 18-month study was US$2 million.
It was aimed at discovering whether mentoring
made any tangible difference in the lives
of young people. A decrease in substance abuse,
improved grades at school and improved relationships
were shown to be apparent in the results of
the research.
There
are a number of different mentoring programs
in Victoria. However most of these programs
have worked in isolation. In order to strengthen
the profile of mentoring the Victorian Youth
Mentoring Alliance was established in Melbourne
on 22 March 2006. The formation of the Alliance
came about in response to discussions with
a wide range of program directors who could
see the value of an Alliance.
The
Alliance sees as its role the support of successful
mentoring practices in both regional and urban
areas. It plans to become an advocate for
mentoring practices, share good practice,
enhance the development of sustainable mentoring
strategies and promote youth mentoring in
Victoria. At this stage it is not known how
many mentoring programs exist in Victoria
and programs are invited to become involved
in the Alliance.
Further
information can be obtained from Jeanette
Pritchard: jpritchard100@ansonic.com.au
Jeanette
Pritchard is a secondaray teacher at Baimbridge
College in Hamilton. In 2003 she was instrumental
in setting up an in-school mentoring program
called Standing Tall. The program recruits
and trains members of the community to become
mentors of students from Grade 4 to Year 11.
Evaluation of the program has shown significant
changes in motivation, confidence and work
habits.
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‘To
the world you may be just one person,
but to one person you may be the world.'
Brandi
Snyder
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SOON
mailbox
Hi
John,
Just
to let you know I attended a four-day
reality therapy workshop where
we used the Shadows and Deeper
Shadows cards. They were
fantastic. We created stories
using the pictures and then role
played. People in the group used
their creative writing and story
telling skills beautifully. The
cards really helped us to touch
base in terms of what a person
may be thinking and feeling, and
how we could assist clients to
self-evaluate and plan for the
future. They worked so well and
helped us, as participants, to
connect with each other. It was
the first time that I have used
them, but won't be the last.
Cheers,
Steve
Phillis
Team
Leader, Youth and Family Connections
Team
St
Luke's Anglicare
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Micro-story
of the month
 Loss
By
Gene Schmidt
She
thought, that's him ambling up the driveway,
sloshing snow in his boots, as usual.
‘Leave
those boots out on the porch,' she was ready
to tell him. ‘Shake the snow off your jacket.'
Hot
soup, dry clothes, an hour of television.
And a story. She would have rocked him to
sleep in her arms.
But
it was only sunlight reflecting off the snow.
©
Gene Schmidt 2001
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SOON
