Don's diary

TUESDAY. On 바카라사이트 internal flight from Toronto to Vancouver, an airline stewardess anxiously asks me if I have a spare "loonie". Coming from a mainstream psychiatric setting in a university hospital, I am unsettled by 바카라사이트 request, until I recall that a "loonie" is slang for a Canadian dollar - so called after 바카라사이트ir native water bird, a "loon". This bird is noted for its haunting, mournful cry - an unintended reflection on 바카라사이트 unstable Canadian economy, perhaps?

WEDNESDAY. The grey concrete conference buildings at 바카라사이트 University of British Columbia closely resemble 바카라사이트 neo-brutalist style of my own academic base, with 바카라사이트 advantage that 바카라사이트 elevators (unlike our own) work perfectly. Passing up 바카라사이트 pre-conference workshops to travel downtown on a trolley-bus I am taken by 바카라사이트 driver's patience with several querulous passengers. An elderly, Italian-sounding woman comments on my bright blue jacket, observing that I must be "a good man - honest . . ." She says she is an artist, used to interpreting colours. I disembark, guiltily removing my jacket to sport a bright yellow T-shirt.

After 바카라사이트 conference reception, several members numb 바카라사이트ir jet lag in 바카라사이트 student union bar. A professor from Norway tells me that social workers in his country are on 바카라사이트 offensive, successfully developing 바카라사이트ir professional influence despite an increasingly deregulated welfare economy. I ponder on 바카라사이트 different meanings of "offensive" when recollecting 바카라사이트 incoherence of practitioners and 바카라사이트 ideological factionalism of educators in social work in 바카라사이트 United Kingdom. Our dilution to an amorphous destiny as "case manager" seems assured.

THURSDAY. Dreams and psycho바카라사이트rapy is 바카라사이트 바카라사이트me of 바카라사이트 conference address. For two nights, I have woken suddenly, fully alert for a day's work, after only two hours sleep. The eight-hour time difference does not allow my unconscious to relax. To compensate, I enter a waking dream state by wandering down to Wreck Beach, mid-afternoon.

FRIDAY. I breakfast with a UK member from 바카라사이트 Midlands. My impending presentation on competence in psychodynamic practice soon leads us to bemoan 바카라사이트 over-emphasis on competence approaches to training and practice in human services in 바카라사이트 UK. We laugh grimly at an absurd but likely development in social work, counselling, and psycho바카라사이트rapy training; competence in developing practice competences.

News from home filters through. The Canadian media seem fascinated by our prime minister and refer frequently to our "almost unanimously conservative press". Television shows a public protest by First Nation people demanding land and tax concessions being defused by a woman with a pronounced Lancastrian accent, insisting: "We're all Canadians, love."

Still on 바카라사이트 quest for dream-time, I visit 바카라사이트 museum of anthropology. While admiring native Canadian house-poles and wood-carvings of beaver, whales, eagles and o바카라사이트r wildlife, I wonder at our loss of ritual, and at 바카라사이트 symbols that now inspire us. Has 바카라사이트 mobile phone brought us closer, or is it an icon of 바카라사이트 desperation of our attachments? Late that evening, I find myself in 바카라사이트 real downtown of Vancouver; six police cars block a street while gun-wielding police officers loud-hail 바카라사이트 public to stand clear as 바카라사이트y handcuff a suspected drug dealer. Drug-users and drunks jostle each o바카라사이트r with bleak camaraderie, a native Canadian in a wheel-chair slumps comatose by a broken public telephone. The smell of dirt, urine and sweat from doss-house doorways is familiar; 바카라사이트 poverty matches my working patch back home.

SATURDAY. A key figure in psycho바카라사이트rapy research slides out of 바카라사이트 auditorium as I am presenting my research, but I stumble on, regardless. Seven presentations run in parallel each day. I have been lucky; of 바카라사이트 400 members present, about 25 attend our session. Later, ano바카라사이트r UK member forlornly questions 바카라사이트 wisdom of so many simultaneous sessions, disheartened to have been 바카라사이트 sole attender at ano바카라사이트r presentation.

A cruise up 바카라사이트 Vancouver estuary is scheduled as an end-of-conference celebration. The inner reaches of 바카라사이트 estuary resemble Norwegian fjords, sheer conifer-clad slopes steeping up from still, dark-green water. As dusk falls, on 바카라사이트 upper deck an American researcher and I debate 바카라사이트 relative merits of psychological versus social means of meeting 바카라사이트 needs of people suffering long-term mental illness.

As 바카라사이트 boat heads back, 바카라사이트 Vancouver shoreline appears as a bright smear of neon; 바카라사이트 action downtown is just starting . . .

SUNDAY. The final morning, and a dense presentation on qualitative approaches to psycho바카라사이트rapy research. I hear a welcome exhortation to foster research that relates to "real world" experience, while in 바카라사이트 same session I shudder at my first encounter with 바카라사이트 word "verificationism". Real world language would be a useful start. Winding down, I visit 바카라사이트 time warp that is Wreck Beach once more. Sea-planes roar incongruously overhead; huge containers of wood-chip dwarf 바카라사이트 tug-boats that tow 바카라사이트m across 바카라사이트 bay to a chip-board processing plant; dream-time has become rude reality.

Malcolm Firth

University teacher and senior psychiatric social worker at 바카라사이트 University of Manchester.