Heroes
Within ThursdayHeroes
Within Thursday
Ontario Association of Child and Youth CounsellorsPlenary in Grant Hall
Introducing Wanda MacArthur: by Dennis McDermott, OACYC Executive Director, (Harrowsmith), Wanda is a CYC with the CAS of the District of Thunder Bay. She is a graduate of the Confederation College CYW Program and this year's winner of the Krista Sepp Memorial Award. Her excellent acceptance speech was featured in the March'99 issue of the newsletter of the OACYC, CYC Chronicle.
Introducing CCCYCA Members: by Jim Boyd, President, CCCYCA, the Council of Canadian Child and Youth Care Associations is the national body representing CYC's. All Full Members of the OACYC are automatically members of the CCCYCA and receive their newsletter as part of their OACYC membership. Present at Heroes Within were: Jim Boyd, Dennis McDermott, Clare Archibald, Garth Goodwin, Karen Crossley, Janice Tilly, Heather Modlin, Tim Turner and Patrick Gallagher.
Workshops were held in the nearby Kingston Hall, a short walk over from
the dining hall. They were on two floors of the hall in a series of classrooms. The titles
of the workshops are listed throughout these pages. This will allow the guest to
appreciate the breadth and depth of the CYC profession celebrated here. Ontario is
remarkable for the development of the profession beyond the early residential model. The
infamous funding cuts the province has experienced has partly motivated CYC's to innovate
in a number of ways. Many have gone into private practice, some have become professional
presenters, some have moved into the school systems and others have made do relying upon
volunteers to do much of the line work. Examples of each could be found among the workshop
presenters at the conference. The diversity and vibrancy of the future of child and youth
care was much on display in Kingston.
Effects of Substance Abuse on Children
Alternative Programs for At-Risk Youth
"Under Sail, Setting a New Course"--Update on an Outcomes-Based CYW Program
The Jupiter Room: An Exercise in Cooperation
Treating the Aftermath of Sexual Abuse in Residential Care
The Rose Garden: Supervised Child Access as a Private Practice
"The bullying stops here!": A School-based Bullyproofing Program
Plenary in Grant Hall
Keynote Speaker: Jo Wells, Private Practice (Burlington)
Jo Wells has extensive experience in the CYC field having worked on the front-line and through an number of positions and agencies before entering private practice. She was also a serious long distance runner, which she defines as over sixty five miles per day. In 1991, Jo took four months out to realize her dream of running across Canada, the full way from St. John's, Newfoundland to Mile 0 in Victoria, British Columbia. One of her personal motivations was to turn her practice upon herself, noting that CYC's as change agents often ask young people to change whole lifestyle patterns and face totally new challenges on a daily basis. Jo asked this of herself and recorded her lessons learned along the way. There were many challenges including a motor home breakdown, a severe blister, 43 degree heat, 90 mph winds and rain on both coasts along the way. Running well over seven thousand miles gave her lots of time to be alone with her thoughts, to loose those thoughts to the pressures of the run and to grant science a full record of the impact of the run on herself, physically. Her caloric intake declined toward the end to a fraction of what she needed to according to standards. The goal of completing the run and the many incremental goals it took herself and her team along the way to reach Mile 0 taught her much about the process of goal setting, determination and endurance. Jo's Journey, as it came to be called has been published as a book. Few in the CYC profession are aware of this remarkable story. Jo continues to use her experience as the foundation of a workshop and continues in her now, much more enhanced private practice. Jo Wells clearly personified the spirit of the Hero Within.
Jo uses her slides of the run to illustrate the journey across Canada.
The audience is taken along for the run through this technique and is given an
appreciation for the length of the journey and the incredible beauty and challenges along
the way. Canadians have grown quite used to cross country journeys now each summer as new
people come forward to use the challenge of the goal to promote their cause. Jo can take
pride in having been one of the first women, and definitely one of the first CYC's to have
completed the long run. Others will follow, perhaps even more CYC's and they can draw upon
Jo's journey for inspiration.
Treating the Aftermath of Sexual Abuse in Residential Care
Brave Bears: Group Therapy for Children with Anxiety Disorders, including a Parent Component
Is There Really a Difference? Culturally-sensitive Child and Youth Care
A Training Package on Substance Abuse for CYCs in the Field
Writing in the Field of Child and Youth Care
The Pro-Active Use of CYCs: Working with Foster, Adoptive, and High-Risk Families
Group Work with Transient Youth
Friends Helping Friends: A Suicide Prevention Package
Becoming a Healthy Organization 
A Touching Experience: Theraplay
Family Support and Community Support for Youth
The ECHO Program: For Sexual Offense Specific Treatment
A Specialized Program Service for Individuals with Neuro-Integrative Disorders
There's Blood on My Shoes! Self-Harm and Borderline Personality Disorder
Working and Living with Children with ADHD and Learning Disabilities
Conference organizers provided juice, coffee, tea and pastries throughout the three days of sessions. It was most appreciated.
It
was a simple idea in a city of incredible public houses and patios to take one over for an
evening. Take a dark room of rich woods, brick and tile, a fine selection of brews
on tap, fine food and a band from Newfoundland and then add in a hundred or more CYC's
coming off their most intense training day and you have a recipe for a good time. Folks
ate, they drank and they danced all evening. It was a good thing and pure genius.
These pages were prepared by Garth Goodwin on behalf of the Council of Canadian Child and Youth Care Associations to recognize the 40th Anniversary of the OACYC and Heroes Within. Photography made possible by the Child and Youth Care Workers Association of Manitoba and the support of Marymound, Inc. was appreciated. This page was up-dated December 31, 2004.