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How I help children deal with the hardship of homelessness

It’s estimated that 1 in 3 people experiencing homelessness is a child.

Focus6 Focus Ireland Focus Ireland

My car is full of toys, glitter, arts and crafts equipment. People could think I’m in and out of children’s birthday parties. But instead of parties, my job is to try to help children deal with the hardship of homelessness and all the confusion that comes with it.

Sometimes I give a piece of me and tell them things that went wrong for me when I was a child. By giving them a bit of my story I get their attention and they treat me as someone they can trust and who is finally going to understand them. They open up.

We play and through stories and drawings I get them to talk about the memories and thoughts they shouldn’t deal with alone. Creating stories and drawings, we can talk through their issues and their anger.

One of the techniques I use is the ‘wooden boat to a far away land’. We put their problems on a wooden boat and send them far, far away, so they never have to return. They can then focus on the much brighter future ahead.

This post was highlighted by @focusireland.

FocusData4 Department of Housing Department of Housing

Recent figures show a record total of more than 8,492 people homeless in Ireland. Nationally there are now 5,298 adults and 3,194 children homeless meaning more than 1 in 3 people experiencing homelessness is a child. The total number of people homeless rose by 24% from October 2016 to October 2017. The number of children has risen by 29% in the same period from a total of 2,348 children in October 2016. Let’s change the face of homelessness together with Focus Ireland person by person, child by child, family by family. Donate here.

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    Mute Bruce
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    Sep 20th 2014, 8:02 AM

    Old story….

    51
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    Mute Tom Collins
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    Sep 20th 2014, 12:32 PM

    Why did they publish this? Ok smugglers and illegal fishing trawlers, the sea is all yours until the 6th!!

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    Mute Caillte
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    Sep 20th 2014, 8:18 AM

    That’s what I was thinking. This was on here before.

    Anyway asbestos is only harmful if it’s disturbed. Just leave it alone.

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    Mute Dearbhla Russell
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    Sep 20th 2014, 8:21 AM

    So you would work in the close confines of a navy vessel with asbestos then caillte? Once its undisturbed of course.

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    Mute Conor Heffernan
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    Sep 20th 2014, 8:51 AM

    Exactly caillte, I’ve worked in 2 older power stations that had it and there was never an issue….air quality is monitored daily. How many people on here have asbestos roof slates and don’t realise it….

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    Mute Rob Conneely
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    Sep 20th 2014, 3:13 PM

    Not really possible on a ship. It was used as gasket material and in fireproof lagging. Unfortunately it has to be moved for maintenance and inspection.

    Ships also tend to move a lot at sea so it would be disturbed constantly.

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    Mute Jimmy Kinsella
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    Sep 20th 2014, 8:46 AM

    Wait for the claims to start rolling in.

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    Mute Tom Hetherington
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    Sep 20th 2014, 11:06 AM

    Jimmy Kinsella,
    Why are you making this childish comment. There has been no mention of anyone been exposed to asbestos and if there was exposure then the employer is negligent in his duties towards employees as out lined in the Safety Health and Welfare at Work Act of 1989 and 2005. An important point to note if anyone was exposed to asbestos is that they have a very high chance of dying and if that was the case then it is only right that they would be compensated( For their Families ). Maybe the question you should be asking is why the employer did not know there was asbestos in the place of work as he is required under law to identify carcinogens and control exposure to same.

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    Mute Chris Kirk
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    Sep 20th 2014, 9:55 AM

    Deafness is a far greater problem from navy ships engines and gunfire. Asbestos was never an issue until someone started a scare alert.

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    Mute James Darby
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    Sep 20th 2014, 10:16 AM

    Would that be the Big Bang theory, Chris.

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    Mute Chris Kirk
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    Sep 20th 2014, 11:25 AM

    No James, it comes from personal experience of a dozen years of working in RN ships engine rooms.

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    Mute Rob Conneely
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    Sep 20th 2014, 3:18 PM

    With the ear protection these days Chris it’s less of an issue.

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    Mute Jim
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    Sep 20th 2014, 8:27 AM

    Asbestos asbestos I eat asbestos for breakfast Tiny asbestos ha

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    Mute James Darby
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    Sep 20th 2014, 9:06 AM

    You may be joking Jim but I know a man in his 70′s who worked in England 40 years ago removing asbestos from buildings and factories. Speaking about his experiences he would say something like “Ah sure there’s a lot of bullshit about asbestos. There was no health and safety on our sites and sure we’d be eating asbestos sandwiches. It didn’t kill any of us”. I’d say he’s probably lucky to have survived his experiences but I do agree with him to some extent when he says that there’s a lot of bullshit about asbestos. It was used in industry and internal combustion engines for generations and if left undisturbed it presents no danger.

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    Mute Jason Bourne
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    Sep 20th 2014, 8:52 AM

    Is this another “Oh, looks like we have hazardous material in our equipment, guna be a be a big loss to scrap all this”

    Big loss? What are you talking about? Just sell it to the Irish.

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    Mute igloo flush
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    Sep 20th 2014, 9:26 AM

    Maybe it’s not asbestos, it’s another white powder!

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