ATD Ireland has been collaborating with Trinity College Dublin to develop and deliver a Poverty Aware Practice to social work students. This module is based on the Hidden dimensions of poverty international research and is led by ATD community activists with lived experience of poverty and socio- economic discrimination. The module consists of testimonies based on lived experience, group exercises, a presentation and an interactive discussion and Q& A with the class. The aim of these sessions was to provide trainee social workers with a more dynamic and holistic understanding of the lives and daily experiences of those who are experiencing poverty, people they will be working with in the future. Further these sessions are an important stepping stone in breaking barriers between groups who rarely have the chance to authentically engage with one another in this way.
“The social workers have very important work to do, and if that barrier, that stigma is in the way it doesn’t allow for it to happen, you know?“
“I never thought I’d be on the grounds of Trinity, let alone speaking on such a high level“.
“If we can learn to come together and share experiences and build a bond and get to know each other, I think it would become much easier for us and the social workers“.
This film is based on the poverty aware practice session we facilitated in September after students had come back from placement.
Thank you to the ATD community activists involved in these sessions.
Thank you to Steven Daly for filming and Catriona Loughlin for editing.
Thank you to The Irish Human Rights and Equality Community and Agence française de développement (AFD) for supporting this project.
