Peter Slattery

It would be a really really REALLY good thing if we could start to get a handle on what it is that might be that keeps our young indigenous people in the world and connected ratther than heading into Juvenile Justice.  The NSW’s  Commission for Children and Young People quote Attorney-General Robert McClelland.

“Finding ways of building up their identity, skills and confidence, rather than pulling them down, is the key to reducing the rate of Indigenous kids who find their way into the juvenile criminal system.”

The article tells us that Indigenous young people are now 21 times more likely to be detained in custody than their non-Indigenous counterparts.

There is some pretty good evidence about sense of identity and sense of belonging and connection being fundamental in the wellbeing of all humans.

And possibly particularly so with those who have been dislocated and disconnected. Our task may well be to find some better ways of doing this.

These two pics are of a couple lovely young people showing us the value of both the old and the new. Onya!

David Engwicht is maybe one crazy fella. Now is that bad? I must read more of what he says but one of his books is called ‘Mental Speed Humps’…and (if I’ve got this right) he is saying that the more traffic rules we have the less we seem to take responsiblity for what we are doing. We kind of trust in ‘THE RULES’. And there seems to be increasing evidence across Europe that when the traffic rules get taken away, accidents reduce. Yes..reduce. Because we start to pay more attention, be more aware, be more sensitive and more alert and more mindful of others. Kind of makes sense really.

I facilitate many groups and have long been an advocate for working in groups without rules – though I hasten to say that discussions about how we want to work together is something else -because everyone knows what respectful is, and a rule that says we must be respectful is kind of paradoxical. So the ‘mental speed bumps’ idea certainly makes sense to me in terms of running groups. And it makes sense in terms of helping organizations run well. People tend to know already what is fair and what isn’t. If you are in a relationship, you may not have the rules written up on the wall but you sure as heck know whether it’s okay to go out to a bar tonight and pick up someone you might just fancy. We do have ‘mental speed bumps’ and they are good for us.

I suspect David is ever so slightly provocative, as he sits here in New York city in his chair…making a statement about reclaiming the streets…

Nothing wrong with that really.