Day One, Two and Three...

Hello everyone, and thanks for 'participating' in this social experiment. I thought it would be fantastic to showcase my experience traveling in Ireland. I want to provide specific attention to my experiences related to knowledge exchange within the context of child welfare practice with a bit of fun and adventure thrown into the mix! Please enjoy reading about my experiences to Ireland on this self-funded journey that will contribute to PART but has not required any financial support from member agencies.

Day 1: Arrived in Dublin only to be picked up by Robbie Gilligan's eldest daughter, Aoife, who is a  is also a social worker by trade, just like her mother and father. She finished her MSW degree at Columbia and is now working as a child protection worker here in Dublin. She was hired following a child death review uncovered serious flaws in the system. She was a star to pick me up so early in the morning.


Hilda and Katharine



That evening, I met up with a wonderful friend, and fellow social work professor from University College Dublin, Hilda Loughran. She and her friends took me to see a play about the demise of Enron following a fantastic Thai dinner. Her friends, and sister was wonderful hosts and showed me an excellent time my first night in Dublin.



Me hiking the trails near the Guinness Estate

Day Two included an afternoon of hiking with Hilda through the gorgeous 'mountain' ranges outside of Dublin near the Guinness estate. We had a glorious time and enjoyed spectacular weather. Later that evening, my fantastic host and world renowned expert in child welfare and children in care issues, Dr. Robbie Gilligan (my host for this week) and his wife, Mary invited me out for dinner. Robbie is the head of the school of social work here at Trinity College in Dublin. Trinity is a gorgeous university situated in the heart of Dublin. This university began in 1592, something we cannot fathom in our relatively new country of Canada:   http://www.tcd.ie/about/history/

The entry way to Trinity College

Day Three provided excellent learning for me. Mary Quinn, Robbie Gilligan's wife is a social worker in social housing. She specializes in a specific population called the Traveler's: http://www.nccri.ie/travellr.html  This unique ethnic population requires a unique understanding of the traveler's heritage and circumstance. I learned a great deal about this population from Mary and her team members.

Mary Quinn and housing team member John Hanley

Following this incredible journey of learning with Mary, I had the wonderful opportunity to meet with Dr. Helen Buckley from Trinity College. Dr. Buckley is an expert in the area of child welfare practice http://people.tcd.ie/hbuckley  She has special interest in the area of knowledge exchange in child welfare practice and so there was a rich discussion and sharing of ideas.  We hope to engage Dr. Buckley in providing a webinar presentation on one of her many areas of interest in child welfare practice. She leaves to give a presentation in London, Ontario at King's College. Her talk, "Putting research evidence to work" has significant relevance for PART and we hope to have Dr. Buckley provide this same presentation again for our members in the near future. Now that I am caught up, tomorrow's entry will be short and sweet! Cheers, Katharine