Trish Kane
My interest in working with young people was born in a small village in south Sligo; the village that I come from. Since that time my career has involved working with vulnerable youth, children and families in a variety of settings, countries and cultural contexts. My love of travel, my desire to experience and learn about people and cultures, has taken me on an incredible journey. I have been privileged to live and work in some of the most challenging, amazing, vibrant, communities in both developed, and in developing countries.
In my early career, I trained and qualified in outdoor/health education. During this time I continued to engage with young people in an increasingly significant way. The experience of engaging with some extremely difficult, challenging behaviours, made me realise that I had many questions about what I was actually doing with these young people. From this, I determined that I needed to better understand their lives, issues and problems. My search for understanding drew me back to Ireland, to engage in the Community and Youth Work Diploma at Maynooth University which then led to an Honours Degree and an MA. My journey also led me to a, four year, very fulfilling role as a lecturer in ITS in Applied Social Studies. Following this, I was ready to return to practice and privileged to have spent an amazing year in development work in Vietnam.
Since then, I continued to practice, and began employment with an Aboriginal NGO in May 2011, in the Central Desert Region of Australia. I now manage the Child and Family Services for some of the most remote and isolated communities on this planet……and while it certainly has a significant amount of challenges, I enjoy it immensely.
Photo: Trish with Kaye Mitchell, Yilpi Lewis & Mona Sheperd from the Fregon community in the Central Desert Australia