Case Study - 'Doorway dominos'

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"Essentially, its about creating connections. Connecting with people in a safe non-judgemental and supportive environment. Yes it helps that there is copious hot chocolate and yummy biscuits and maybe that’s why some of them come first of all - but not why they keep coming.

 

Getting teenage boys to talk can be a challenge at the best of times Getting a teenage boy who is constantly in either detention or exclusion and is a ‘bad boy role-model’ within a somewhat dysfunctional peer group, looked impossible. For the first year or so of trying to engage this young man in conversation, I was rewarded with monosyllabic responses. Until the dominoes day! One lunchtime he arrived before his peer group and I offered to play dominos with him. He had been invited to play many times and had always declined, so this time I asked “Why not?”. The reason he declined - was that he didn't know how. Over the course of that lunchtime he learnt the game of dominos and I learnt more about him in 45 minutes than I had all year.

 

When the gang arrived, they were surprised to see him engaged in a chat about schoolwork while playing Dominos. By the end of that lunchtime they were all playing (and talking) and lunchtime ended with a great complement from him to me “You’re alright actually”. It’s hard to measure impact on this interpersonal level but that day he was ready to learn and to talk and I was the someone privileged to be there to listen and to encourage."

 

- Case study from Mary Dickinson (Volunteer)

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