REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE OPENING OF THE MARTE MEO METHOD CONFERENCE GREAT SOUTHERN HOTEL
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE OPENING OF THE MARTE MEO METHOD CONFERENCE GREAT SOUTHERN HOTEL, DUBLIN AIRPORT
Dia dhíbh a chairde go léir. Tá áthas mór orm bheith anseo libh ar maidin agus ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a chur in iúl daoibh as an gcuireadh agus an fáilte a bhí caoin, cneasta agus croíúil.
Good morning and thank you for both the welcome and the invitation to open this Conference which also celebrates the tenth anniversary of the development of the Marte Meo Method in Ireland. A heartfelt Céad Míle Fáilte, one hundred thousand welcomes, to all our visitors from abroad and indeed to all those who have gathered from such a diversity of backgrounds and disciplines to share your wisdom and experience and indeed to have the chance to meet with the Founder of the Method and Director of the International Network, Maria Aarts herself.
It is reassuring to see so many professionals, practitioners and service users from across the spectrum of caring and support services. The lived lives of so many of our people are complex and even cruel. Some face awesome challenges from early childhood, some have their lives interrupted by serious problems and many are tested time and time again by disability, poverty, stereotyping, family dysfunction, ill-health both mental and physical and the many other obstacles to the fullest personal fulfilment. Clearly the greater the coping skills of the individual and the professionals he or she meets along life’s journey, the better the chance of transcending or managing life’s ups and downs and that is where this method offers a meaningful intervention in the development of the social, emotional and language skills of children and adults.
At its simplest this method respects and uses the latent and patent resources that are unique to each individual and his or her circumstances. Here is an approach which does not place all the solutions in the hands of the professionals but which rather involves a practical and professional respectful partnership between parents, carers, service users and therapists trained in the Marte Meo method. Individuals and families are helped to trust and develop their own skills – the very name chosen encapsulates that strong sense of personal empowerment of “using one’s own strength” and using it well to construct effective solutions, rather than live overwhelmed by problems.
How we communicate with one another is central to relationships and often, almost unknown to ourselves, we adapt to patterns of behaviour, attitudes and language, which only serve to keep complicated situations even more complicated. Using modern video recording to chronicle everyday lives, which can be later calmly and closely analysed, those overlooked but crucial patterns can be identified and pathways to better communication revealed.
To the credit of those who pioneered this method it was selected as a model of good practice in a recent Department of Health and Children publication, “Working for Children and Families: Exploring Good Practice” and it has been incorporated in the new Teenage Parenting Initiative at the Rotunda Hospital, recognition yet again of the Method’s effectiveness in enhancing the life-experience, the confidence and the dignity of those in need of help and of the carers too.
The vindication of this method which these ten years have produced did not happen by accident but through the vision, determination and work of everyone involved. It has meant utter consistency in respecting and valuing the choices, and wishes, of each user and at all stages. It has meant considerable training and upskilling. It has meant taking risks, shedding doubts, doing things differently, keeping on doing things differently. It has demanded trust, flexibility, openness and a deep faith in the potential of each human person to be the truest author of his or her own development. I thank you for all the new found pride, courage, self-belief, hope and achievement you have helped men, women and children to know in their lives, possibly for the first time; for the way in which that investment in the human person has helped strengthen the individual, the family, the community and our country. I know you are here because you want to know how to keep improving and refining your skills, your intuition and your distilled experience. This conference offers a great opportunity to share what you know and through that sharing to probe the next stage of development.
I would like to thank all those who worked to make this important event possible and those who have made it their business to be here, to learn and to teach. I wish you well in your deliberations and in your future work. I take great pleasure now in declaring this Marta Meo Method Conference officially open.
Go raibh maith agaibh go léir.