A Little Info..

My name is Vanessa Cutler, I am a 4th year student who is currently finishing off my Degree in Child and Youth Care (CYC). I graduated with my diploma in CYC, June of 2007, and decided to take a couple years off before finishing my degree. Over the past three years I have been working full time with youth in transition, along with finishing my degree part time.

Two years ago I took part in MacEwan University's first visit to Athlone Institute of Technology with a student group as they started their partnership between Athlone's Social Care Program and MacEwan's CYC program. The following September I approached some members of the CYC faculty to talk to them about the idea of me doing my 4^th year placement in Ireland as I felt it may be a direction they might want to go in the future with their students. With a great deal of support from the program we moved forward in hopes of making it a reality.

So here i am, many months later, starting the last practicum of my degree in Dublin, Ireland. I decided to take this chance as a way to gain a better understanding of what Social Care in Ireland looks like, learn more about some of the international youth work being done here, connect with other passionate practitioners using creative/innovative ideas to enhance their practice, and become more aware of international struggles and success that are happening in the field of CYC.

This is my story...