Character-Building Stuff

ISBN-13: 9781477214343 / Angielski / Twarda / 2012 / 176 str.

Declan Shorthall

Opis

As a man that grew up in the care system and had to deal with all the problems that comes with this both my lecturers in university and my work colleagues felt that I needed to share my story with others. I have an honor's degree in childhood and youth studies from Exeter University and over ten years experience working with young people in the care system. I hope that my story might help young people having a bad time in their lives to make sense of it and believe people when they say that things will get better. I also hope that people considering a career working with young people or those already doing so will find my book insightful and may help guide them in their working practice and maybe change the way they view the young people they work with and their families. I have been very lucky in that I have gone on to do good things and build a loving family of my own, although I have had to work hard to be able to achieve both of these things. Having to unlearn the things I learned as a child and not just replicating it was not easy but was worth every bit of sweat and every tear. I now live in a small Somerset village in the UK, and I have been with my wife, Lisa, since I was just nineteen, and I am now thirty-nine. We have three beautiful children the eldest just finishing her A levels and the other two enjoying school and family life (I hope). I now work with children with emotional and behavioral difficulties many of whom are in or have been in residential care at some point in their young lives. I have written this book for many reasons but mainly because I didn't believe that I could have a good life. Growing up, I honestly thought that good things weren't meant for the likes of me. I was wrong, and I want to give every child the chance to read about someone who did manage to break the cycle and to believe that we can all have a good life. It just might not come knocking at your door. I believe that if we want the good things in life, we need to work for them. But more importantly, those that work with young people from whatever background need to believe in them. Every child and young person needs to believe that life is what we make it, not what others predict for us.