Conference

Next week sees myself and Barry off to Glasgow to present two papers at the "Mind the Gap" conference at the University of Strathclyde.

This is a conference that we have presented at before. I believe it was two years ago and was where we first encountered the AWS (Army Welfare Services) in the form of Mr Andrew Simpson. From there we developed the FACE programme which has been running with the Services Families in Northern Ireland.

This year's conference brings together conversations on youth work that contribute to research, theory and practice in this field

The GAP refers to the gap between these.

The organisers claim the title comes from the practice of alighting from a train and being told to 'mind the gap' and is to remind us of the hazards of working with young people.

We are presenting two papers, we are actually leading off the conference, well after the keynote speakers etc,

The papers are entitled:

"The Digital World of the Youth: Divisions and Gaps between the emerging technologies, the underlying theories and proven practices in working with young people"

and

"Bridging the Gap: Practical strategies and methods of working with service communities and host communities within a society coming out of conflict in Northern Ireland."

So it will be a pretty hectic few days but we hope to survive and to keep everying informed through Yammer. We will let you know how things are progressing, who we meet and any partnerships we form.