Edges Magazine Issue 24: Social Interaction

EDGES MAGAZINE Issue 24

January 2001

SOCIAL INTERACTION

Elaine Kennedy, speaks about her sessions with our young people with Drug Problems.

Help me, Lord!
My boat is so small and your sea is so big! (old Breton fisherman's prayer)

Often in the past, I’ve looked at the clients who come for help with addiction problems and wondered how they would cope with normal life, left behind for sometimes years and years . There must be a sense of enormous deficit when coming back from a lifetime of stagnating in that all-consuming world of addiction , to the bustling vibrant world which has moved on without you . The evolution which you naturally expected before the addiction consumed you , has passed you by, taking with it your family, friends, life styles, hopes, aspirations. Where would you start faced with this tidal wave of lostness? No wonder many newly reformed addicts seek refuge in some new addiction, or turn to the old and familiar. Refuge from the storms is not always at hand. Rehabilitation gives you back your boat, but not always the sailing lessons needed to combat the ravages of the oceans you are about to face.

With this in mind I began to formulate ideas for my sessions. I was offered a slot (two a week now) on the Reconcile Project and set out to add my drop in the ocean of work already being undertaken by my colleagues.

Everything needs labelling, doesn’t it, so ‘Social Interaction,’ it was christened! Sounds good! I never dreamt I would have such a stimulating , rewarding and wonderful time, and I’m supposed to be the teacher! I had imagined the usual quota of eye - rolling and yawning , the ‘ bored look,’ fashionable in many of our seats of education!

But our lads have made a huge undertaking in coming to the Reconcile Project in the first place. A second chance at opportunities missed the first time round is not going to be treated casually. The enthusiasm is overwhelming. Are teachers supposed to go into class feeling tired and spent, and come out refreshed and on a high!

The sessions are very relaxed (no feet on the furniture though) and varied. We look at how to achieve the all-important balances of life which help with everything from how to cope with job interviews; how to look at people who intimidate you; how to cope with embarassing situations; how to manage awkward moments, which bring home to you your deficit, without losing your cool. Using information and formulating balanced arguments; how to read other people and separate the facade from the basic person and trying to reach a healthy balance of value of self and value of other people. We learn through social interaction that the sea is vast, but understanding how to balance the balast will keep your boat; however small; afloat and moving ever forward . What I have learnt over the years at St. Anne’s is that, in fact, we are all at sea! Through my interaction with so many lovely people who we re sinking faster than most, I’ve certainly become a better sailor, but still terrified by the smallness of my boat!