Courses

Danny is a precocious 10 year old who has refused to attend school for some time. He and his mother/family have met 25 times with his counsellor. This is a very explicit example of counter-storying 'spider bravery' in contradiction of his 'school phobia'. We will meet Veronica, his mother and Danny.

Here we will meet Jane and her son, Tim. Jane and her then partner, who both were involved with drugs, had Tim, then aged 2  and his  sister removed from their care by the Child, Youth and Family Services(CYFS) after the death of two other children on account of their  neglect. They were not charged with manslaughter or the lesser charge here in New Zealand "of failure to provide the necessities of life.'  Tim [...]

Here we will meet with Joel, who  is 16 and has met with his counsellor 8 times. He has very irregular school attendance and when he does, he has panic attacks.  His family migrated from South Africa when he was 12. His father has a long history of drug addiction and violence against Joel's mother as well as Joel. Joel also has assaulted his mother. His parents are considering divorce. Joel has a younger [...]

Riri is a 17 young Maori woman who was taken in to custody of Youth Justice for the reason of her homelessness and gang violence. Rather unusually she is invited to live with the family of her 'best friend' Bella along with Michelle's(Bella's mother) seven other children. She now refers to Michelle as 'mum' and Michelle considers her as her 'bub=daughter. In this interview, her identity as a 'bad girl' is contradicted by the [...]