Letter to the Corporate Sector: Can Your Buzz Words Play with Our Catch Phrases?
June 29, 2007
Heard this one? A terminal cardiac patient is admitted for heart transplant surgery.
The Doctor advises, “you’re in luck, two hearts just became available, so you will get to choose which one you want. One belonged to a Corporate Business Executive and the other to a Social Worker“.
The Patient quickly responds, “I want the heart of the Business Executive”.
The Doctor asks if the patient seeks additional information before making their decision.
The Patient states emphatically, “I already know enough thank you. Social workers hearts are always bleeding and the Exec’s has probably had little actual use. I demand the Corporate heart!???’. 
Time to move past stereotypes and assumed rivalry? The Humanities and the Corporate Business sector may appear polar opposites in intent, aim and purpose. Common ground, however, does exist amongst the public and their children, commonly known as ‘customers’, ‘clients’, ‘patients’, ’service participants’ and/or ‘consumers’. They access our agencies, services, franchises, businesses and events whilst others move around the various premises, centre or community in which we operate. The Public exhibits various levels of competence and capacity in their social functioning. This can impact directly and indirectly on your business affecting or influencing staff, profits, economic fluctuations and general business acumen.
The bridge between corporate and human services linking business with the social sciences can come from engaging in a type of ‘Buzz Phrase Lego’. I’ll start with your catch phrase. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) allows for business to be conducted outside of a parochial vacuum of focus. Formal room is created to extend and involve local and/or global social, humanitarian and environmental interests, alliances, associations or projects partnered with ‘core business’ productivity. This can become, if you will, business done with not only a heart but a brain and a (social) conscience. Similarly, the Social Sciences cite the benefits of of developing genuinely Child Friendly Communities (CFC’s - the non-environmentally damaging ones!!!) as part of a broader action plan to reduce the margin for childhood abuse and neglect. It is therefore proposed that we allow our respective buzz phrases do the funky boogaloo as your CSR’s and our CFC’s can, potentially, form quite the harmonious and compatible marriage.
Danger can lurk in them there Buzz Phrases. Those snappy little phrases can switch our brains off and dilute the seriousness behind the slogan or letters. Once the REAL meaning is lost, all bets are off.
Enter the need for genuine COMMITMENT. We can make the conscious decision that there’s room for both business ends via humanitarian means and vice versa. CSR’s can involve and stop at (albeit valid and generous) philanthropic gestures based on sponsorship of a given Human Service charity, organisation or foundation. CRS’s can also radiate innovation and creativity and create new pathways. For this occur, there is the vital need to form sustainable partnerships, networks and relationships that flourish beyond good intentions, nervous hand-wringing and rhetoric. The challenge is to establish our areas of over-lap and shared boundaries and create entry points as opposed to ominous and heavily guarded ‘no- man zone’ areas where we share common ground but traditionally fear to tread! This process also includes moving outside of that reliable and sturdy square many of us live, breathe and work in and allowing the odd wee round peg to do a little break dancing to dissipate assumptions, stereotypes and beliefs which have reached mythical or even legendary proportions!
A prime example is the area of Child Abuse and Child Protection. I can hear the collective gasps as I write. “Hey Lady - we didn’t order any lecture on Child Protection. There’s little space for it in our boardroom. Take it back marked “No Such Address”.
Children are vulnerable to abuse because they are developing their own capacity to assess risk or challenge their experiences, including the illicit behaviours or actions of adults. Small-fry rely on us Big People to pave the way and ensure they stay safe. Some perpetrators engage wily and effective techniques to access a child or children to commit atrocities then silence their victims, avoiding detection and any investigative or punitive process. Some aspects of abuse, such as Child Witnesses of Domestic Violence, can be inter-generational whilst most forms of physical, mental, psychological and sexual harm or neglect can impact both directly and indirectly on the development of a child and spill out negatively onto their adulthood. Various risk or protective factors, some connected to socio-economic factors, can increase or decrease the possibility of abuse respectively. “This is all well and good and educative”, you may ask, “but what does this have to do with my business?”. Well, you see, developing those truly child-friendly communities minimises space for abuse. This type of activity however involves some significant shifts in the shared social mindset about Child Protection and how to go about it all. But guess what?
There’s room for us all on this Oceanliner. Who-oooo - all aboard whose going aboard! After all, Child Protection is EVERYONE’S business and that includes YOUR business or event or franchise!
Still not convinced there’s room for your business or corporation in the area of Child Protection? I recently witnessed two small children, aged around 2 and 3 years of age respectively, move freely around a large local shopping centre sans adult supervision. I watched them toddle into a large Department store where they proceeded to misappropriate lollies from a low shelf, undetected by any other adult or Profession in the shopping centre apart from myself. My Professional background informed me of the HUGE potential for harm - including abduction and/or assault - for these children. Spying store security, I advised of the kid’s apparent AWOL status.
The staff moved quickly however the focus, naturally, was on recovering the stolen merchandise. Protecting the on-the-lam toddlers was a somewhat secondary concern although one the staff conducted with grace and due diligence. Children and parents were eventually reunited however one staff member remarked that encountering unsupervised children was not an unusual event. This is an prime example where a business or corporate CSR can adopt a practical CP focus involving two words which are more than at home in a business environment:Policy and Procedure. There may be room for the development of policy and procedures that aim to protect children, share information, develop key partnerships and work together to create a society which screams, ‘we’re all in this together!’.
Further information:
Australian Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility
Children Friendly Business Model NSW
The Culture of Dancing Corroboree for Child Safety
June 29, 2007
The Laura Dance Festival, an international event showcasing Australian Aboriginal dance and culture, far exceeded their intentions of remaining drug and alcohol free. In the current Aussie political climate of reacting to Indigenous child abuse, the Laura Dance Festival supported that not all Aboriginal people abuse their children and that child abuse is not a function of Indigenous Australian culture.
Children ruled the dance platform, the makeshift streets of the camp ground and the stalls providing promotional goodies to festival patrons. No matter where the eye focused, children stole the line of vision. Three thousand people camped and an additional 1500 were day guests to the three day festival. With such a large number of rural personalities juxtaposed against international interest, the penchant for black and white political stirring was huge. Unaware of the potential powder keg, the kids did what they wanted: wandered, chatted, sat where they wanted and talked with whoever indicated they were up for a quick yarn.
Normally a paranoid wreck around allowing my children out of sight, the Laura Dance Festival oozed child friendly pheromones. The culture smelt of being child friendly with plenty of willing adult eyes and arms should intervention be required. Nervously, I allowed Master 11 to walk down one of the lane ways, alone, to collect coveted show bags. Nervously, I craned my neck and hearing in an attempt to ensure my child’s safety. Safely he returned and safely he spent the remainder of the three days, under the ever watchful eye of thousands of child concerned adults.
The Laura Dance Festival is a celebration of Australian Indigenous culture. Dance (corroboree), paint, stories, art and cultural fashion are marketed as hallmarks of the event. However, the marketers have overlooked a seminal piece of Indigenous culture that in today’s news headlines requires much airing.
The Laura Dance Festival was child focused. The sub text of Laura Dance Festival acted out that child abuse is not culture. The children at the Laura Dance Festival blended their skin colour differences and joined a culture that viewed child safety as paramount.
Curious at how the culture of child protection had waterfalled into the Dance festival, I spoke with many mothers who allowed their kids to run wild in the grounds of the festival. In the words of one Aboriginal mother, “there’s plenty Aunties here. If my kid do something bad, any Auntie can growl him and shame him because all them other kids are doing right thing in front of all the Aunties. This is our way, our kids belong to all the good Aunties and your kid too.”
If you’re sitting at home wondering how to be a good Auntie, I sure hope that one day, if my white son crosses your path that you will watch out for his safety and ensure he develops in a culture where child protection is every-one’s business.
Tempted to make a negative assumption about Australia’s Indigenous child abuse situation? Before you wrongly blame culture, blame the perpetrators: black, white, brown or yellow, the sanctioned global culture of sexually predatory behaviour is something we can all work against. Join us in our safety talk forum and have your say about how to finish the culture of child sexual abuse and change it into a culture of child safety.
Have a look at some of the photos from the Laura Dance Festival posted over at our home school blog: End of Term Excursion: Aboriginal Culture
Best of the Best Fiction for Teens
June 26, 2007
Article by: Sunshine Girl On A Rainy Day
The very best books for young adults are those that capture their interest, engage them with humor — and offer them valuable insights into human relationships.
I have recently been very impressed by the creativity and talents of three Australian authors, who specialize in fiction for teens.
JACYLN MORIARTY
All three of Jacyln Moriarty’s books are innovative in format.
In her first book, Feeling Sorry for Celia, the narrator receives imaginary letters from different associations, commenting on her progress on running, romance and living up to the teenage prototype.
Moriarty’s second book, Finding Cassie Crazy, is shared through emails, diary entries and letters back and forth between the students of two rival schools. This book was my favorite. The friendships shared between Cassie, Lydia and Emily and their growing relationships with Seb, Charlie and the mysterious Matthew were fascinating and unpredictable.
Becoming Bindy MacKenzie, third in the series, juggles a variety of formats, diary entries, personal memos and emails, to name a few.
MELINA MARCHETTA
Saving Francesca, by Melina Marchetta, caught my eye and drew my interest from the very first page. Shortly after Francesca starts is transferred to St. Sebastian’s, a Sydney boys’ school now accepting girls, her vivacious mother falls into a deep depression
Melina Marchetta works as a teacher in Sydney, which might explain why this book is so true-to-life. The characterization is spot-on, the pop culture references are hilarious and the voice of the protagonist, despite her attempts to fade into the background, is undeniably strong.
BARRY JONSBERG
Barry Jonsberg was born in Liverpool, but it was only after he moved to Australia in 1999 that he began writing fiction for teenagers.
In Barry Jonsberg’s recent book It’s Not All About YOU, Calma, its protagonist refers to her mother as “The Fridge” because the two of them communicate primarily through notes left on the refrigerator door. Calma suspects that the Fridge is hiding something from her, and is determined to find out what it is…
Early on in the book, Calma warns the reader about “unreliable narrators,” and makes no promise to be completely objective herself. When her estranged father reappears, she is less than eager to rekindle a relationship with him. Yet, he keeps reappearing at inopportune moments, such as while she is working at a grocery store and attempting to thwart a hold-up.
WARNING: These books are laugh-out-loud funny. If you read them in public, strangers will shake their heads at you and worry about your mental health.
How do these stories relate to child protection?
- Teens dealing with the death of a parent should read “Finding Cassie Crazy.”
- Teens faced with the divorce of their parents should read “It’s Not All About You, Calma.”
- Teens coping with parental mental illness should read “Saving Francesca.”
An untold story of sexual abuse
June 25, 2007
An untold story
From the heart of someone who knows what it is like to feel the pain of sexual abuse
The following is a song written by a young woman who was sexually abused as a child. I have sought her permission to release this song to the forum so that others can share her experiences and understand her pain through the words of her music. The young woman in question uses her music, journaling and art work to release the emotional and spiritual pain that she experiences on a daily basis.
VERSE 1
This is a melody that is deep inside my heart
It goes to a story that has filled my life with pain
It is about a young girl whose life was filled with pain
The one person she loved most abused her
Day after day
She felt alone with no one to comfort her
She would cry silent tears
CHORUS
Silent teras of the pain deep within
Daddy would always say baby I love you
He only filled her life with pain
Day after day the abuse came without fail
Each day would be the same
Is this what you call love
Is it, is it?
Is this what you call love
VERSE 2
Each night she would lie awake
Thinking of what life would be like
If she gave it up
She wanted the pain inside to stop
The pain couldn’t control her life anymore
She was too afraid to ask for help
Felt too ashamed of what her father had done
She was falling apart.
BRIDGE
After 3 years I finally found the broken part of melody
And I knew someone would believe me
Now thanks to them the melody from deep within
Is now almost complete
Because they believe my story
That had filled me with pain
I felt so alone until they came along
I have been given another chance to move on
VERSE 3
I would hold it all inside
Let the pain build up to the point
I wanted to let go
I would cry silent tears
So no one would ask what was wrong
I was afraid to ask for help
So I tried to get by on my own
CHORUS
Silent teras of the pain deep within
Daddy would always say baby I love you
He only filled her life with pain
Day after day the abuse came without fail
Each day would be the same
Is this what you call love
Is it, is it?
Is this what you call love
Thank you to this young woman who bravely put up her hand to share her story through her gift of music.
Part Three: Sandplay Therapy - Mandalas and integration
June 24, 2007
Keran Thomas - Birdwing Therapies
On June 14 and 15 I have had the pleasure of going to Sydney to attend the Happiness and Its Causes Conference held at the Convention Centre in Darling Harbour. I found the conference to be really interesting, especially hearing new perspectives about the wellbeing and mental health of children and young people. His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, spoke beautifully about the importance of nurturing our children, and how nurturing is the basis for emotional wellbeing, mental health and happiness in babies, children and their families.
Tibetan Buddhists, Navaho Indians and the Japanese (in Miniature Gardens) have used mandalas and sand pictures for centuries. Mandala work is often used as a key component of Sandplay Therapy and Symbol Work and has been known to promote further healing following the therapy. (1) I have incorporated the use of mandala drawing and infill with many of my clients (children and women)who have experienced abuse and trauma and found that following the therapy session Mandala drawings can assist in the integration of the insights discovered during the counselling process. Offering clients the option of using Mandalas as “homework” in between sessions has enabled the client to centre the Self, promote relaxation and emotional health. Pearon and Wilson (2000) suggest that “The circle suggests a centre, and drawing within it can have a centring effect on the client”. (2)
Whilst at the Conference the Gyatso Monks completed a spectacular sand mandala. The expertise of the monks in the creation of this beautiful piece had many delegates captivated at each tea and lunch time break. Fincher (2000) states that ” Tibetan Buddhist monks create mandalas that are considered a dwelling place for a deity“, and that “every element of the mandala has symbolic meaning”. (3)
The use of Mandalas in the integration of Sandplay and Symbol Work may also have a soothing and calming affect on the person. Colours, words and shapes may be part of the Mandala drawing prior to the completion of the session, which can support new meanings and insights and the person’s inner strengths and healing throughout professional counselling. I have found that Mandalas to be an excellent resource and therapy tool.
1. Journal of Sandplay Therapy 1991
2. Pearson, M. & Wilson, H. (2001). Sandplay & Symbol Work - Emotional Healing & Personal Development with Children, Adolescents & Adults. Melbourne: ACER Press.
3. Fincher, S. (2000) Coloring Mandalas - For Insight, Healing and Self Expression, Shambala, Boston
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