Socialno delo, Vol. 40 (2001), Part 5
ARTICLES
Suicidal Behaviour of the Youth: Work with a Suicidal Client - 249, (Abstract)
Sport as a Means of Enrichment and a Way of Life of Persons with Special Needs - 255, (Abstract)
ABSTRACTS
Abstracts
Nešo Stojanović, Mojca Pettauer
Suicidal Behaviour of the Youth: Work with a Suicidal Client
For better understanding and recognition of suicidal behaviour, we must be familiar with the indications that point to suicidal thoughts, attempts or the act as such. Professional social workers often meet this kind of problems, but they always wonder whether they are qualified enough to offer professional help. Thinking about suicide in adolescence is an even greater problem, as this is the period in which sensitivity and vulnerability are at their height. While meeting a suicidal client, it is important to know that the person wishes to live as well and not only to die; it is a state of conflict in which the person simultaneously wants to live and die. Hence the importance of awareness and good information about the phenomenon, for the appropriate recognition and acting may considerably reduce the risk of suicide.
Keywords: suicide, self-aggression, family psycho-dynamics.
Nešo Stojanović and Mojca Pettauer are social workers in the Crisis Centre for the Youth in Ljubljana.
Tomo Dadič
Sport as a Means of Enrichment and a Way of Life of Persons with Special Needs
The contribution describes the sporting activities practised at his institution, and their importance for the lives of users, with emphases on the local surroundings and on the impact of sports on the quality of users' lives, and based on ten years' experiences in the field. Users' activities in sports are divided into three major areas: participation in the Special Olympics movement, inclusion into Youth groups for healthy life and sound interpersonal relations, and judo training for persons with special needs, now in its seventh season. The results of the author's research show that sports positively influences user's lives. Social work thus possesses a tool that is used less than it might be. On the other hand, social work concepts have a legitimate place in the discussions on sports.
Keywords: sports, normalisation, destigmatisation, self-exceeding, human multi-dimensionality.
Social worker Tomo Dadič works at Centre of skills learning Elvira Vatovec in Strunjan as head of its unit in Izola. He is also a postgraduate student at the University of Ljubljana Faculty of Sports. In 1994 he began to introduce judo into users' sporting activities.
Urban Kordeš, Helena Jeriček
Communication as Spiral Convergence
Initially, the prevailing, so-called 'triad' model of scientific comprehension is presented: cause-(transfer function)-result, which proves to be insufficient in the domain of cognitive research. Established scientific method works for describing trivial systems, but it fails in the cases of nontrivial ones. The core of the paper is dedicated to the study of communication as a nontrivial system. Communication is viewed as a constant process of bringing forth the participants' worlds ('world' = the domain of one's experience). The neurophysiological aspects of communication are examined and compared with findings of cybernetics of the second order. Further on, two prevailing modes of human communication are discussed: one that leads to narrowing and solidifying the participant's world, and another that enables its expansion. The concluding part of the paper is dedicated to more detailed description of methods by which communication can be turned to a process of expanding one's experiential potential and a process of (self-)discovery. The authors call such endeavour "spiral convergence".
Keywords: communication, non-trivial systems, change.
Urban Kordeš, M. Sc., is a junior researcher at the >Jozef Stefan< University of Ljubljana Faculty of Arts. Helena Jeriček is a junior researcher at the >Jozef Stefan<.