CYC Podcast

On this episode of Your Right to Speak Salvatore talks with Christopher Cottle. Christopher talks very candidly about his lived experience in the care system. The conversation starts off with Christopher stating some of the challenges within the care system and then turns to the importance of young people having a mentor in and out of care. Christopher and Salvatore then start to discuss their experience in working with young people. This is part 1 of a 2 part episode. Let's Raise Awareness Together! 

This is part 2 of the conversation begun in October, 2019. Melanie Doucet and Harrison Pratt discuss the Photovoice research project titled Relationships Matter for Youth “Aging Out” of Care (https://www.yumpu.com/document/view/59918518/relationships-matter-e-book). Melanie and Harrison are both researchers with direct experience living in the child welfare system. In this episode, they discuss the place of arts in research, the Photovoice process, and analyzing images for themes.

To learn more about the project please visit:

Relationships Matter Project video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lmPDZ360ow&t=40s

·         Relationships Matter Photo E-Book: https://www.yumpu.com/document/view/59918518/relationships-matter-e-book

·         Relationships Matter Executive Summary + Research report (child welfare policy & practice oriented), published via the BC Representative for Children and Youth: https://rcybc.ca/reports-and-publications/reports/relationships-matter-youth-aging-out-care

 ·         Megaphone Magazine cover story and article, January 2019, What do YOUth think? Research project that aims to improve B.C.'s foster care system goes straight to the source.

·         Tyee article, December 13, 2018, Want to fix foster care? Ask kids who have been through the system

·         Tyee article, December 15, 2017, Creating Connections Through Photography

On this episode of your right to speak Salvatore talks with Deirdre Carroll on the topic of mindfulness practice. Deirdre has 12 years of experience in the social work field and youth and women and is a registered Psychotherapist who has extensively travelled to India to learn yoga instruction and other alternative health practices. Deirdre and Salvatore start the conversation speaking to how the word mindfulness has become a buzzword. The conversation then turns to what is mindfulness practice and offers advice to people entering the field of social work who are facilitating mindfulness. Let’s Raise Awareness Together!

If you would like you and contact Deirdre through Facebook at https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=531936134000846&ref=content_filter

Or Instagram at deeserendipity44

Melanie Doucet and Harrison Pratt discuss the Photovoice research project titled Relationships Matter for Youth “Aging Out” of Care (https://www.yumpu.com/document/view/59918518/relationships-matter-e-book). Melanie and Harrison are both researchers with direct experience living in the child welfare system. In this episode, part 1 of a two-part conversation, we talk about the genesis and intention behind the project, aspects of the 12 findings from the research, and their thought on the meaning of care.

To learn more about the project please visit:

Relationships Matter Project video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lmPDZ360ow&t=40s

·         Relationships Matter Photo E-Book: https://www.yumpu.com/document/view/59918518/relationships-matter-e-book

·         Relationships Matter Executive Summary + Research report (child welfare policy & practice oriented), published via the BC Representative for Children and Youth: https://rcybc.ca/reports-and-publications/reports/relationships-matter-youth-aging-out-care

 ·         Megaphone Magazine cover story and article, January 2019, What do YOUth think? Research project that aims to improve B.C.'s foster care system goes straight to the source.

·         Tyee article, December 13, 2018, Want to fix foster care? Ask kids who have been through the system

·         Tyee article, December 15, 2017, Creating Connections Through Photography

On this episode of Your Right To Speak Salvatore talks with Rima Dib who is the director of curriculum and education at Harmony At Work.  The topic of the conversation is shaming and moving to a place of education with regard to anti-oppression. Rima explains the importance of not shaming people and the benefit of it. She offers an example of what shaming looks like and what a place of education looks like. Let’s Raise Awareness Together!  

In this conversation Dennis Long speaks about adolescent substance use, if substance use is of concern (and why), the impacts of changing cannabis laws, opiate overdoses, harm reduction, and how to support parents

Dennis Long is the Former President of the Ontario Federation of Community Addictions and Mental Health Programs, the past Executive Director, of Breakaway Substance Abuse Treatment Centre, and a current teacher, educator, and activist related to substance use.

On today’s episodes of  A Right to Speak  Salvatore talks with returning guest Alyssa. Alyssa is current a masters student at Ryerson’s Child and Youth care program. Alyssa will be talking to us about some her research regarding her thesis which she is currently conducting. Alyssa will be explaining to us how youth in care need a better system put in place for their transitional periods. Thank you Alyssa and we hope to have you on the show once your thesis is complete.  

This episode is a recording made at the 22nd South African National Association of Child and Youth Care & 4th CYC-Net world conference, which took place in Durban South Africa of June 2019. The presenters were: Professor Paul Cooke, Dr Lou Harvey, Martin Keat and three Child and Youth Care Practitioners from Leth’ithemba Isibindi Safe Park, Vosloorus, Ekurhuleni.

The following is the conference abstract”

“Since 2016, the University of Leeds in the UK has been working with the Bishop Simeon Trust in Ekurhuleni, using arts-based projects to develop and sustain ‘Youth Committees’ in a number of Isibindi Safe Parks across the region. These projects have helped to build the confidence of the young people they support, on the one hand, and also helped the Safe Parks access state funding, on the other (for which having a functioning ‘Youth Committee’ is obligatory). Specifically, these Youth Committees have used a range of art forms – including theatre, music, dance, ‘grass-roots comics’ and participatory filmmaking – to organise ‘advocacy campaigns’ that have raised awareness of a range of issues that are important to the young people who use the safe parks, but that they feel tend to be ignored or misrepresented in their communities.

In so doing, this work has highlighted to a group of young people who are frequently either ignored by, or seen as a problem for, their communities the potential of their voice and its power to help them effect change in their lives for themselves. In 2019, the various Safe Parks we work with will be focusing on the question ‘What does my Safe Park mean to me?’ and will be developing a joint campaign to raise awareness of the role played by Isibindi Safe Parks in their communities.

The aim of our presentation is twofold. First, it will showcase the work of the young people involved in the Youth Committees we have supported, providing them with a national platform for their activities and a significant opportunity to highlight the potential of their voice. Second it will present a set of training materials we are developing for other Isibindi Safe Parks interested in using arts-based methods to create and sustain their youth committees.”

The following is the presentation write up from the July I had the pleasure of attending the 22nd South African National Association of Child and Youth Care & 4th CYC-Net world conference in Durban South Africa:

How Can I Be Homeless When I Just Left One? An Observation from Working on the Streets of Pietermaritzburg with Young People by Thamsanqa Gcwabaza & Rob Ng-Yu-Tin, from Life Changer

“What do we mean by the word home? Is it a house? An address? A bed to sleep in? A family? Perhaps we need to explore what we mean by homeless and perhaps consider it as ‘houseless’. We are living in the aftermath of the HIV Pandemic. Our reality now is an emerging group of older vulnerable youth and young adults who are making a living off the streets. Many of these predominantly young men have lived in multiple homes, had an array of significant care givers, and been in informal kinship care or formal foster care. Some have been adopted and even lived in residential care. But now? They find them themselves without a family, with no idea of who to turn to, ask for advice and seek refuge. They are seen as beggars, filthy down-and-outs who have made bad choices. We have even heard them referred to as vermin. These young adults were possibly once celebrated as newborns. A celebration to a family. They grew up being offered some love, and family. Where do these young people go once faced with huge hardship? Huge emotional psychological and behavioural problems. All desperate for love, affirmation and a family. To add to that child and youth care centres struggle to want to accept these children in care, and social workers don’t know what to do.