What should you know about me when deciding whether to make use of my services? Some people want to know more about the technical background, like my qualifications, experiences, and so on. Others want to know about me as a person. I will try to satisfy both types of service seekers.
I started my professional career in 1996 as a probation officer for the Department of Social Services, working at Stepping Stones Youth Justice Centre, an inter-ministerial pilot project which at the time was part of the transformation of the child and youth care system in South Africa. This project brought a strong focus on good child and youth care practice, and as a result I was exposed to the child and youth care field early in my career. I was fortunate to have this exposure early in my career, since I was introduced to many of the leading academics and practitioners in the field at the time, many of whom remained a guiding influence in my life.
After 7 years in probation work with children and young people, I shifted gears to start work at SOS Children’s Villages in Port Elizabeth as director, where I remained for the next 13 years. As a residential staff member, I had one foot in the management of the centre and another in direct practice with children and young people in alternative care.
When I left SOS Children’s Villages, I entered private practice as a therapist, but soon also found myself creating and facilitating workshops for like-minded professionals on various mental health and practice-related topics. My work eventually brought me back to SOS as a consultant, focusing on content and curriculum development for child and youth care practitioners. Over the next couple of years (2020 – 2024), I worked with a team of gifted professionals to write competency portfolios and workshop programmes for various staff.
Currently I remain in private practice, offer consultation to organisations and creating and facilitating workshop content.
My training background includes BA(Social Work, BAHons(Psychology), MA(Clinical Social Work), MA(Psychology). I am certified by GHR(UK) in hypnotherapy and completed certifications in NLP and EMDR.
I previously served as a board member of CYC-Online and currently I am on the editorial board for Relational Child & Youth Care Practice.
I am a registered social worker with SACSSP and also a member of SAASWIPP and EMDR South Africa.
Some of my publications include the following:
- A holistic approach to therapeutic behaviour management (Relational Child & Youth Care Practice, 19(4))
- The assessment of children (CYC-Online, 149)
- The use of Daily Life Events and an Ericksonian approach (Relational Child & Youth Care Practice, 26(2))
- A narrative approach to life and career construction in child and youth care practice (CYC-Online)
- Context in therapeutic work with young people
- Some thoughts on child and youth care leadership (CYC-Online)
- The devil in our system (Relational Child & Youth Care Practice, 28(4))
- Transitioning from care to independence in provincial South Africa (CYC-Online)
- Reflecting on experiences of learning about relational work from young people (in Relational Child and Youth Care in Action by Modlin, Freeman, Gaitens & Garfat, 2021)
- Unsuspecting influences between children and support staff (in Nurturing Hopeful, Healing Relationships with Young People by Freeman, 2022)
- Editorial: Aligning managerial practice with the values of relational child and youth care practice (Relational Child & Youth Care Practice, 36(1)
- A relational approach to mentoring child and youth care practitioners (Relational Child & Youth Care Practice, 36(2) and CYC-Online, 303)
On a more personal note, as a hobby I collect and review fountain pens – you can follow my channel onemorepen on YouTube.